Virginia-native boosting Anson’s government

WADESBORO — A Virginia-native found himself moving to Anson County only a few short months after graduating from Elon University in 2019 as part of the Lead for North Carolina Fellowship.

The fellowship program, based out of University of North Carolina School of Government, only started in 2019. LFNC aims to recruit, train and place the state’s young leaders, like Liam Brailey, into government positions to help strengthen and support the community.

“Lead for North Carolina started by going to municipalities and counties across the state and saying, ‘If you have a need, let us know and we will find the worker for you,’” Brailey said. “I’m from Vienna, Virginia and I’m actually the only fellow in the program who wasn’t raised in North Carolina.”

Brailey is part of the program’s first cohort. He trained with other fellows working across the state and other Lead for America leaders in Washington D.C. for a week before uprooting his life and moving to Anson’s small-town community in August of 2019.

He graduated as a double major in Political Science and Policy Studies from Elon. Plus he added on two minors in History and Classical Studies because two majors wasn’t enough.

“The minors overlapped a lot,” Brailey said. “I kind of accidentally got the Classic Studies one.”

When Brailey first went to college, he was interested in national politics, especially since he grew up in the Washington D.C. area. Both of his parents work for the government and so does his brother. It seemed like a natural fit to also work in government.

“The world has changed since I went to college and I wanted something where I could see the difference I make everyday,” Brailey said. “Just seeing the impact that you’ll have on the world is something that I really wanted from a job. My sophomore or junior year I decided local government is where I wanted to go with my degree.”

He first interned in his hometown and really felt the impact he could make locally. Then when this opportunity with LFNC came up, he could not pass it up.

Culture shock hit Brailey when he first moved to Anson. He came from a county with more than a million residents. Now here in Anson, he is working with the county on a $38 million budget and only 25,000 residents.

“People have been incredibly welcoming,” Brailey said. “I have found a routine and also Barron (Monroe) is just such a great boss that the transition has been smooth and I’ve been able to do a lot of really great work. I’m really proud of that.”

His routine includes weekly coffee purchases at Speckled Paw or eating at Oliver’s. He is always trying to support local. He finds himself going for a run at the park, which he hopes more people will take advantage of, or reading. Even being 400 plus miles away from home, he is still connecting with family through technology and even playing video games with his brother online.

Although he felt only a few months ago his work was not making an impact in his role, he said now, everything is falling into place.

Brailey has recently been immersed in the budgeting and reporting process. He’s created Anson County’s first revenue manual. It explains all the different revenue sources for the county with a five year history.

“I did a basic salary study,” Brailey said. “We had a question on EMS employees and their pay and if it was inline with state averages and local averages. I created a dashboard that will let us see for all of our employees.”

He also designed a new system to outline finances when presenting to the board when asking for financial assistance. He wrote requests for proposals in two different projects with the help of the financial employees.

“The other avenue that I’ve gone done is I’ve work with HR a lot,” Brailey said. “I’m the founder of the Anson County Department Head Book Club. I love reading a lot! The purpose of that is to get the department heads together and developing and talking.”

He also helped with the development of the Anson County Executive Service, which is a training program for supervisors in the county. It is about two or three months of training to help them develop as leaders.

“Hopefully, the budget when it comes out in June will look radically different than last year,” Brailey said. If so, he wants some credit because he had a major role in changing the budget.

When his fellowship wraps up in June, Brailey is hoping to pursue a master’s degree and one day become a county manager, leaving behind a legacy as a fellow in Anson County.