I Get Interviewed by the Franklin County Administrator (S4E25)

Kenneth Wilson is the Franklin County administrator for the area that includes Columbus. He’s also a podcast host and took advantage of interviewing me. And we discuss the issues like traffic and housing.

Talk Of The County hosted by Kenneth Wilson: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

GoodGovernmentShow.com Thanks to our sponsors:

Transcription

David Martin: This is the good government show.

Kenneth Wilson: In many instances, individuals don’t understand the importance of county government in it. It doesn’t. It doesn’t stand out like, city government. It doesn’t stand out like the federal government.

You want to anticipate problems before problems come to you.

You just can’t sit back in a in an office and act as though you’re air traffic control. You got it. You got to get out. Marks the people that, that are there doing the work.

I would like people, that aren’t on the inside of government to know that, there are a large majority of people that work in government that are in it for the right reasons.

David Martin: Welcome to the Good Government show. I’m your host, Dave Martin. On this episode. We’re heading to Columbus, Ohio in Franklin County. I talked with Kenneth Wilson. He’s their county administrator. This is not an electric position. He’s essentially the county manager. And Kenneth Wilson oversees some 14 county agencies with over 1400 employees. that’s a lot. As you’ll hear, Columbus and Franklin County have, as does much of the county, a housing what’s called a challenge.

And I know this from a conversation I had that will be airing soon with Columbus Mayor Andy Genzer, who also talks about the area’s growth. Kenneth Wilson says at the county level, they’re working on different programs to help build more houses and all kinds of houses. More importantly, Kenneth is also a podcaster. He hosts a county focused show called talk of the County.

So give him a listen after this episode. So listen first to the show and then check out Ken is talk of the county and Kenneth. Also he, played a game. He turned the tables on me and he interviews me, asking me about a good government show. So listen, as I take a turn on the hot seat. And that’s all coming up right here on this, the Good Government show.

The Good Government show is sponsored by our Co. That means our community, our Co has found a way to make government more effective. Our Co provides the o u r platform. And this is an app that blends in-person and digital interactions to connect people with their government, their county, their town, their state. The our Co app transforms meaningful conversations into reliable data.

They can turn results into projects and programs. The community has essentially already approved. It’s sort of like a flash poll by phone, but without the call. And in real time and wherever community members are, maybe they’re at their house or their office or, whether out just talking about local issues. maybe the choice is between putting in more local busses or expanding the bike lanes.

OurCo can get you an answer immediately. With O, you are. You can engage your citizens or any group, learn what they want, and build programs and policies that advance your county, your job creators, your constituents. So visit our kokum. That’s o u r c o.com and learn how they do it. And while you’re there okay. Demonstration.

Kenneth Wilson: Kenneth Wilson, county administrator for Franklin County, Ohio, the largest county, in the state, represent a population of 1.35 million, individuals. And, here at the National Association of Counties legislature conference.

David Martin: All right. And you are so Franklin County is Columbus, Ohio.

Kenneth Wilson: Franklin County, is, the center, is Columbus, makes up the center of the county. there is a number of other, municipalities and townships that, make up, Franklin County.

David Martin: So let’s start what’s going on in Franklin County. What are the issues that you’re dealing with there?

Kenneth Wilson: I think Franklin County’s issues, issues that, reflection, the country, we are dealing with, issues, housing, housing affordability. Right.

Some of the pains of growth, infrastructure. you can’t get enough dollars to invest in maintaining infrastructure. dealing with issues of congestion, trying to come up with, new innovative ways to move people and product.

David Martin: All right. Well, what have you where the good government show. So what good government ideas have you come up with for transportation and easing traffic congestion?

Kenneth Wilson: Right now, there’s a major initiative, that is being advanced called link. Does bus rapid Transit.

David Martin: Okay.

Kenneth Wilson: a way to move people along, major corridors, in an efficient and effective way? because you can’t, build enough lanes, to get yourself out of congestion. in there is,

David Martin: But you can be more efficient, but.

Kenneth Wilson: You can be more efficient in, in, in in Midwestern cities, there is definitely a car bias. So you have to really, get people to think differently about public transit, and get, beyond stereotypes. Okay. In major metropolitan cities, everybody of all walks of life have been using, public transportation for their whole lifetimes.

