The following short video of Graham Knaus, CEO of the California Association of Counties, was one of seven we filmed at the National Academy of Public Administration’s annual conference in Washington D.C. between November 2 and November 4. This year, Knaus was among a select group of individuals who were elected to be NAPA fellows.

In this video, Knaus, talks about how the intergovernmental partnership between the federal, state and local government are “unraveling,” in his words.

“The first thing to keep in mind,” he says, “is the relevance that counties sit at the intersection of three different forces, politics, policy and practice.   Ultimately at the end of the day we need the resources, the authority and the flexibility to do things in a way that makes sense in our communities.

“And in order to do that we need the federal and state government to focus on what needs to be accomplished and who does the work and then get out of the way so we can figure out how that work should be accomplished.”

This is the fourth of seven videos in this series. The first was with Robert Shea, CEO of GovNavigators and former associate director at the US Office of Management and Budget; the second was with Sue Schwartz, president of the American Planning Association and the third was with Matt Hart, executive director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments in Hartford, Connecticut, all of which can be found at the bottom of this page.