School of Government Office Hours Support Hurricane Helene Recovery Efforts

On a Monday morning in March, School of Government faculty member Kara Millonzi prepares to lead more than 50 public officials in a weekly ritual she calls “Finance Office Hours.” It is a time she and her colleagues set aside each week for the last five years—or sometimes every other week—to pull together the public finance officers working in local and state governments across North Carolina via Zoom.

These are not your average office hours for a university professor. For starters, everyone participating is a professional, most of them have their camera off, and while Millonzi’s tone is upbeat and helpful and her information is designed to be accessible to students, the content is dense and loaded with acronyms, technical language, and slides. And it comes on the heels of North Carolina’s worst and most expensive natural disaster: Hurricane Helene.

County and municipal government employees were on the front lines of this disaster and continue to work the front lines of the recovery effort. A December 2024 report by the Office of State Budget and Management noted that two keys to success in storm recovery are “1) quickly mobilizing significant, flexible capital and (2) proactively investing in local capacity and expertise to support post-disaster efforts.”

It's the “significant, flexible capital” part that Millonzi has been working on lately after nearly two decades advising North Carolina’s local governments in the areas of public budgeting and finance. In addition to helping them shore up their financial reserves, access state and local disaster recovery funds, and balance their budgets, Millonzi provides a safe place for peer learning and for encouragement during a difficult time in their profession, when local government balance sheets might not look great because of cash flow issues due to Hurricane Helene.

“Kara’s deep expertise, combined with her approachability, made office hours a lifeline that local governments relied upon week after week,” said Lacy Pate, director of disaster recovery and grant assistance with the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.

History of Office Hours

Finance office hours took off as a resource for North Carolina’s public officials during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, bringing finance professionals together with School of Government faculty to navigate urgent legal and practical challenges related to the pandemic.

Millonzi was an early adopter of Zoom at the School and used the tool to set up meetings when it was impossible to gather in person. Participants discussed executive orders, such as those that temporarily stopped collections from residential public utility customers, and financial tools like small business revolving loan funds, to help local governments support their communities during a tough time.

By 2022, finance office hours had evolved into a platform for understanding the American Rescue Plan Act’s Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF), a program authorized by former President Joe Biden and designed to deliver $350 billion to state, territorial, local, and Tribal governments across the country to support recovery from the pandemic.

As with most federal funding, compliance standards were plentiful, and many North Carolina local governments—especially those with few staff members or simply inexperienced in working with federal funding—were in need but intimidated by the challenges they faced in accessing the funds. “Because SLFRF is administered by the U.S. Treasury, which is not a typical grant-making agency, local governments needed expert guidance, as well as peer collaboration and support,” said Pate.

Five years later, Millonzi and her colleagues are still leading weekly virtual office hours to provide up-to-date guidance on complex and shifting federal funding requirements, particularly on those related to disaster relief. The office hours help School faculty and others better understand issues facing different communities, and the information shared on these calls helps Millonzi be responsive to public officials and target the resources she’s creating for local governments.

“Office Hours provides the unique opportunity to overlay the federal guidelines with state statutes and requirements,” said Maria Standfest, a grants/project analyst with New Hanover County’s finance department. “What we learned early on is that just because Treasury says we can use SLFRF funds in certain ways, it doesn’t mean that it’s allowable in the state of North Carolina.”

“It’s hard to believe that we have had access to such a wealth of information at no cost,” added Standfest.

Then Came Hurricane Helene

In September 2024, Millonzi and her colleagues quickly adapted office hours to address Helene-related concerns, demonstrating the value of real-time problem-solving and peer support.

“Our region is rural and many of the local governments we serve are small," said Cory Osborne, director of economic recovery and resilience with High Country Council of Governments, serving Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey counties, all of which are located within Hurricane Helene’s FEMA-designated disaster areas.

“The calls after Helene have been a great resource for us,” said Osborne. “Most of my department’s work shifted after the storm to helping local governments with the FEMA Public Assistance (PA) Program. Navigating the PA program is challenging and complex. Alongside complying with FEMA regulations, local governments also must follow procurement requirements and statutory requirements on how they handle funding,” he added.

Osborne noted that the recurring support and knowledge the School offers has helped High Country Council of Governments navigate financial complexities. Knowing experts are easily reachable has been a comfort to employees and the communities they serve.

Finance officers from coastal North Carolina communities—many of whom have previous experience with hurricane recovery—also provided comfort, insights, and tips on these calls for their peers in western communities that were devastated by Hurricane Helene and in urgent need of federal funding.

Over time, the focus of finance office hours has broadened to cover general local government law and finance. While each government has its own challenges unique to their circumstances, they face many issues in common—an urgent need for a pipeline of employees trained in public finance, lack of training in navigating federal funding requirements, and not enough staff.

“Within the calls themselves, there’s wonderful information shared between local governments,” said Standfest. “Many times, questions are shared with the group and other units are able to answer them or offer their own experiences. They share obstacles they’ve encountered, solutions they’ve found, and recommendations for others.”

Office hours also foster collaboration between School faculty, local governments, and organizations such as the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, regional Councils of Government, and state agencies. It has been particularly helpful to address hot topics and emerging issues.

“There is always a dedicated group of officials seeking guidance and sharing insights to support one another. It has become a community, where we all learn from each other, share with each other, and sometimes commiserate with each other,” said Millonzi. “I look forward to it every week.”

Published April 8, 2025