David Martin: I live in New York City. I take the subway.

Kenneth Wilson: Yeah, yeah. You know, Chicago, the Al, you know, and then you had a wave of of light rail to try. And many cities have, modest light rail systems in. It’s all about exposing, a broader demographic to fish and modes of transportation.

David Martin: And are the people receptive? Yeah. You said car bias. Are people receptive to the idea of getting on public transportation?

Kenneth Wilson: I think if there’s clean and it’s safe and it’s modern, you can get people to convert.

David Martin: And are you having any progress in, installing bike lanes or promoting the use of bikes?

Kenneth Wilson: We have, bike share program as well. That’s relatively successful in, in our county.

David Martin: Okay.

Kenneth Wilson: you know, we have like many communities, the, the scooter craze is everywhere. Yeah, yeah. Various vendors, there’s various vendors on various street corners, changing the mentality of folks to just, you know, jump on a jump on a scooter per day, information from an app. get some places real quick, you know?

David Martin: Yes.

Kenneth Wilson: And, pop, is it safe?

David Martin: Is it safe? Is it is it dangerous? I mean, you see a lot of people zipping around without helmets on.

Kenneth Wilson: I think education is the key. Okay, some of the, some of the maneuvers I see, I think, user education is key, in creating a safer environment. in, in, in central cities, you need individuals, that are in vehicles to also think about pedestrians and, and think about people moving the amount of it, modes of transportation.

David Martin: You mentioned the first thing you mentioned was housing, and you said that, that was an issue that you were trying to tackle. What is the what is the housing problem and what are you doing to fix?

Kenneth Wilson: We have in Franklin County, Ohio, a, a housing, issue on the supply side of various price points.

David Martin: You don’t have it, and then.

Kenneth Wilson: You just don’t have enough houses for housing. No structures different than different types of housing. Okay, we need across our county to update our zoning laws are, in some cases, 70 plus years old. we have to allow different types of housing. We have to become comfortable with density, which in many communities, density is, is fear.

we have to live closer together. We can live well and live closer together.

David Martin: Well, I live in Brooklyn, so.

Kenneth Wilson: Yes, this is a day of, you know, everyone having, a quarter of an acre in, a three car garage and sucking up all that.

David Martin: so what are you doing? And what can you do about it? What’s being.

Kenneth Wilson: You can, provide, incentives to policy, to encourage, builders, to build, on available land. you can also, use, various, tax incentives to get individuals to build, and rehabilitate, housing in areas, you can also.

David Martin: Do you have programs?

Kenneth Wilson: We have programs addressing all these issues. But the hill is so tall that, you have, you have so many people working on it. but, you know, it’s like you just you just trying to throw, pennies in in the ocean. They see us. Do you.

David Martin: Feel like you’re having some success on some levels on.

Kenneth Wilson: There? We are seeing some progress. Good.

David Martin: We like with a good government show.

Kenneth Wilson: We like to see some progress. The county we have, we have a magnet fund that we use. fees that are collected from, from housing sales. And we put that right back into the economy to, contribute towards, projects that are seeking, like low income tax credit programs, in, building of affordable units, particularly units, between 30% and 100% of the area median income is important to, to have that housing, particularly in a community where you have a lot of new people moving in and younger people moving in.

They have to they need housing. And as they move up the income spectrum and raise and families and young families and they need affordability, everyone can’t afford to buy homes. If they all are at a price point, that will make them housing insecure.

David Martin: So you are the Franklin County County administrator. What is a county administrator? You’re not an elected official. You’re a county administrator.

Kenneth Wilson: county administrator is a, an opponent of the issue. in my case, I’m the highest elected official in Franklin County. we have a three member board right there are elected. I’m appointed to, manage the day to day, operations, the county, and carry out the policies that are approved by the board. So essentially, I’m the CEO of of Franklin County.

David Martin: Sometimes you have to pull the county commissioners. Okay, let me explain to you what’s going on here, because you’re not getting it.

Kenneth Wilson: We have to. They need, a day to day manager. Right? because we are a $2.2 billion enterprise. Okay, rapidly approaching 7000 employees, doing various things every day on behalf of our residents.

