CountyFest hits the capital city to make North Dakota’s county governments stronger

BISMARCK, ND ( KXNET ) — There are 53 counties in North Dakota. And while our state might not be the biggest, county officials are still separated by hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from each other.

And to be sure North Dakota keeps running smoothly, communication is key — and that’s where the North Dakota Association of Counties Annual (NDACo) Conference, or CountyFest, comes in.

“We do think this conference is probably one of the most valuable things that we do as an association,” says NDACo communications director Jeff Eslinger.

Today was the conference’s registration day. And for the next few days, the conference will host presentations from keynote speakers, award ceremonies, and break-out sessions, where officials get to learn everything from IT to planning and zoning.

“Literally at every single table,” says Eslinger, “they’ll be talking about things like, hey, what do you do when somebody wants to close a section line? You can go out there and have classes on [that] sort of thing.”

The conference’s host, NDACo, represents all 53 county governments in legislative matters and helps facilitate communication between counties.

Bringing in more than 400 county officials, the conference is a way to learn about what members can do for their communities.

Organizers say this year, there will be new topics like better ways to remedy and resolve human trafficking and planning and zoning in the cryptocurrency age.

And for conference leaders, they say this conference is vital not only for county officials but North Dakota as a whole.

“When they get together and just talk to each other,” says Eslinger, “that networking opportunity is probably the best thing that we offer here at this conference and as often as we can throughout the year.”

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