Sandoval County Treasurer Laura M. Montoya joined more than 3,000 county officials from across the country last week for the 2018 National Association of Counties (NACo) annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The conference featured working sessions on the ongoing opioid crisis, disaster response and the impact of recent Supreme Court decisions on counties, including online sales tax.

Treasurer Montoya, chair of the NextGen Network, which is the largest national network of young and young-at-heart elected officials, partnered with Oasis Center in Nashville. The Oasis center has six organizations under one roof assisting in 22 different community programs. NextGen sponsored a service project to stuff 200 backpacks with snacks, personal items and inspirational hand written notes, that will go out to homeless and those who are down-on-their luck between the ages of 18 and 24.

“The annual service project is a way to contribute a piece of ourselves and the idea of service in a community,” Treasurer Montoya said. “We have an opportunity to impact the most vulnerable through developed programs within the community. We also get an opportunity to bring those ideas back home and implement what may make sense within our own county.”

In addition to leading the NextGen Community Service Project, Treasurer Montoya also led the charge to pass a resolution regarding the Municipal Advisor Rule, as part of her Vice-Chair role on NACo’s Finance, Pensions and Intergovernmental Affairs Steering Committee. The resolution, which was one of 11 passed by the committee and approved by NACo as a whole, passed unanimously and demonstrates NACo and county support for regulations passed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that require registration of municipal advisors and separation the duties of municipal advisors and financial advisors to prevent manipulation of government finances or use of government financial transactions for personal gain.

“It was a huge accomplishment to get this resolution to be a NACo priority. Now, we will have the national resources to assist us with adding the wording back into the Dodd-Frank Act,” said Treasurer Montoya. “It is critical that there are separation of roles and duties when you are making decisions regarding the investment of taxpayer dollars.”

Also while at the conference, Treasurer Montoya spoke as a panelist on the “Digital Future of Payments: Expanding Electronic Access for County Residents” seminar and welcomed over 250 first-time attendees at the NACo First-Time Attendees Breakfast event.

To learn more about NACo, visit: naco.org To learn more about the Oasis Center, visit: oasiscenter.org