County leaders feeling hesitant about artificial intelligence (AI) entering their workplaces need to realize the technology is already there – and will be a boon to them and their staffs, said a National Association of Counties (NACo) expert in the newest episode of Podcast 83.

Rita Reynolds, NACo’s chief information officer, and host Stephan Currie conducted a wide-ranging discussion on AI terminology, its scope and how county leaders can use a new NACo toolkit to adapt to this seminal technology.

“When you start looking at some of those recommendations in generative AI, and were we first going to start seeing it in county government, where are we going to see it initially?” Currie asked. “Is it in the back office? Is it front office? … Talk a little bit about that, where you're starting to see counties implement some generative AI.”

“Early on ― and even now ― there's a definite focus with what we would call the productivity applications, which really, mostly, are the back office,” Reynolds replied. “So, for productivity, it's those type of tasks where I'm doing the same thing over and over, and it's taking me a lot of time, or it is so repetitive that’s why I can hand this off to someone.

“And it could be as simple as meeting notes, having the artificial intelligence work for you during a meeting and summarize the meeting minutes at the end of it, it could be taking a chunk of information, maybe you've written something for an article, but you're not happy with the way it's worded. Or you need to reword it in simpler terms. And so that's generative AI, as we call it, the tool that allows you to put information in and it generates out a response that is potentially easier to understand or more professional.”

“What do you foresee the future now is of this toolkit?” Currie asked.

“We already do have a game plan and a roadmap. Basically, the toolkit is live on the naco.org website. … There's also an interactive, tabular type page that allows you to say, ‘I'm an elected official, take me to those sections that I need to really be aware of.’ And it'll take you to the benefits, the challenges, the opportunities, some use cases and then several, not all, of the work recommendations,” Reynolds explained.

“I would like to just mention,” Reynolds concluded, “from the challenge perspective, the (NACo) committee was very cognizant that there are areas such as accuracy, relevancy and, of course, particularly bias that could be in the data. And we've all said all along, there's always been that type of problem. Generative AI just brings it to the forefront and actually gives counties now the opportunity to be better at cleaning up the data and making it relevant.”

A review of the major changes in county mental health responsibilities in recent decades and the challenges now confronting counties in the mental health space are the focus of a new special episode of Podcast 83.

Richard Carpenter, a specialist with Rehmann, a MAC Premier Partner, sat down with host Stephan Currie to reiterate and expand on points he made during a presentation at this year’s Legislative Conference.

“In the late’ 70s and early’ 80s, the state started to close a lot of the state facilities … and that's where the counties really started picking up that responsibility,” Carpenter explained.

Carpenter noted several resource opportunities for counties today:

• “We've even seen really good partnerships with Mental Health First Aid training that some counties are getting very involved in with their community mental health services programs, so their first responders are ready to identify and respond to those emergencies that might include a behavioral health component.”

• “We do see opportunities with both our state General Fund dollars at the Community Mental Health Services programs and our Medicaid dollars; I can't stress enough that our Medicaid dollars can help individuals stay out of … incarceration.”

• “There is access through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in what they call the Community Mental Health Block grants. And they still have … substance abuse and prevention and treatment block grant dollars.”

“When I look into the future, what are the hot things that I would recommend people kind of keep their ears open for keep their eyes on,” concluded Carpenter, “the no. 1 of them is the (Certified) Community Behavioral Health Clinic. The state of Michigan is putting a lot of dollars into that CCBHC program.”

Host: Stephan Currie

Guests: Seamus Dowdall of NACo and Madeline Fata of MAC

Topic: A national advocate on broadband internet expansion visited with Podcast 83 recently to give updates on two major programs affecting Michigan ― one that is stuck awaiting congressional action and another that is on the brink of making local investments.

Seamus Dowdall, legislative director for telecommunications

Created in 2021, ACP has brought about $520 million into

Unfortunately, funding for the work lapsed on June 1 and Congress has yet to restore it, Dowdall said.

