AAC Welcome to new officials and farewell to coworkers

As is written throughout this issue of County Lines, this is a season for change in county government. With over half of our counties receiving a new county judge on January 1, and many other offices seeing a high turnover rate, things will look a bit different in 2023.

However, I am sure of one thing. The trainings we offered to newly elected officials in December were some of the best organized and attended meetings of these types in the history of the AAC. My hat goes off to the AAC staff — Mark Whitmore, Lindsey French, Josh Curtis, and Eddie Jones, who serve as association liaisons. Our communications staff of Christy L. Smith and Sarah Perry also helped make these meetings flow smoothly. Thank you to Cathy Perry, who created the county identification cards. All newly elected officials had a chance to meet new ACE Program Coordinator Michael Roys and to hear useful employment information from RMF Legal Counsel Brandy McAllister. Sheriffs also heard from JaNan Thomas during their week-long session, which was skillfully organized by Arkansas Sheriffs Association leaders Scott and Kim Bradley.

Additionally, leadership from each one of our nine member associations — county judges, sheriffs, assessors, collectors, treasurers, circuit clerks, county clerks, coroners, and justices of the peace — took time to share their real-world wisdom with our newly elected officials. They were organized, provided great information, and orchestrated robust question and answer sessions.

I walked away with great hope for the future of county government in Arkansas after meeting the many competent newly elected officials from across the state. As is always the case, when new officials take office there will be questions, and the AAC staff is ready to help guide you through this new and great opportunity to serve in public office. It is one of the greatest callings there is.

One of the topics of discussion with all newly elected officials was the process our member associations, and the AAC, follows when going through a legislative session. The session is here, and we are as prepared as ever to present to the legislature a series of bills put forward by each of our member associations and adopted by the AAC Board of Directors as our 2023 Legislative Package.

Many of you are aware of how this process works, but I will share the steps for those who are new, or for those who may not remember the mechanism our counties use.

Each of the nine member associations work to put together ideas for improving statutes that will help make their respective offices function better. In time our AAC liaisons work with each group to draft and refine these ideas into several potential pieces of legislation.

The individual associations vote on their respective pieces of legislation, then forward them to a 27-member legislative committee composed of three representatives from each of the nine member associations. This committee meets two to three times prior to a legislative session to discuss these ideas and offer feedback, with the final meeting occurring in October of the year preceding the legislative session.

Our legislative package is so strong because each idea is vetted by a cross-section of county and district officials. They offer constructive criticism when an idea may, for lack of a better word, “step on the toes” of another office within the counties. This refining process means the potential legislation has been scrutinized from many angles and is deemed worthy of inclusion in our overall legislative package.

The legislative committee then votes whether to recommend the full legislative package to the AAC Board of Directors, which is comprised of 18 members — two from each of the nine member associations. This board then adopts the legislative package in its entirety — or it may cull some bills prior to adoption.

This process works well and historically has provided AAC staff with marching orders on around 25 to 30 pieces of legislation that we will label as our AAC Legislative Package. Occasionally a legislator or lobbyist may question whether a bill comes directly from AAC staff, but we cannot and would not draft or pursue legislation outside of the direction of the AAC Board of Directors through the process outlined above.

We have an enviable success rate at the Capitol, often seeing a pass-rate of between 95 and 100 percent for bills in our legislative packages. This success is grounded in the fact that county officials know what is best for constituents and local government, and we simply help you do what you are already so skilled at. There is a great deal of reason in the legislative package finally presented on your collective behalf. However, most of the work for AAC staff comes from bills not contained within our legislative package. While we work with you to present a package of 30 or so bills, each session we find ourselves (with your association leadership) tracking somewhere between 600 to 700 bills that are filed and affect county government. Many of these bills are innocuous, but some could prove detrimental to local government. We work closely with you and sponsors to make sure you have your voices heard regarding these bills. Please stand ready to be involved in the upcoming session when your name is called to help. •••

Finally, it is bittersweet to say goodbye to two fellow coworkers here at the AAC. With the end of the year comes change and often retirements. This year we are saying goodbye to Karan Skarda, who worked for seven years as our ACE Program Coordinator but also has decades of prior experience in state and local government. We also bid farewell to Debbie Lakey, who has spent 18 ½ years as our Workers Compensation Claims Manager.

Both have been wonderful to work with and will be truly missed. Best wishes to them as they move into their new roles.