Summary: The Institute for Emerging Issues recently provided a series of workshops at the state’s biggest gathering of underappreciated elected officials—the annual meeting of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. The conference brought together most of the state’s 587 county commissioners and 100 county managers for three days to work through some of the biggest issues our state is facing—health care, education, jobs, opioid addiction and taxes. This week’s First in Future guest is Kevin Austin, the president of the state association of county commissioners. For the past 11 years, he has been a Yadkin County commissioner. We talked with him about the biggest priorities of the association, how to balance public service and a day job, and what it’s like to be on the front lines of making day-to-day decisions that affect everyone’s life, knowing they can second guess you on everything.