“The way the program has been designed is it has relied on

Better news is found, Dowdall explained, on the BEAD

States will receive the portion of $42 billion in federal

“Most states are at a point now where they have designed

Host: Stephan Currie
Guests: Kaitlynn Lamie, president and CEO of the Michigan Association of United Ways; Sarah Kile, director of community and partner engagement for Michigan 211

Topic: How county leaders can assist the growing number of Michigan households experiencing financial hardship is the focus of a special episode of Podcast 83. Host Stephan Currie welcomed two special guests to discuss a recent report on financial hardships and an important informational tool for families to access help.

“ALICE is a study that stands for ‘Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed,’” explained Lamie. “We now have 10 years of ALICE data, and this is really looking at folks who are working, yet still struggling to make ends meet.

“The newest data (from May) showed that we have 100,000 new households in Michigan that fall below that ALICE threshold,” she added. With these additions, 41 percent of Michigan households are below the threshold. Those households, though, can connect for assistance via 211.

“Every county in Michigan is covered with a simple three-digit number when you're looking for assistance,” said Kile. “So, you don't have to figure it out on your own. We have trained, nationally accredited folks who ― 24 hours a day, seven days a week ― are waiting to find resources for individuals in your community. The most common are housing, food, utilities ― the basic needs.

“There are so many county commissioners, county leaders all over who've supported 211, whether it's letters of support for funding or letters of support to get the service in their community,” she added.

Host: Deena Bosworth
Guests: Madeline Fata and Samantha Gibson of MAC
Topic: A $30 million boost to county revenue sharing highlights the fiscal 2025 state budget. But this 11.5 percent increase to the revenue sharing total of $291 million will not mean every county will get 11.5 percent more, MAC’s Deena Bosworth explained in a special budget episode of Podcast 83.

The increase of $30 million will be distributed differently than traditional statutory revenue sharing payments. Those payments will be calculated based on an inverse relationship to the taxable value of your county, as compared to the rest of the state

“We don’t have the numbers broken out by county yet, or what that percentage increase is going to be for each county. But as soon as the Department of Treasury puts that together, we will make sure that all of you have it so you know what to anticipate,” Bosworth said.

“So, overall, a very healthy increase. It’s not one-time monies … it is ongoing, the way that it’s written,” Bosworth added.

On other budget fronts affecting counties:

Samantha Gibson noted a new $17 million for county prosecutors to address their hiring and staff retention crisis. “The distribution will go to 15 counties with the highest rates of violent crime per 1,000 residents,” Gibson said. “At this time, I do not have what that list of 15 counties is, but I’m sure we’ll have that very soon here.”

“There is $74.5 million in the transportation budget for 30 individual critical infrastructure projects,” said Madeline Fata, “so some of you might have been lucky enough to be on that list and have some projects coming to your communities.”

Fata also noted two absences from the budget:

While the Legislature’s work on the fiscal 2025 state budget

Podcast 83 host Stephan Currie and guests Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata and Samantha Gibson engaged in a wide-ranging discussion on policy in Lansing in the podcast’s newest episode on June 11.

County hiring legislation

“(House Bill 5203) would allow those counties that have

MAC worked to expand the legislation, though, so it can be

MAC’s expectation is HB 5203 will clear the Senate committee this week and may reach the governor’s desk for signature before the Legislature leaves Lansing for the summer.

Economic/public investment strategies

The lion’s share of legislative attention in Lansing right

The complicated legislative package involves bills from both

A major portion of the work of interest to MAC, “Michigan

What remains is the “Michigan Mobility Trust Fund,” which

Juror compensation

“So, a while back, a jury reform task force met and came up

“That in and of itself, not an issue. The issue lies in

“(M)y goal is to ensure that that responsibility does not fall onto the county,” Gibson added.

