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It is coming up on two years since Humboldt County Administrative Officer Phil Smith-Hanes decided to pull up stakes and move back to the area where he grew up. After six years leading a coastal California county, he is now living and working almost in the center of the nation as the County Administrator in Ellis County Kansas. He was kind enough to answer a few questions about the difference between the two counties, and what’s the same as well.

In nearly five years as the Executive Director of CSAC, I’ve met county supervisors from all walks of life. They are as diverse as the 58 counties they represent, but they share at least one thing in common: They love their communities and want to help make them better. And they were elected because they understand and reflect the needs of their constituents. The California Constitution recognizes that decisions about local issues should be made by a level of government that is accessible to the people affected by those decisions.

Who needs libraries these days? With the internet and smart phones, the world’s wealth of information is available at your fingertips. However, in much of rural California, libraries are still playing a vital role in accessing information and building community.  For 100 years, the Tuolumne County Library has been a community focal point.  Recently, however, it has also become an essential place for many people to access the internet, because phone service and the internet are still not available everywhere.

Shopping in the 21st century is rapidly changing as more and more people discard the malls for the ease of buying online — often from complete strangers. These exchanges, however, can be fraught with danger and lead to harm or even death. As buying online is becoming the new norm, it will take 21st-century thinking to protect consumers from potential risk.

The word “home” can mean different things to different people. One’s home can be a stationary building, such as a house or an apartment. Or, increasingly so, it can be on wheels. The “tiny home” movement promises flexibility to move your home from one place to another. One can choose to live alone in a home or with family or friends. And for some, they don’t have much of a choice at all about where they call “home” and having one is something they dream of and work tirelessly towards.

I’ve been a proud member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for almost 37 years. I’ve witnessed a lot during those decades: Acts of heroism by deputies willing to risk their lives for perfect strangers, and tragedies often too horrific to describe.

We asked Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo to reflect on the differences, similarities, rewards, and challenges of serving in state and local government.

After proudly serving in the California State Assembly for six years, the transition from the State Capitol to county government as a new Monterey County Supervisor has been a smooth one for me. While in Sacramento, I was proud to have authored 76 bills and 16 resolutions, including landmark laws to allow immigrants to obtain drivers licenses, to raise California’s minimum wage and to modernize our complex groundwater adjudication laws and procedures.