President’s Perspective

from Summer 2016 County Lines

NACo News Updates

Looking back on the AAC’s annual summer conference

Well another AAC conference is in the books. And what a book it is. We at the association are so grateful for our wonderful stakeholders, supporters, partners and vendors. Readers can go to pages 44-47 for images from our conference or check out our Flickr photostream.

Our 48th annual conference, “Arkansas Counties — Explore the Possibilities,” was a huge success and again the thanks goes to the staff who pull it off every year. And, might I say, the conferences seem to get better and better every year.

Some conference goers were able to begin early and played in the 18th annual Randy Kemp Memorial Golf Tournament at Ponce de Leon Golf Club in Hot Springs Village on August 23. This scholarship fund is stable because of our golfers and sponsors who participate every year. As many of you know, the tournament is named for AAC’s former communications director who died in a motorcycle accident in August 2011. We’re proud to honor Randy through this effort. The scholarship is awarded annually to a student pursuing a career in journalism and who is also a family member of a current or past county official.

Sallie Clark, National Association of Counties immediate past president and El Paso, Colo., commissioner, highlighted our opening session. She was very active in our conference, and we appreciate her time and national perspective. How could I not mention Carroll Posey, husband of AAC accountant Cindy Posey, and his vocals that he shared with us to open our conference? You are truly talented, Carroll, and we also appreciate you very much. I know many of us in the audience had chills when we heard you sing.

All of AAC’s member associations also conducted respective meetings on our first day of conference.

Legislative exploration

We had a substantial amount of legislative activity during our conference, and that dynamic provided attendees many opportunities to network with state senators and representatives on a multitude of issues.

City, County and Local Affairs senate and house committees jointly met Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, the committee had a full agenda during which they heard an AAC and conference overview and testimony on county turn back funds from AAC Executive Director Chris Villines and Independence County Judge Robert Griffin. Various county officials and AAC liaisons also presented several key legislative efforts the AAC will pursue in 2017. These topics ranged from record retention modernization to elections and from title transfers to justices of the peace holding court on injuries to domesticated animals. I think most, if not all, of these proposals were received well.

On Thursday City, County and Local Affairs attended our “Legislative Fireside Chat” during which county officials and staffers interacted with a panel of six legislators. Attendees learned about what it is like to be a legislator, how best to communicate with their senators and representatives and discussed some of the top county and state challenges.

Also on Thursday, one of our breakout sessions titled “Too Many Fish, Too Little Boat,” also served as a Criminal Justice Task Force meeting and a joint Senate and House Judiciary Committee meeting. The Council of State Governments Justice Center provided their summary of key findings and recommendations for state leadership. We expect mental health and crisis intervention units and training to be a significant factor moving forward for our state.

The Honorable Gov. Asa Hutchinson spoke at our general session where he opined on the state of Arkansas, our extremely low unemployment rate, increased economic activity and issues on the November ballot. Counties and the administration have been good partners, and we look forward to continuing our goals of making Arkansas counties better.

Other breakout session topics ranged from retirement to federal legislative issues and from the new overtime rule to the Freedom of Information Act.

Steve “Wild Man” Wilson, former Arkansas Game and Fish Commission public affairs coordinator, entertained us at lunch Thursday with his unique perspective of Arkansas outdoors and history. He speaks of his deceased father in most of his speeches. The two enjoyed the outdoors together frequently. He reminded the audience that it is better to smile because it happened instead of being sad because it is over.

We closed our conference with some political plays from Ron Oliver, former Arkansas Democratic Party chairman, and Bill Vickery, founding partner of Capitol Advisors Group and a host on The Sunday Buzz. I enjoyed hearing from both sides of the political spectrum and want to thank Roby Brock for moderating.

We can’t thank our participants enough and look forward to our 49th annual conference next summer. Thank you all for making it a great event.

Judy Beth Hutcherson Clark County Treasurer / AAC Board President