From the Director’s Desk

County Lines

County Lines [(ISSN 2576-1137 (print) and ISSN 2576-1145 (online)] is the official publication of the AAC. It is published quarterly. For advertising inquiries, subscriptions or other information, please contact Christy L. Smith at 501.372.7550.

Executive Director/Publisher Chris Villines Communications Director/ Managing Editor Christy L. Smith Communications Coordinator/ Editor Caitlin Brown

AAC Executive Board:

Debbie Wise – President

Brandon Ellison – Vice President

Jimmy Hart – Secretary-Treasurer Tommy Young Deanna Sivley Debra Buckner Dana Baker Kevin Cleghorn Terry McNatt Debbie Cross Brenda DeShields Ellen Foote Doug Curtis Gerone Hobbs Marty Boyd John Montgomery Heather Stevens Randy Higgins

National Association of Counties (NACo) Board Affiliations Debbie Wise: NACo board member. She is

Randolph County Circuit Clerk and president of the AAC Board of Directors. Brandon Ellison: NACo board member. He is

Polk County Judge and vice-president of the

AAC Board of Directors. Ted Harden: Finance & Intergovernmental Affairs Steering Committee. He is a member of the Jefferson County Quorum Court. David Hudson: Vice-Chair of Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee. He is Sebastian Co. Judge and member of Rural Action Caucus Steering

Committee and IT Standing Committee. Barry Hyde: Justice and Public Safety Steering

Committee. He is the Pulaski County Judge. Rusty McMillon: Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee. He is Greene County Judge Joseph Wood: Community, Economic and

Workforce Development Steering Committee. He is Washington County Judge. Kevin Smith: IT Standing Committee. He is the

Sebastian County Director of Information

Technology Services. Gerone Hobbs: Membership Committee. He is the Pulaski County Coroner. Paul Elliott: Justice and Public Safety Steering

Committee, vice-chair of law enforcement subcommittee. He is a member of the Pulaski

County Quorum Court. Ellen Foote: Community, Economic & Workforce Development Steering Committee. She is the Crittenden County Tax Collector. Tawanna Brown: Telecommunications & Technology Steering Committee. She is Crittenden

County Chief Computer Operator.

AAC DIRECTOR’S DESK

A hat tip to county and state officials for their dedication

As I write this, our world is lurching back to life. The COVID pandemic, while not over, has hopefully seen its highest tide and will ebb and Chris Villines flow lightly until it becomes similar to an out- AAC break of colds or disappears altogether. But getting to that Executive Director point may prove to be more awkward to our strained society than the rapid ramp up to masking and thermometers was on the front end.

In the span of the last 72 hours, I went to an airport and boarded a plane on the first day of no mask requirements, then returned to the AAC offices only to find an employee has tested positive and masks were in order again within our building. We’ve shelved our thermometer but may need it again. I suspect all of you in courthouses around the state will be experiencing this same type of sputtering return to life that we are.

Of course, I wish, as do all of you, that we could snap our fingers and this would be all over like a bad dream. This has been a difficult time and in its wake is a new world, with good people gone, work from home a new normal, a worn-out workforce and inflationary pressures, which concern me for our county government.

We will see a record number of newly elected officials this year and, in my opinion, this stems from two specific factors: First, we are for the first time nearing the end of a four-year term. It is logical that the turnover would double compared to our historical two-year terms. Second, managing offices of people during the covid pandemic has been extremely difficult — I say especially so in county government.

I’ve written about this before, but it is worth mentioning again … county offices (and all front-facing government for that matter) were in the unenviable position of not being able to work from home during the pandemic. We provide necessary, not optional, services to the public and most of these services simply cannot be performed remotely. Furthermore, the need for these services may have slowed during the pandemic, but they never ceased. My hat is tipped to all of you for making this somehow work even during our scariest days of virus spread and hospitalizations.

