Digital Counties 2022: Winners Innovate and Collaborate
Source: Gov Tech by Julia Edinger
The 52 top jurisdictions in this year's Digital Counties Survey from the Center for Digital Government are using new strategies for cybersecurity, workforce and digital services to move toward the future.
This year, the winning counties in the Digital Counties Survey from the Center for Digital Government* are those that have used the challenges that have emerged since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as opportunities to learn, to invest and to collaborate.
The shift to remote work fueled a need to examine and improve upon the strength of county workforces and cybersecurity. Federal funding opportunities that emerged in response to the pandemic have boosted investment in broadband. And the need to innovate quickly has driven the creation of new partnerships — both interdepartmental and those that involve public-private collaboration.
What sets apart the winning counties this year is their ability to leverage the challenging times to reimagine traditional strategies and propel their technology approaches forward.
NEVADA COUNTY, CALIF., 1ST PLACE, UP TO 150,000 POPULATION CATEGORY
Nevada County, Calif.'s small population did not stop it from making major strides in technology across the board this year. These advances start with having a well-running, mature IT organization as the foundation for innovation — something the county will continue going forward, according to CIO Steve Monaghan.
Woven together through all the county’s efforts is a collaborative enterprise technology governance model that allows interdepartmental collaboration, such as between the public records requests system and lobby management and queuing systems.
“That’s what an IT governance structure will do for us is provide that forum, that place to gather everybody and have those conversations,” Monaghan said.
For Nevada County, technology innovations range from security to digital equity. And to improve collaboration and connectivity, the county is working to position itself as a desirable county for Internet service providers to invest.