Negotiations continue on the bills, which won’t be taken up

County officials need to be taking concrete actions now to prepare for the November implementation of a controversial state law on siting renewable energy facilities, a University of Michigan analyst told Podcast 83 in a new episode.

“If you hire outside legal counsel, or if you have outside planning experts, you need to get them on retainer now because everybody is going to be changing their ordinances between August and the end of the year,” said Sarah Mills of the university’s Center for EmPowering Communities.

Public Act 233 was adopted in 2023 despite opposition from MAC and others due to its assault on local control by giving ultimate authority on siting decisions to the unelected Public Service Commission (PSC).

In a wide-ranging discussion with host Stephan Currie and MAC’s Madeline Fata, Mills explained that the law still leaves local governments with responsibilities ― and opportunities.

“One of the things that's really important is to think about what the law does, and what it doesn't do,” Mills said. “So zoning is still in effect; local governments can still zone for renewables. It's just for those biggest projects. So solar projects that are over about 400 acres, wind projects that are like 330 or so and then energy storage projects, which we don't have very many of right now. But this kind of scale of project that we're talking about is something that could be on as little as five acres of land.”

Mills noted that the PSC will be issuing its final draft recommendations on how to implement the law on June 21, then the body will take feedback on them before issuing the final official plan around Aug. 9.

In the meantime, Mills said, counties need to decide whether they’ll adopt an ordinance at all, a compatible renewable energy ordinance (CREO) or a workable ordinance that allows locals to set criteria outside of the law but that might still be attractive to developers.

With legislative activity largely squelched last week due to

Podcast 83 host Stephan Currie discussed with guests Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata and Samantha Gibson what the next "20 to 30 days" will look like at the State Capitol in the latest episode of Podcast 83.

Budgets/revenue sharing

"We are waiting for them to finalize each and every one

Negotiations continue over the differing approaches taken by the House and Senate, with MAC strongly favoring the Senate approach, which would mean a $52 million boost in the first year for counties, Bosworth explained.

County hiring rules

"At a Senate Local Government Committee meeting

Medicaid coverage for jail inmates

"Something we've talked about at length at the policy

Voting regulations

"Something kind of bigger that I do anticipate movement

Those bills are meant to codify the federal Voting Rights Act, but the way they were initially written puts a massive burden on our local clerks. And it could potentially expose local governments to some legal challenges and lawsuits. But in stakeholder meetings, I think we've made some great progress to mirror the federal act more closely. So, we've made some progress, and we have to review those drafts more closely. We'll keep you posted on some movement."

Energy siting law

With the pivot of the ballot group Citizens for Local Choice from the 2024 ballot to the 2026 one, counties need to start working on complying with the state law passed in 2023 that encroaches deeply on local control on renewable energy locations:

"For those counties who do handle zoning, if you were holding out hope that this would be successful, unfortunately, come November of this year, that law takes effect," said Fata. "So, you will need to get your plans in order. Sarah Mills and Madeleine Krol from the University of Michigan have put together an excellent article that will be in our June magazine later this month that details the three paths that a local government may take moving forward. So, stay tuned for that."

Legislators continue to grind on a fiscal 2025 state budget,

While the governor, the House and the Senate all have

Like the House, the Senate is pursuing MAC’s trust fund

“(The Senate) wants to do 9.1 percent of the state sales tax

The next big step in the budget process is the Consensus

In other Capitol news:

Two special elections being held today (April 16) for the

“There are two House seats that need to be filled: the 13th

“It's been … four weeks since we've had any potential

“We keep talking about the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund bills, and I can't, for the life of me, understand how it's wrapped up in different issues,” said Governmental Affairs Director Deena Bosworth, “But we've been waiting on them to move (the bills) since November. … And we really do need somebody to have a majority in the state House so that we can get some stuff moving.”

Other topics discussed in this week’s episode:

·  Legislation governing short-term rental regulations

·  The upcoming Michigan Counties Legislative Conference