Political Notebook: Ulman, staff prepare for state of the county address

Howard County Executive Ken Ulman hates giving prepared speeches. But once a year, he and his staff spend countless hours poring over notes, outlines and drafts to create his state of the county address, and that time is now.

"It's the one out of the year that really needs to be prepared," Ulman said.

The speech is a culmination of the past year's accomplishments and a preview of what's in store for the year ahead — topics Ulman said he could spend hours talking about.

"To get it down to a 20-minute, 24-minute speech is really the challenge," he said.

Ulman will deliver his annual speech Thursday, Feb. 2 at a Howard County Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Turf Valley resort.

Kevin Enright, director of the Office of Public Information, said he blocked out time on Ulman's schedule nine months ago because of how many hours they spend preparing the speech.

At the end of 2011, Ulman asked his department heads for a list of accomplishments and things they have in store for 2012. His staff then whittled down the two- or three-inch stack of notes into a small binder for Ulman to sift through.

Brainstorming sessions helped turn the notes into outlines and the outlines into drafts, which Enright, Deputy Chief of Staff Ian Kennedy and Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs David Nitkin all had a hand in writing. Ulman does some of the writing, too.

"Sometime next week, he'll come in with three pages of stuff that he's hand-written on his own," Kennedy said after a brainstorming session last week.

Said Ulman: "I'm probably a royal pain for my staff just because I am so engaged in it because I think it's important. We spend a lot of time on it."

On Friday, Jan. 27, Ulman sat at the head of the table in the executive conference room of the George Howard building in Ellicott City and discussed the latest draft of the speech with Enright, Kennedy, Nitkin and Director of Constituent and Community Affairs Candace Dodson Reed.

"I think we lay out — and a lot of this is in here — here's what we're doing really well," Ulman said. "And then we say, 'OK, where do we go from here?' "

Nitkin asked Ulman if he should mention there's a sense of urgency because Ulman has only three years left as county executive.

"I think there's always a sense of urgency," Ulman said. "I think we can say that the world is moving so fast," he added, then rattled off a string of words that clearly resonated with his staff, who all put their pens to paper and started jotting down notes.

It was just one idea of a handful they discussed that morning and several they've discussed over the past few months.

"We've got to touch on the nuts and bolts, which we do every year," Enright said. "We need to — without being boring somehow — remind people we do the nuts and bolts very well."

The group also spent awhile discussing the broadband initiative and how best to incorporate it in the speech.

"My biggest frustration with broadband is it doesn't pop to the average person," Ulman said, explaining they need to balance giving the facts with telling stories of how it has and will impact the county.

After a few hours of tossing around ideas and edits, Ulman had to leave to get to another meeting.

"Thank you guys and gal for good work," he told his staff on his way out. "It's coming along."

How well it came along will be determined Thursday as Ulman delivers the final product — which probably will include a few last-minute jokes.

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