AAC
County Lines County Lines ([ISSN 2576-1137 (print) and ISSN 2576-1145 (online)] is the official publication of the Association of Arkansas Counties. 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 Holland Doran
AAC Executive Board: Debbie Wise – President Brandon Ellison – Vice President Rhonda Cole – Secretary-Treasurer Jeanne Andrews Terri Harrison Debra Buckner Sandra Cawyer Kevin Cleghorn Terry McNatt Debbie Cross Brenda DeShields Ellen Foote Jimmy Hart Gerone Hobbs Marty Boyd John Montgomery Heather Stevens David Thompson National Association of Counties (NACo) Board Affiliations Debbie Wise: NACo board member. She is the Randolph County Circuit Clerk and president of the AAC Board of Directors. Brandon Ellison: NACo board member. He is the Pope County Judge and vice-president of the AAC Board of Directors. Ted Harden: Finance & Intergovernmental Affairs Steering Committee. He serves on the Jefferson County Quorum Court. 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. Gerone Hobbs: Membership Committee. He is the Pulaski County Coroner. Kade Holliday:Arts and Culture Committee and International Economic Development Task Force. He is the Craighead County Clerk. Paul Ellliot: Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee. He serves on 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 Committe. She is the Crittenden County Chief Computer Operator.
COUNTY LINES, FALL 2018
DIRECTOR’S DESK
Welcome to the best government — county government
C
ounty culture is changing. The delivery of this issue of County Lines is finding its way into the mailboxes of hundreds of new county and district Chris Villines officials. To those of you reading this magazine for AAC the first time, welcome to the adventure of county government. Executive Director You bring fresh ideas and new approaches to your jobs and in time you will build new successes on the shoulders of those who preceded you. Here at the AAC we recently wrapped up meeting most of you in our newly elected official training classes over a two-week period in Little Rock. After meeting most of you I find myself hopeful for our future, based largely in the servant hearts you exhibited while here. County government, in its purest form, is simply about serving your constituents the most effectively you can. And nobody is positioned better to know what needs to be done than all of you. I want to welcome you to the BEST level of government, I think you will find the work tireless but the reward incredible. My good friend, Gene Terry, recently retired as the Executive Director at the Texas Association of Counties. In his outgoing magazine column he penned the following: “…I realize that not much is wrong with counties. You govern well because you know how to do it right. You are so close to the people you serve you could not get away with doing it wrong, even if you tried. It’s time for your way to trickle up. Think of it this way, you know personally a larger percentage of the voters who voted for and against you in the last election than does any state representative or senator and certainly than does any member of Congress. You know them by first name and they know you. They chose you because they know you by first name, too. That is something special.” Gene articulated this point far better than I could. The fact that you serve so closely to those you represent is a blessing for hard-working county and district officials who want to do right. Your days of going into a local business or church undisturbed are over, but if you care and it shows in your jobs you will find those public conversations often enjoyable and your work appreciated. With a looming legislative session, this statement also addresses some dangerous assumptions that will find their way into bills at a state level. That assumption is that local government isn’t responsive, isn’t transparent and isn’t accountable. My friend Gene would tell you in his Texas drawl that this is “hogwash.” Nonetheless, we are already hearing of bills that erode local control, but ironically our legislature is full of folks who championed local control when running for office. The idea that at the county level you are incapable of making wise decisions that a parentstate would be better at would be laughable were it not a real danger. This is representative of a national pre-emption move that some other states have been dealing with. Some of the state-local wars in other states are epic, and the arguments over local control have ignited grass-roots fires where the people, who >>> 7
