Digital Counties 2021: Winners Pivot from Response to Recovery
Source: GovTech | Zack Quaintance | July 15, 2021
In the 19th annual Digital Counties Survey, leading jurisdictions have moved on from immediate emergency response and are now looking at lessons learned as well as at what work should turn permanent.
This year’s 19th annual Digital Counties Survey, from the Center for Digital Government,* was conducted against a unique backdrop, with county governments nationwide facing a second consecutive year of fast-changing, unprecedented challenges and circumstances.
Whereas last year’s surveys were collected and publicized in the earlier months of the pandemic — at a time when what passes for an end was still well out of sight — this year’s were perhaps completed in slightly rosier times. Just a little bit, as vaccination distribution continues and the country begins to open up. As such, there is almost a pivot evidenced by this year’s group as compared to last year — a move from response to recovery within much of the work reported.
What this has specifically meant for many counties is a continued emphasis on as well as an acceleration of work related to digital equity and broadband. That’s not all, of course. Strong work started before as well as during the pandemic in other areas also continued, but there is definitely a sense in the surveys of new lessons learned, a changed attitude — among all involved with the work — and a desire to make some initiatives started amid crisis permanent.
Following is a look at where this year’s winning counties are at, where they have had their major successes, what some of the biggest remaining challenges are and what they’ve learned that will help shape their futures.
Albemarle County, Va., 1st Place, Up to 150,000 Population Category
The ways in which survey respondents invested in broadband and digital equity varied quite a bit. Albemarle County, Va., made one of the more direct commitments to the work, creating an office of broadband to tackle getting residents connected.
Mike Culp is now the director of the Albemarle County Broadband Accessibility and Affordability Office, and when discussing the survey, he stressed the importance of the name. It encapsulates an awareness in the county that residents — many of whom are unconnected and in rural areas — may lack the ability to afford high-speed Internet, even if the service is available where they live.
With that in mind, the county has hopes that the office can really address the affordability challenges, be it through working with existing electrical co-ops or other means. Another area of focus within this is digital literacy, which means ensuring that residents have the skills they need to use the Internet in meaningful ways that benefit their lives. Culp said the awareness of the importance of this work is something that has really taken hold throughout the county government, especially in the wake of a pandemic that emphasized the importance of being able to access everything from government to health care at home through a computer.
“In this new often-digital world,” Culp said, “it seems like the most vulnerable are often the most disconnected.”
Like the other winners in this year’s survey, however, digital equity and broadband was far from the only area of success in Albemarle’s survey. The county also received exemplary marks for work regarding cybersecurity, especially its formalized cybersecurity incident response plan designed to block attacks as well as help during the eventuality of a successful intrusion.
Finally, officials in Albemarle are also proud of how their staff have adapted to virtual meetings, with Culp noting they are now in the process of bringing people back to the office, which entails taking steps to not curtail anyone’s productivity. This could mean creating hoteling situations, hybrid work setups or making moves so that offices mirror home setups in terms of what kind of equipment is available.
“We’re trying to figure out new ways to keep people in that productivity window,” Culp said.
Click here to view all winners in this population category.
Cabarrus County, N.C., 1st Place, 150,000 to 249,999 Population Category
While all the winners learned new lessons from emergency and crisis response, they also almost uniformly stressed that the priorities that existed before the pandemic still remained, and none more so than cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity was one of the primary areas in which Cabarrus County, N.C., excelled. Todd Shanley is the chief information officer for Cabarrus, and he said, as is the case for many jurisdictions, that ransomware is Carbarrus’ top cybersecurity concern. A significant portion of the work around preventing ransomware attacks involves staff training, with a special focus on why this educational piece is important.
“If you don’t explain the why up front, you’re not going to …