From the Director’s Desk

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.

Providing for counties’ most valuable resource

Director’s Desk

You’ve probably seen it as you drive on our roads. The non-descript semi is followed by Chris Villines a trailer with the rather large words that say, AAC “OUR MOST VALUABLE RESOURCE Executive Director SITS HERE.” An arrow points at the driver’s seat. Crete Carrier is the company that owns and hauls these trailers, and every time I see one I can’t help but think that this company is getting things right.

This statement resonates with me, and I’m sure many of you as well. If county courthouses in Arkansas were painted with proclamations, many would have the same message with arrows pointing to all of Arkansas’ fine county employees.

There are 15,000 people employed by the counties of Arkansas and another 7,000 or so working the polls. As one of the state’s largest collective employers, we find ourselves fighting hard to hire good people and keep them on board in jobs that are maligned by the press and unappreciated by many constituents. Often underpaid for the skill sets and work ethics that they possess, our county employees are far and away the most valuable resource in county governments.

What is special about this is not only the great employees we have, but also the fact that as employers our county and district officials recognize this fact and treat their county workers with respect and appreciation. As a result, many workers are life-long partners with the county, working to retirement with a focus on customer service and respect toward our residents — the three million or so Arkansans we serve.

The motivation for long-term employment comes not from money or prestige. Instead it comes from the simple satisfaction of working for the county and being in a position to help those who come in to our offices with basic needs. I am reminded of a story that Zig Ziglar told and retold to millions through the years:

In the 1950s, an incident took place on a sweltering summer afternoon alongside a railroad track where a crew of workers was doing some repair work. A train came chugging down the track and pulled off on a side rail. A window opened and a voice — a man’s voice — shouted out, “Dave! Dave Anderson, is that you?”

It was; in fact, Dave Anderson was in charge of the crew.

“Yeah, Jim, it’s me,” he shouted back.

The man on the train, Jim Murphy, yelled out, “Well, come on over here and let’s chat a while.”

So Dave stopped what he’d been doing and joined Jim Murphy in his private air-conditioned railroad car for almost an hour, no doubt happy to get out of the broiling sun. When the conversation ended, he made his way back to his crew working on the track. The flabbergasted crew stared at him in utter shock and said something to the effect of, “That was Jim Murphy, the president of the railroad.”

“Yup, it sure was,” Anderson said.

They all gathered around and excitedly wanted to know how Dave knew Jim Murphy, the president of the railroad, to say nothing about he got to be such good buddies with the man and on a first-name basis to boot!

Dave explained: “Well, it’s quite simple — when I started with the railroad over 20 years ago, Jim Murphy started at the same time; we’ve been pals ever since.”

Now the crew is astonished as much as they are confused. They want to know how it is that Dave and Jim Murphy started working for the railroad at the same time and Murphy rose to such dizzying heights while old Dave is still working on the track in the hot sun. How in God’s name did that happen?

Dave looked wistfully up into the sky and said, “A little over 20 years ago Jim Murphy went to work for the railroad; I went to work for a $1.75 an hour.”

Many of our county officials and managers started as county employees some years ago. They have moved up in the ranks because they didn’t go to work for a salary — instead they went to work for the county and the greater purpose that it represents.

I have been so proud to have worked with many of you through my years in county government, and I can attest that the collective people in county government in this state are by far the best resource we’ve got.

With this said, I’ve taken some time to reflect on our role at the association and how we can help each of you recognize this valuable resources. In many of our counties the pay has been flat and benefits have stagnated, a problem amplified in the public sector during trying economic times. Unfortunately this does not mean that costs haven’t risen, nor does it mean that private sector jobs might not look more appealing.

Bottom line is that in county government, we have to focus improvement on those things that we can control. And the AAC has been hard at work in five areas that have been or will soon be introduced to help make county jobs appealing and to improve the lives of those who work for counties: • Benefits Program — In existence for a few years, our benefits program utilizes the buying power of 15,000 county employees, 7,000 poll-workers and another 15,000 volunteer firefighters to obtain discounts for group members. You can best access member benefits by going to the www.arcounties.org web site and clicking on “Publications Library.” The directory of AAC

member benefits is the first publication that appears in the library. Next time you interview for a position in your office, make sure you have a copy of this with you. There are very few employers in this state that can offer the discounts to employees that we have put together. This program works! • Wellness Program — Our Member Benefits Manager Becky Comet has promoted physical wellness to county employees through our magazine and directly through speeches and an annual “Biggest Loser” competition. Few folks around the state have access to such an inspirational resource as Becky, and with her help our county employees have lost tons and have been motivated to keep wellness as a priority. • Financial Wellness — We have reached out to Ramsey Solutions about a potential partnership with Dave Ramsey’s company on a financial wellness curriculum. Many of you are aware of this group’s outreach through financial peace avenues — but did you know they also have a plan dedicated to government employees and used throughout the country? We will soon be working with them. More to come on this front. • Emotional Wellness — Emotionally, government jobs can be extremely draining … from the 9-1-1 operator fielding terrible phone calls to the deputy working horrible scenes. Unfortunately even our office jobs attract those who take extra liberties to fuss at us simply because taxes and potholes are disagreeable to them. We have worked hard to make mental health a portion of the conference curricula, whether it is your individual association conference or the AAC annual conference. Additionally, we have worked closely with Southwest Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to provide a low cost benefit that we will begin sharing with our counties in the coming days. Already used in Pulaski County, this could be a valuable and cost effective benefit to counties that choose to team up. More to come on this front as well. • Management Guidance — Nothing helps an office atmosphere like good management. Your employees look up to you as office managers and elected officials, and it is important to utilize good tools in order to be effective. We will do our part by working to bring you new conference programs which might help on this front, and we have already teamed up with such a speaker for some upcoming events. The simple best benefit for good employees is to be led with respect and care, and we want to make this possible with both speakers and an abundance of material on the matter.

I am excited about new tools on the horizon. As servantleaders you all have a heart to help the people of your county, and those who work for you are an extension of this spirit. I encourage you all to take some time to also serve those who work for you. Think outside the box about those benefits you can offer that make your office environment one that acknowledges the greatest resource you have … county employees.