County Law Update

Free legal help available

More than half of Arkansas’ 75 counties are members of the Association of Arkansas Counties Risk Management Fund (AACRMF). AACRMF member counties are not charged for the legal help provided in connection with any employment decision. Also, there is no “deductible” charge. There is no reason not to call. There is every reason to call. So, ... please call. We want to help you avoid the risk of liability.

When you call for free legal help in connection with an employment matter, we will draft any necessary paperwork with no charge to the member county. This is a benefit of AACRMF membership. The paperwork will evidence both the applicable facts and the applicable law. It will incorporate the “procedural due process” requirements of affording a timely hearing opportunity.

If a County Grievance Committee hearing is requested, the AACRMF will draft the response of the county. In that process, we will help determine if the facts or the law require the county to provide the requested hearing. A hearing is not required in all instances. We will help you know when a hearing is and is not required. All of this is done at no charge to the AACRMF member county.

The reason the AACRMF trustees have authorized the provision of this pre-hearing legal help, without charge to AACRMF member counties, is that this process has proven to be an effective way to manage the risk of

County Law

county liability. It works. Update Remember all Americans and, therefore, all county employees have the same liberty rights. “At-will” and “permanent” employees, therefore, have exactly the same liberty rights. A county may not deprive any person of “... liberty ..., without due process of law.” Mt. Healthy City School Dist. “More than half of Arkansas’ 75 counties are members... Bd. of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274 (1977); 14th Amendment. If you are an AACRMF Mike Rainwater Risk Management Legal Counsel member, please let There is every reason to call. We want to us help you with any employment. help you avoid the risk of liability.” By the way the AACRMF is also offering a free employment policy update to all AACRMF member counties. Any county (AACRMF member, or not) that wants a copy of the newly updated 2012 Model Employment Policy should send its request to rainwater@rainfirm.com. We will e-mail you a copy. (Mike Rainwater, a regular contributor to County Lines and lead attorney for AAC Risk Management, is principal shareholder of Rainwater, Holt, and Sexton, P.A., a state-wide personal injury and disability law firm. He has been a lawyer for more than 30 years, is a former deputy prosecuting attorney and has defended city and county officials for more than 25 years.)

We want your news

Did an aspect of county government “make news” recently in your county? Did any of your county officials or staff get an award, appointment or pat on the back? Please let us know about it for the next edition of County Lines magazine. You can write up a couple of paragraphs about it, or if something ran in your local paper, call and ask them to forward the story to us. We encourage you or your newspaper to attach a good quality photo, too: e-mail sperkins@arcounties.org.

Arkansas County Tax Collectors award Bobbye McAlister Scholarships

The following are this years winners on the Bobbye McAlister Memorial Scholarships awarded by the Arkansas County Tax Collectors Association.

Students receiving $1,000 scholarships were: London King, granddaughter of Sylvia Knoles, Franklin County Collector; and Dalynn T.D. Johnson, grandson of Carol Johnson, retired Craighead County Deputy Collector, mother is Robin Johnson current Craighead County Deputy Collector. The student who received the $500 scholarship was Tyler Lee Hays, stepson of Cathy (CJ) Hays, Greene County Collector.