As we move into the new future, we face a workforce that is now accustomed to being able to work from home in many jobs in the private sector. This will make it difficult for counties to recruit and retain employees. As if this pressure wasn’t enough, add in the inflationary issues and rising wages, which the private sector can adjust to quickly. County governments are funded through very slow to change mechanisms such as sales taxes and property taxes. Meanwhile we will have to hire from a pool of workers now seeing four-figure sign-on bonuses from our labor competitors.

The CARES Act and ARP money has proven helpful for many of our counties to provide one-time payments, but I’m afraid two or three years down the road, if wage inflation doesn’t subside, we will be looking at the south end of a northbound train. I urge all of you to look at our wages and constantly compare them to the private sector in your county, remembering all the while that our >>>

employees must be physically present in our offices, not working from home.

I’m beginning to sound a little bit like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. It is absolutely not my intent to be a Debbie Downer. What I want you to do, as counties, is to be cognizant that these pressures exist and may even worsen over time. The best way to deal with problems is to plan for them now — something our counties are very skilled at. The Governor recently held a session with the media, at which he announced an incredible surplus for our state. Be wise though, this surplus is made larger by the fact that so much federal money (CARES Act, ARP, Infrastructure etc.) has flowed into state coffers. What I found interesting, and I praise the Governor for recognizing it, is that we have many capital

projects for our state’s schools which are feeling incredible inflationary pressures. School millage increases, once thought to fund in excess their needed construction projects, now fall short with rising capital costs. As you are looking at the future needs for your counties, please remember that inflaGovernor Hutchinson is wisely asking that some of this surplus be set aside to offset these increasing tionary pricing will affect everything we are look- costs. Meanwhile he’d like to strike a balance with ing to accomplish. Setting aside the funds now, returning some of the surplus to the taxpayers with a keen eye on these increases, will help you of Arkansas. accomplish your goals more easily. As you are looking at the future needs for your counties, please remember that inflationary pricing will affect everything we are looking to accomplish. Setting aside the funds now, with a keen eye on these increases, will help you accomplish your goals more easily. As billionaire Warren Buffett once said, “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone

Arkansas’ Premier Pavement Maintenance & Safety Contractor

● Pavement Maintenance Services ● Municipal Road Striping ● Airport Pavement Maintenance ● Guardrail Maintenance ● Traffic Control Services

Call (479)262‐6160

www.custompavement.com

planted a tree a long time ago.”

Speaking of county needs, I am extremely proud of two major accomplishments in the 2022 Fiscal Session. Both involve law enforcement, and both are the result of many months of work among a coalition of Governor Hutchinson, Speaker of the House Matthew Shepherd, President Pro-Tempore Jimmy Hickey, Arkansas Sheriffs Association Director Scott Bradley, Chiefs of Police Director Gary Sipes, AAC policy team members, and law enforcement personnel from across the state.

First, we are facing a crisis at a local level hiring and retaining certified law enforcement officers (LEOs). Many of you have been working on this issue and we are seeing rises in LEO pay in many of our counties. The state, both aware of this crisis and invested in supporting LEOs, worked with the coalition to offer a $5,000 one-time stipend to specific LEOs in our state. This move seeks to stimulate local governments to follow this with increased pay.

In addition to this, many members of the coalition also worked towards addressing our under-funding of counties to operate jails. Our statewide average cost in 2021 to house state prisoners in our jails (a fifteen-jail sample) was more than $60 per day. The state, however, pays counties only $32 per day.

I cannot tell you how thankful we are to the Governor, President Pro-Tempore, and Speaker for their leadership in helping to move the needle closer to actual costs. The Fiscal Session resulted in the largest increase in recent years for jail reimbursement by moving the pay from $32 per day to $40 per day.

It is so refreshing to see government openly and vocally support its law enforcement. This is not the case in some states, and I point to a quote from Robert Kennedy that rings true today, “Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.” I am thankful and blessed to live in a state that has this level of respect for her officers.