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County Lines Magazine
County Lines is the official publication of the Association of Arkansas Counties. It is published quarterly. For advertising inquiries, subscriptions or other information relating to the magazine, please contact Christy L. Smith or Scott Perkins at 501.372.7550. Executive Director / Publisher Chris Villines Communications Director/ Managing Editor Scott Perkins Communications coordinator/ Editor Christy L. Smith
AAC Executive Board: Judy Beth Hutcherson – President Debbie Wise – Vice President Joe Gillenwater – Secretary-Treasurer Sherry Bell Debra Buckner Cindy Walker Brandon Ellison Andrea Billingsley Jimmy Hart John Montgomery Patrick Moore Rhonda Cole Sandra Cawyer David Thompson Bill Hollenbeck Angela Hill Debbie Cross National Association of Counties (NACo) Board Affiliations Judy Beth Hutcherson: NACo board member. She is the Clark County Treasurer and president of the AAC Board of Directors.
Debbie Wise: NACo board member. She is the Randolph County Circuit Clerk, vice president of the AAC Board of Directors and chair of AAC’s Legislative Committee.
Ted Harden: Finance & Intergovernmental Affairs Steering Committee. He serves on the Jefferson County Quorum Court.
Kasey Summerville: Finance, Pensions & Intergovernmental Affairs Steering Committee. She is the Clark County Assessor.
David Hudson: Vice Chair of NACo’s Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee. He is the Sebastian County Judge and member of the Rural Action Caucus Steering Committee.
Barry Hyde: Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee. He is the Pulaski County Judge.
COUNTY LINES, SPRING 2016
Summer brings new season for dedicated two
Director’s Desk
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ummer is quickly upon us, and it signifies so much that is fun about life in Arkansas. This time of year many of us take time with family and friends to enjoy a week or weekChris Villines ends in the beauty that our state holds. It is a time AAC when we take hard-earned money saved up throughExecutive Director out the year to “Explore the Possibilities” — yes, that was a gratuitous AAC Conference plug — and enjoy some time off. As a metaphor for life, summer is a lot like retirement. It is a season within which to parlay a career well lived into time of enjoyment with family and friends. For the county family, this rings particularly true right now as two of our favorite workers slip into a new stage of life on July 1 — their summer, if you will — and we wish them the happiest of times as they do so. Jeanne Hunt will tell you that when she started her career at the Association of Arkansas Counties in 1982 she was 7 years old and, judging by the charisma and energy she possesses, it would be easily believable. As an executive assistant, she has worked with five different executive directors. There has never been and there likely will never be another employee with this organization that will come close to her 34 years of service. Through those years she has been an integral part of AAC’s transformation into the strong and healthy organization it is today. She has survived two additions to the original headquarters and at least 44 regular, fiscal and special sessions. And, as I joke, it took me becoming executive director to finally give her enough to leave! When she started, there was no Risk Management Program and no Worker’s Compensation Program — just one small building facing Victory Street, five employees and a vision to create an association that could help counties with their needs. Today, we have 26 full-time employees located in facilities to be proud of, with robust member programs and the ability to do a great number of things to serve all of our counties. Tens of thousands of county employees have through the years availed themselves of our services and facilities. We receive many compliments on both — from a great conference room to a wonderfully comfortable courtyard and from services and programs that treat county employees with respect to a first-class system of membership involvement and communication. These things would not exist were it not for Jeanne, and every day I am here I see her fingerprints on facilities and services that have made the AAC a success. On a personal note, she has been a friend who protects me and skillfully handles duties like our annual conference. I’d say she does so with ease, but it only looks that way. The work that goes into things like our annual conferences, board meetings and new elects seminars is incredible — and incred>>> 7
