The NOAA Central Region Hosts County Officials at NACo 2008 

Caren Madsen
NOAA Office of Communications

NOAA responded to the “Show Me State” challenge when the agency participated in the 2008 National Association of Counties Annual Conference and Exposition in Kansas City, Mo., in mid-July. The conference drew about 4,000 county officials from all over the country.  The NOAA exhibit attracted visitors from 33 states.  

“This was a great example of regional collaboration at its best,” said Mike Hudson, National Weather Service Central Region Chief Operations Officer, who serves on two agency teams dedicated to regionalization. “This all came together nicely with a strong team effort between headquarters and several regions.”    

NOAA’s Coastal Services Center led joint sessions with NACo to highlight their cooperation on the Digital Coast initiative and GIS capabilities.  Julie Adolphson, Meteorologist-in-Charge for the Pleasant Hill/Kansas City, Mo., Local Forecast Office, joined U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Steve Johnson for a session on climate science.      

NOAA’s exhibit space highlighted NOAA climate services, hazard resilience, and many of the agency’s public safety and coastal programs. These exhibits generated great interest from county commissioners and supervisors. 

The Central Regional Team set up the “Teaching Tornado” tabletop display in the center of the exhibit, which attracted curious conference attendees.  Large street signs for the Turn Around; Don’t Drown and StormReady programs also drew foot traffic and a number of positive comments about NOAA’s important role in public safety.  Many county officials from the Central Region stopped by to talk about the recent Midwest floods and pick up materials as they chatted with NOAA meteorologists. 

“NOAA is a great organization and has been a consistent federal partner for us,” said Kelly Zonderwyk, NACo’s Senior Associate for Community Services.  “We’re interested to see what direction a National Climate Service may take and we’re glad to be included in the stakeholder discussions underway.  Our county officials rely on NOAA services.”