County Officials

County Board of Supervisors or City Council

Of all the relationships a roadside manager has, the relationship with the county board of supervisors (or city council for municipal roadside managers) is in many ways the most important. Supervisors approve integrated roadside management program budgets, support grant applications, oversee individual projects, and more. Building and maintaining a close, collaborative relationship with the board lays the groundwork for a successful roadside program and sets the roadside manager up for success.

Members of the county board of supervisors can better understand roadside management programs if the roadside manager provides quarterly reports at board of supervisors meetings and invites supervisors on regular shop visits and tours. Engaging supervisors in discussions aligned with their interests, such as spraying weeds and brush mulching, helps build good relationships.

For example, aggressively spraying noxious weeds during the peak months of June and July and communicating about that work to the supervisors via an email update is one way to gain positive attention. Demonstrating progress in problem areas by sharing pictures of spraying and quantifying the work in acres treated shows the value of the work of the roadside manager. Showcasing projects and showing the supervisors that the work of the roadside manager is just as integral as any other facet of county road maintenance also helps garner support.

County Roads Department

Internal communication and outreach help foster good relationships, collaboration, and goodwill, even with colleagues in departments roadside managers work closest with—county roads or city streets departments. A well-connected roads/streets team also makes for smoother workflows and decision-making processes. 

Keeping engineers and secondary roads superintendents updated about planned actions is key to maintaining alignment with road projects. Involving secondary roads employees in brush control activities that transition from manual to more effective methods establishes good rapport with the roads department.

Offering training sessions to secondary roads employees on invasive plants, herbicide safety, and environmental concerns is beneficial for both departments. 

Remember, because the roadside vegetation program staff consists of only 1–4 people, making connections with other staff is crucial. The benefits of being an integrated part of the county or city government are plentiful, and the consequences of allowing yourself to become siloed could put the program’s future at risk. Additional internal communication practices worth considering:

• Be responsive. Fieldwork is the lifeblood of your job, but being out of the office frequently does not mean you should be hard to reach. Schedule time at your desk so you can reply to emails and return phone calls within 24 hours.
• Share updates from roadside vegetation management with the staff member responsible for county or city internal communications. They may include what you share in internal email updates, printed newsletters, etc.
• Offer to provide content about your program’s work for bulletin boards or display cases in county or city facilities.
• Introduce yourself to the county or city director of communications (or equivalent title) and express your interest in keeping county or city staff informed about the program.

Volunteer for internal committees (e.g., social, hiring, strategic planning) to show your willingness to collaborate and make connections outside of the roads/streets team.

County Conservation

Leveraging collaboration between departments, such as the conservation board and public works staff, supports the transition toward an integrated approach in proposing ideas. Many of the tips for internal communication for the county roads department listed above can also apply to the county conservation department.

Reports About Iowa County Official Perspectives on Roadside Vegetation Management

In 2016 and 2017, the Tallgrass Prairie Center (TPC) roadside program manager conducted research funded by the Living Roadway Trust Fund (LRTF) with social scientists from the UNI Center for Social and Behavioral Research on perceptions of roadside vegetation management from roadside managers, county engineers, county conservation board directors, and chairs of the boards of supervisors. Personnel from all Iowa county officials were surveyed, regardless of if they had a roadside program or not.

The survey results provide a sense of what stakeholders you will be working closely with think about topics such as mowing, soil erosion, cost savings, and the influence of roadside managers on the county’s overall approach toward use of native vegetation. These insights can be helpful to draw on when considering what topics to prioritize and emphasize when communicating internally. It is still important to talk to the stakeholders in your county or city to find out where they stand, as their opinions may vary from the general sentiment gathered from the survey. However, the survey results do provide helpful background information that can inform your strategic communications approach. 

Survey questions for roadside managers and engineers primarily focused on how they manage roadside vegetation, such as:

Survey questions for chairs of the board of supervisors and county conservation board directors included the following:

Reports summarizing results from all of these surveys can be found on the Tallgrass Prairie Center's "Survey Reports" page.