David Martin: And I also understand that you are now the president of the National Association of County Administrators. Give me some hope. You talked to all these guys, your counterparts across the nation. How are we doing?

Kenneth Wilson:  we are doing well. I believe that.

David Martin: It doesn’t always seem.

Kenneth Wilson: That we have at the county level, we have a lot of very competent, dedicated managers.

David Martin: Okay.

Kenneth Wilson: Professional managers.

David Martin: Good.

Kenneth Wilson: That, whole, either some, some may be, attorneys in the past, but the lion’s share of us whole, master’s degrees in public administration and public policy, and we’ve worked our way through the ranks. So we are experienced in what we do, and we can manage, the day to day challenges that counties face, both large and small.

David Martin: What was your briefly what was your, your experience prior to becoming, county administrator?

Kenneth Wilson: my experience, began, after graduate school, in state government. working at the state level, working, in the state legislature, working on state budgets in and in Ohio state budgets. the vehicles which dollars go down in a lot of programs, particularly health and human services programs, administered at the county level.

So those experiences, of of of managing the state budget, equipped me very well for, regionally, being a direct, the county’s Office of Management and Budget and managing all the county agencies and understanding, as state policy changes, that impacts and managing government at the county level.

David Martin: And that’s got to be beneficial for the county because it’s good to know people at the state. Yes. So some of your colleagues, do you see over the years?

Kenneth Wilson: Yeah, a lot of people have come and gone when your career has spanned, you know, several decades, such as mine, but yeah. you know, you know, you know, you know, which county which, state agencies to turn to to deal with county issues, that may arise at any point in time.

David Martin: We certainly hear and see and read a lot about government dysfunction, about, you know, the fact that we’ve never been a more divided government, but yet, in your position, talking with county administrators across the nation, do you, do you feel that way or do you think that, that’s not the case?

Kenneth Wilson: We, there is, a wide divide amongst, individuals in polarization, as you point out. but as, professional managers that just have to do the work, and do the work, well.

David Martin: Have to fill the.

Kenneth Wilson: You got to do that in any kind of environment, right? You got to do the work and you got to do the work well, and you got to be fact in data focus now and provide residents with, objective results that are based on not, not subjective things that you make up, but things that are tangible and real that they can see you doing well.

David Martin: All right. Now, the reason why we met is because you host a podcast yourself.

Kenneth Wilson: Talk of the county, right.

David Martin: It’s called talk of the county. Yes. And how often do you release it?

Kenneth Wilson: we, have a episode every other week.

David Martin: Okay. What made you decide to do that?

Kenneth Wilson: to inform, educate and in in, in in an effort to inspire our residents to get them to see what’s good about county government and what county government does. They’re in many in many instances, individuals don’t understand the importance of county government. No. And it it it it doesn’t it doesn’t stand out like, city government. It doesn’t stand out like the federal government.

David Martin: That’s what brought us here.

Kenneth Wilson: It’s a lot of it does. as far as your day to day life and what impacts you, if you need a, a vaccine, if you need, to know whether the restaurant is safe, you’re eating in, did they pass a health inspection? Know if you if you right away, if your dog is loose and it gets picked up, you’re going to go to a place that’s ran by the county.

David Martin: Or your county sheriff or your county school system, or your county airport or your county hospital.

Kenneth Wilson: Yes, yes. so.

David Martin: What’s the reaction of your, of your, of, the podcast, in the county so far?

Kenneth Wilson: it’s been a it’s been positive individuals have, have, indicated that. Wow. I didn’t know that you that the county was in charge of all of these things or at in I didn’t realize it. you know, your colleagues that you’re talking with, have have similar problems and similar, successes, but is is it varies based upon where you at in the country.

And I want this podcast to inform, our residents in Franklin County, Ohio not about just was great going on in our county, which is the primary purpose. this podcast where we can see them. But to know what’s going on, around the country and to know what’s going on around the country will help, residents appreciate how well their county stacks.

David Martin: Well, I hope I was able to provide a little national perspective. in the interview we did for your show. Yes. Good. All right, I appreciate I appreciate you having me on. so I did this to you. You’re welcome to do this to me. Any question? Do you want to ask me.

Kenneth Wilson: What is the toughest question you’ve ever been asked concerning your show and why your show matters?

