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A look ahead
he Association of Arkansas Counties’ member associations have been working on their respective legislative packages for sometime and will have most of the finishing touches developed by July. As a matter of protocol, each member association will have them ironed out before our annual conference. This year’s conference will celebrate 48 years on August 24-26 in Hot Springs. The AAC board will ultimately approve the AAC’s collective policy pursuits in the early fall. During the next several weeks many details will come to fruition as we work through needed changes in Arkansas law concerning almost all facets of county government. We also will begin to launch media and social media campaigns embedded in educating the electorate, legislators and other state leaders on the inner workings of county government and our close relationship and role in providing state-mandated services. During this time, we will distribute information concerning county turnback funding vs. mandated services; rural infrastructure needs, including roads and Internet connectivity; public safety necessities such as 911 structure and funding and criminal justice reform, which goes hand in hand with crisis intervention units and training and regional prisons. We also look forward to discussing these issues and more with the members of the House and Senate City, County and Local Affairs Committees at our conference later this summer. The theme for conference is “Arkansas Counties — Explore the Possibilities.” Online registration is now available for those who want to pay via credit card at www.arcounties.org. Or you may also simply print out the form and send it in with your check. The 18th Annual AAC Golf Tournament benefiting the Randy Kemp Memorial Scholarship Fund will be held Tuesday, August 23, at the Ponce de Leon Golf Club in Hot Springs Village. Go to our web site for more details and to access the paper registration form as well as online registration. Golfers will enjoy range balls, lunch, cart, hole prizes, door prizes, fellowship and a great course all for a great cause. We are also still seeking sponsorships. Contact
Karan Skarda at kskarda@arcounties.org for more information. AAC recently hosted a retirement celebration for its Executive Assistant Jeanne Hunt and ACE Program Coordinator Brenda “Emmy” Emerson. Jeanne has served counties for 34 years, while Emmy has served for 13 years. We all will certainly miss these two ladies and appreciate their dedication and professionalism to AAC’s stakeholders. We also officially welcome Whitney Barket, executive assistant, and Karan Skarda, ACE Program coordinator, to the team. These two have trained with their predecessors for a couple months now, and we encourage you to meet and welcome them if you have not already.
Legislative lines
Scott perkins
Legislative and Communications Director
DOL new rule on overtime to begin Dec. 1, 2016 Many of you have heard of the Department of Labor’s new rule on exempt employees and most certainly have questions and concerns. Readers will find an overview of the rule on page 30 of this edition. AAC will announce a seminar to be held at AAC headquarters soon. The bottom line — the federal government has released a new threshold defining an exempt employee. The new magic number is $913 per week or $46,476 per year. The previous earnings threshold was less than $27,000 per year for an employee to be considered exempt from overtime. The duties test that many of you already utilize to help determine exempt status remains intact and still anchors on three definitions: executive, administrative and professional. AAC will present on all the definitions and discuss plans of action in the upcoming seminar on the new rule.
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Interactive www.arcounties.org Find County Lines online and see our Web site which contains data an on all 75 counties, legislative updates and much more.
@75arcounties
COUNTY LINES, SPRING 2016
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