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SEEMS TO ME ... The great story of county government
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len Campbell, the Pike County, Arkansas-born singer, guitarist, songwriter, television host, and actor said, “Great stories start with great opening lines. I’m a lineman for the county — what a great way to start a song.” I’m a Judge for the county; I’m a Sheriff for the county; I’m a Clerk for the county; I’m a Treasurer for the county; etc. What a great way to start the story of county government. I’ve been in county government nearly four decades but some of you are just starting your journey. Do you actually know what you have become a part of and why? Let me say as I begin this story of county government, that if you have been elected to a county government office for any other reason than to be a good and ethical leader of your county you have been elected for the wrong reason. You may have heard stories like this one before entering county government: A fellow stopped at a rural gas station, filled his tank, and took a break by his car while drinking a soda. As he relaxed, he watched a couple of men working along the roadside. One man would dig a hole two or three feet deep and then move on. The other man came along behind him by about 25 feet and filled in the hole. The men worked right past the fellow with the soft drink and went on down the road. Overcome by curiosity, the fellow headed for the first man. “Hey there,” he said to the men. “Can you tell me what’s going on here with this digging?” “We work for the county government,” one of the men said. “But one of you is digging a hole and the other is filling it up. Isn’t that a waste of the county’s money?” “Well,” one of the men replied, “normally there’s three of us — me, Rodney, and Mike. I dig the hole, Rodney sticks in the tree, and Mike here puts the dirt back.” “Yeah,” Mike added. “Just because Rodney’s sick, that don’t mean we can’t work, does it?” Stories like these are fictitious — at least 99 percent of the time. In the United States, an administrative or political subdivision of a state is a county, which is an area having specific boundaries and a specific level of governmental authority that differs from state to state. The term “county” is used in 48 states. Louisiana has parishes, and Alaska has boroughs — functionally equivalent to counties. As of 2018, there are 3,142 counties and county-equivalents in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The number of counties per state ranges from only three counties in Delaware to 254 counties in Texas. As you know, we have 75 counties in Arkansas. 18
The specific governmental powers of counties vary widely between the states. Counties have significant function in all states except Rhode Island and Connecticut, where county governments have been abolished but the entities remain for administrative or statistical purposes. The Eddie A. Jones Commonwealth of Massachusetts has reCounty Consultant moved most government functions from eight of its 14 counties. The site of a county’s administration and the county courthouse is called the county seat. It’s called the parish seat in Louisiana and the borough seat in Alaska. Several New England counties use the term “shire town” for the county seat, hearkening back to the days in England. Originally counties were placed so that a county seat would be no more than a day’s journey for everyone within the county borders. That is the principal reason we still have ten counties in Arkansas with two county seats. They are no longer needed for that particular reason, but they still exist and apparently a majority of their residents want it to remain that way. Arkansas ties with Mississippi as the states with the most counties with two county seats. However, modern U.S. counties share no equivalence in either geographic size or population. Arlington County, Virginia, is 26 square miles in size, while the North Slope Borough of Alaska is 94,796 square miles. Arkansas counties range in size from Lafayette County’s 545 square miles and Sebastian County’s 546 square miles to Union County’s 1,053 square miles. The U.S. County with the largest population is Los Angeles County, California, with 10,163,507. The least populated county is Kalawao County, Hawaii, with only 90 residents. Loving County, Texas, is not far behind with 95 residents. Arkansas counties range in size from Calhoun County’s estimated 2019 population of 5,368 to Pulaski County’s 2019 estimated population of 393,956. Counties were among the earliest units of local government established in the Thirteen Colonies that would become the United States. Virginia created the first counties in order to ease the administrative workload in Jamestown. The House of Burgesses divided the colony first into four “incorporations” in 1617 and finally into eight shires or counties in 1634. America’s oldest intact county court records can be found at Eastville, Virginia, in Northampton (originally Accomac) County, dating to 1632. Maryland established its first county, St. Mary’s, in 1637, and Massachusetts followed in 1643. Pennsylvania and New York delegated significant power and responsibility from state government to county governments and thereby estabCOUNTY LINES, WINTER 2019