David Martin: the toughest question. Why does my show matter what I what the answer to? Why do I think our show, The Good Government Show matters is because I think, I hope what we’re doing is we are giving people a listen and a window into how government works and how the people in government sync. And I and my reaction my so far, my reporting has shown that to be fairly positive that for the most part, it is good people who are working hard, who are trying to make a difference.

Kenneth Wilson: What led you to, to do this, to travel around.

David Martin: And so you’re going to take another question. What led me to do this? one of my partners, Valley Park Productions, is, is our company that puts this out. And one of our partners went to one of his friends who was a county commissioner and said, hey, what is it county commissioners actually do? And the county commissioner laughed and said, do you know, that’s the question I get asked the most.

So one of the reasons that we started this podcast and started this idea that led to this podcast, was to explain what it is that county commissioners do and what it is the county government does, and what it is that, city mayors do and what it is that county administrators do and what it is the county executives do.

And we’ve had all those folks on our show.

Kenneth Wilson: good.

David Martin: Back to me. Can I ask questions now? Yeah. All right. Good. All right. Now that it’s back to me, we’re going to get into the, the questionnaire, the Good Government Show questionnaire, where I’m going to get your personal philosophy about government.

And right now you’re listening to Good Government Show and Valley Park Productions. We’ve expanded. If you want to hear more good government, join me over on a new show I’m hosting, Leaving Iowa Good Government in Iowa Cities. I host the show with the mayor of Dubuque, Iowa, Brad Cavanagh. On our show, we talk with mayors and other city leaders across the state of Iowa.

We talk about what makes each city a distinctly Iowan city. We share ideas with mayors around the state. We talk about what works and how each city can do better. It’s an up close look at what’s going on in Iowa, and how the city’s leaders are making Iowa better for the people in Iowa. Every day, there’s a few fun facts.

We talk baseball in Dyersville, Iowa. That’s the site of the actual baseball field for Field of Dreams. There’s a lot to Iowa. Come listen right here. We’re listening now to leading Iowa. Good government. And Iowa City is with me and Brad Cavanaugh. See you there.

Are you ready for this? I’m ready. All right. I asked you this on your show, and I’ve got to ask you on my show. Define good government.

Kenneth Wilson: good government is grounded in equity. it’s grounded in a sense. being efficient and effective and in, having a high about value on the resources that are provided by, the individual taxpayers, and having a understanding that, resources are not limitless. Right. Therefore, you have to have a mind of being as conservative is those resources as you can and can it?

Conservativism matters in this case, because if you’re conservative with your resources, you are able to spread your resources out to cover more problems and to provide more opportunities.

David Martin: And let’s define conservative here. You don’t mean conservative as in.

Kenneth Wilson: All right, political ideas. I’m not I don’t mean conservative as a political ideology.

David Martin: Good money.

Kenneth Wilson: I mean conservative in being a good money manager.

David Martin: A smart.

Kenneth Wilson: Fiscal prudence.

David Martin: Now, you are not an elected official. so I can’t wait for your answer to this. the question I want to ask you is, how do you judge your success? Most elected officials answer by am I reelected? But you don’t get reelected. So how do you judge your success?

Kenneth Wilson: My success? I look at factors such as the county’s, bond rating. having, a double, triple a bond rating matters to me as an administrator.

David Martin: What’s your partner?

Kenneth Wilson: triple.

David Martin: AA. Okay, that’s the best.

Kenneth Wilson: That’s the best as a best credit rating you can have.

David Martin: All right, well, congratulations.

Kenneth Wilson: Like, you know, individual consumer as we got the highest credit score we have. All right, in all in all the things that a credit score is built on is having, stable management having a track record of fiscal prudence, having, the capabilities to obtain the revenue necessary to deal with growing challenges, to not have, a track record of being in fiscal distress to, to have, proof that you have a long range forecast for not just operating, your, government, but for capital planning, because facilities matter.

the business when, while we’ve learned that we can do a lot of things remotely, there are still brick and mortar buildings that are very important in government officials all need to work.

David Martin: All right. good answer. so how should the people of Franklin County know if they’re getting good government? How can they tell.

Kenneth Wilson: If they walk into an office and within a reasonable amount of time, they’re able to receive the asset or receive the information that they need, or to conduct their business and get back to their regular life.

David Martin: And does that.

Kenneth Wilson: Assist? It’s just that simple.

David Martin: Does that happen?

Kenneth Wilson: That happens most of the time.

David Martin: Do you do spot checks? Do you go down and like walk in offices every once in a while and see how they’re doing?

Kenneth Wilson: You see how people are doing you like you need to get out and see how people are doing. Do you like because you don’t want you wanting to? You want to anticipate problems before problems come to you. So as a as an administrator, as a manager is better to be proactive and find out what’s going on. Before I’d come to you, if anybody walks in my office and they have their, director and they say, I got some good news and I got, some bad news.

Which one you want first? I always want to hear the bad news. So I can try to come up with an answer to find my way out of that. Right. Well, I hear the good news. I don’t need the flowers, but behind the flowers is, is something that needs to be dealt with, right? It needs, you know, because problem problems don’t undo themselves.

David Martin: No.

Kenneth Wilson: When, when when when when things that are chronicle that go bad and they go down in history is a lot of times where somebody ignored a problem and thought if they didn’t, if they didn’t talk about it, didn’t deal with it, didn’t do something about it, somehow it’s going to go away.

David Martin: Do you go into different county offices and, you know, the water board? I don’t know anywhere that individuals have to go and interact. You stop into the offices just to see how they’re doing it. Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson: This is very it’s important for people to see you visibly. You can’t just you just can’t sit back in a in an office and act as though your air traffic controller. You got it. You got to get out amongst the people that, that are there doing the work. And you can’t do it alone either. You got to have a strong team.

David Martin: Okay.

Kenneth Wilson: I have, deputy county administrators that I work with that I have confidence in, and they do a really good job of, covering the gaps where I can be.

David Martin: How many how many deputies to two?

Kenneth Wilson: Deputy county striders and I have a third, one as bacon.

David Martin: if people feel like they’re not getting what they want, if they don’t think that you’re being as responsive, you and your office as they as it should be, what? What can you do and what should they do? What should the people do if they don’t like what they’re saying?

Kenneth Wilson: People don’t like what they saying? we meet publicly at a minimum of of twice a week, twice a week. Okay. People show up, in our offices and, and we’ll state if they’re not happy about something, they write, when they’re not happy. Okay. Or something. and we provide answers back when people are unhappy about something or people really, curious and not happy at the same time.

You, you know, you you deal with various public records, requests for information. They want to know what’s going on. All right? They feel like they don’t know what’s going on about a particular thing.

David Martin: what would you like people to know about what is going on in government? What would you like as an insider, and what would you tell people who aren’t on the inside of government?

Kenneth Wilson: I would I would like people, that aren’t on the inside of government to know that, there are a large majority of people that work in government that are in it for the right reasons. They are in it to help people. They’ve been they’ve they have chosen this profession over other things because they’ve had a, a drive somewhere inside to say, I want to be a public servant.

Everyone doesn’t have that.

David Martin: Okay.

Kenneth Wilson: because you depending on what role you play as a public servant, you have to have, a certain amount of empathy. and you have to have the ability to, put, over me.

David Martin: Okay.

Kenneth Wilson: A lot you got really, you know, you know, cliche about, you know, team first, team first. You got to really be, team oriented, individual to be successful. Everyone has their role. Some of us are inherently, tuned to be in leadership roles. But you need people at all levels to really function at, the highest level as far as, governmental entity is concerned.

David Martin: So who is your political hero who inspired you to get into government service?

Kenneth Wilson: There are so, many people at different points of time. I mean, I could.

David Martin: It’s a podcast.

Kenneth Wilson: I go back, I could go back to, you know, the, the, the civil rights era in, in, in, in studying, you know, the sacrifices, you know, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, individuals that were activists had not only, political arenas, but sports arenas. The courage of it of, of a Jackie Robinson, in.

David Martin: Conflict.

Kenneth Wilson: or or. Yes or the the, I was a big, boxing fan as a kid.

David Martin: Okay.

Kenneth Wilson: And the the confidence and and, charisma. Muhammad Ali was something that I was attracted to, as a young man.

David Martin: I met him once. I shook his head. They’re huge.

Kenneth Wilson: Yeah, I mean, I was like, you know, he was just just that sense of confidence. He walked into a room and and and he would say it and he would back it up. And that’s something that I always try to emulate in my own life.

David Martin: Did you, Delbert?

Kenneth Wilson: went to a few kids. Yeah, I was in a few. Community center. Okay. boxing matches. And, as a kid, I had a boxing, bag in my basement. A little speed bag. I came up during the year. Muhammad Ali, sugar Ray Leonard. I thought, you know, I gravitated towards boxing, you know, probably even before football.

All right. And I think it was because of that, that that period in time, you know, boxers were just, you know, they’re prevalent in the sport of boxing, probably was.

David Martin: At that.

Kenneth Wilson: Time.

David Martin: Had there was probably in his prime, I, Muhammad Ali was probably as famous an athlete as anybody.

Kenneth Wilson: Yes. Yeah.

David Martin: So maybe Joe Davis after that.

Kenneth Wilson: I don’t know. So I it was just it was just my time I guess. Know. And and then you know, later, you know, you know, that you know, to, to, to see the challenge is that, President Barack Obama faced and how he successful he was ultimately, even in the face of all of those challenges.

David Martin: So did you want to be president?

Kenneth Wilson: Never wanted to be president. I’m always, I’ve had been approached about running for political office, and I’ve always just had a tendency to want to be that behind the scenes person, to help others be.

David Martin: nobody, nobody grows up wanting to be a kind of administrator. What was your.

Kenneth Wilson: Dream? I, actually thought I was going to be, a lawyer.

David Martin: Okay.

Kenneth Wilson: and, got pulled into, school of, public administration, as a, a stop in between.

David Martin: Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson: and just got into this and didn’t, didn’t end up going to that school. And the rest is history.

David Martin: For good or for. Well, yes. Yeah. all right. So, I am not from Ohio. I’ve been to Columbus once, I must say. tell me about, your favorite dishes. What’s a what’s a typical Columbus, Ohio meal? If I were to come there, why do we have it? Where are you taking?

Kenneth Wilson: Columbus has, unlimited, dining options. yeah. Great Italian food.

David Martin: for Brooklyn, because.

Kenneth Wilson: We got, we have, we do away with, you know, if you’re in a steak, if you in the classic steak houses, we we we we have we have steak, you know, asparagus, you know, the classic white, white tablecloth meals.

David Martin: Okay.

Kenneth Wilson: Jeni’s ice cream,

David Martin: Jerry’s ice cream with ice cream.

Kenneth Wilson: Jeni’s ice cream is great. Ice cream that, was came out of out of, out of Columbus. all kinds of great flavors. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Smith’s, Smith’s sausage in, no famous cream puffs in German village and, yes, it’s just, in Columbus, it was a big test market, for restaurants and have been.

Okay. Wendy’s was founded. Wendy’s hamburgers was founded in, Ohio.

David Martin: Yeah.

Kenneth Wilson: Ohio in Columbus.

David Martin: Okay.

Kenneth Wilson: First Wendy’s was on Broad Street in Columbus. Okay.

David Martin: Is there still a what do you say?

Kenneth Wilson: it’s not a Wendy’s there anymore. It was there for the longest of time. So we have a lot of a lot of great, food options. Tornadoes, pizza, which is Columbus style. The thin crust. Good.

David Martin: It’s not Chicago.

Kenneth Wilson: The state is toppings. You got that? I mean, is.

David Martin: The Cincinnati chili make its way up to Columbus?

Kenneth Wilson: skyline chili has made his way up to Columbus.

David Martin: Okay. All right, how do you order yours?

Kenneth Wilson: I’m a, cheese. and, spaghetti. and.

David Martin: So not all.

Kenneth Wilson: Yeah. Not all the way.

David Martin: Okay. All right. We are. The podcast is called the Good Government Show. We like to end, the show with, some good government project. Tell me about a good government project you’re working on now that’s really, you’re proud of.

Kenneth Wilson: One of the, projects that I’ve been involved in dating back to, 2018 is a program called Building Futures. Is a, apprentice program that opened up doors, for, individuals that are unemployed, unemployed and exposed them to the various options that are available in the skilled trades. you know, those, trades, have not been the most diverse steel in many places across the country.

Okay. And we’ve been able to bring about greater diversity, equity and inclusion into construction trades. Good. Since this program has been in effect. Well, and individuals have, been able to, become, you know, involved in, in taking advantage of the fact that we are a community with so many cranes and so much development by learning how to be electrician, learning how to how to hang drywall, learn how to, do steel, how to do masonry, all of these.

David Martin: Do you ever do in your younger days?

Kenneth Wilson: I have did not do that type of work. I worked in a furniture, factory where you, creating office furniture, putting together office furniture. All right. but not not that. Not the.

David Martin: Construction.

Kenneth Wilson: Not the construction work.

David Martin: All right, before we go, please, I’ll give you an opportunity to invite, listeners of the Good Government show to listen to your podcast. please go ahead and give us your pitch.

Kenneth Wilson: Yes, please check out talk of the county is available. Search talk of the county, Spotify, Apple Music, they are all available. We are in the process of, get into Amazon and did as well. They are podcast.

David Martin: Yep.

Kenneth Wilson: But but check us out. we are focus on educating and inspiring and trying to sprinkle in some entertainment because I like Dax a few surprise and question. I guess I.

David Martin: Hope I surprise you too.

Kenneth Wilson: Yep. You did.

David Martin: Good. All right, well, Kenneth Wilson, Ken Wilson of, the county administrator for, Franklin County, Ohio, thank you for having me on your show. Thank you for being on my show. And, good to meet you.

Kenneth Wilson: Nice to meet you. Thank you, thank you. Thanks.

David Martin: Where do you get your news from? Where do you get your state and local government news from? Because that’s getting harder and harder. And it’s essential to stay updated with your community. And it’s becoming increasingly important to know what’s going on in other cities and states, because they’re likely facing challenges that you’re grappling with, too, are you’re going to face eventually.

That’s why we’d like to welcome our new partner, route 50, to the show. Route 50 is a leading online publication covering state and local governments across the country. They’ve written about states protecting themselves against the rise in cyber attacks, counties using AI to better support citizens services, local responses to crumbling infrastructure and extreme weather, and much, much more.

There’s a lot there. It’s a one stop shop for issues affecting state and local governments and their residents. That’s you. That’s all of us. Do yourself a favor and go to route 50.com to see the topics and solutions they cover, and learn what other people in government are doing. They also deliver a daily newsletter called route 50 today I see it in my inbox every morning.

I check it out and you should too. Thanks again. Route 50. We’re excited to have you on board and being a partner here at the Good Government Show.

What is it the county government does? That’s the question county commissioners get asked the most. And the simple answer is everything on the Good Government show. We’re so lucky to have talked with so many county commissioners and other county officials that have shown us how effective county government is. County government dates back to get this 1634, making it one of the oldest forms of government in the United States.

Think about it. Roads. Highways. Hospitals. Schools. Recycling. Law enforcement. Water. Sewers, and most of the county. Those services are maintained by the county that’s county government. The National Association of Counties represents all 3069 counties across the USA. Naco helps county government work better together through things like sharing best practices. When county government works well, well, that’s just good government.

Kenneth Wilson only asked a few question, but it’s always fun to be on the other side of the questioning, you know, for a change. And I really liked his answer about how he judges success. He said as long as people can walk into an office and get an answer in a reasonable amount of time, the system’s working. And that sounds like government efficiency to be.

And as he works on housing, I like that he’s thinking about it differently and different ways to do it, he said. One thing we might have to do is learn to live closer together. And we’ll hear more about Columbus. On an upcoming conversation with Mayor Anthony Winter that’s coming up. Well, that’s our show for this episode. Thanks for listening.

Please like us and share this with your friends and review us right here. Real Estate and check out our website, The Good Government show.com for extras. Help us keep telling stories of good government in action everywhere. Join us again for another episode right here. I’m Dave Martin and this is the Good Government show.

The Good Government show is a Valley Park production. Jim Ludlow, Dave Martin, that’s me and David Snyder are the executive producers. Our show is edited and produced by Jason Stershic. Please subscribe, then share and like us and review us. That’s the best way to make sure we’re able to keep telling these stories of our government working for all of us.

Then listen to the next episode of The Good Government Show.

**This transcription was created using digital tools and has not been edited by a live person. We apologize for any discrepancies or errors.