The County Line
- Volume 52, Number 3 - 2008
ACCA's members get involved early in the legislative process.
There is nothing more gratifying than a room full of members who want to be involved in the Association’s work, except maybe an Association president who takes it upon himself to drive all over the state to spread the word about that Association.
I’d say those two things have been the highlight of activities around the ACCA in the few weeks since the conclusion of the Annual Convention in late August. Things have been busy, but very rewarding.
The six ACCA steering committees have begun work in preparation for the 2009 Legislative Session. These committees focus discussion on specific areas of concern to county government, such as Finance and Taxation, Public Safety and Rural Transportation, and provide the very best opportunity for information exchange and debate on ACCA’s official stance on the issues that will be raised by the legislature, the U.S. Congress and state agencies during the coming year.
The ACCA president appoints the committee members shortly after taking office. Each year the staff ponders ways to increase participation and attendance. But this year the members of the committees have taken care of such questions. Attendance at the meetings has been at its highest level in more than two decades.
When one realizes that county officials and employees who attend must drive from all over the state, leaving behind work and personal schedules of their own, the level of participation is even more remarkable. In most committee meetings the ACCA conference room has been full to overflowing and so has been the discussion.
Insight, advice, input and direction from the members is vitally important. As a staff, it is often easy to become stale and to overlook the changing environment back at the local level.
We realize every day is different for those who work and serve in our courthouses, but it is always productive to hear the challenges first hand and to work through an issue until we find an agreeable solution that can be presented to the Alabama Legislature.
Our success next February will be influenced directly by the quality of input and advice we receive from the membership. Perhaps more importantly, the policies of the organization are much more effective when fashioned with meaningful, personal input. And, we’ve gotten that this year.
In an age when more and more organizations are using the Web as substitutes for in-person meetings, I remain amazed at the willingness of county officials and employees to invest so much time in participating in the Association’s policy development and leadership.
At the end of one of the steering committee sessions, a county commissioner admitted that she was late to the meeting because she had sped to Montgomery after attending her own county commission meeting earlier that morning. She was willing to do so because, to use her words, “this meeting is too important to miss.”
In her haste, she’d gotten a speeding ticket, but she said it was worth it.
Another county commissioner left his steering committee meeting and, upon arriving back at the courthouse, added himself to the county commission agenda to discuss the issues raised in Montgomery. He then presented the ideas discussed at the committee meeting and his county commission unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the committee recommendations.
One has to wonder how many other Associations have such wide-spread support from its membership...
Then there’s the Association’s new president, Joe Faulk. Or as we’re calling him, “Driv’n Joe Faulk.”
You can read the reprint of his inauguaral speech elsewhere in the magazine, and you’ll see he laid out a great plan for the coming year. But, he said nothing about his plans to drive all over the state and attend county commission meetings to talk about the Association and to encourage more input and participation.
“I really didn’t realize how much time this would take,” Joe said the other day in the office. “But it’s been great, so far.”
He has been attending county commission meetings in the morning, county commission meetings in the afternoon, and county commission meetings at night. If he hasn’t been to your commission yet, he’s on his way. His message is consistent – the ACCA needs every member to be involved and that means every single elected official and employee.
The other morning an e-mail arrived from a county employee who had listened to Faulk’s remarks at a county commission meeting in North Alabama the night before. He observed that Faulk’s attendance made him realize he has not been participating as much as he should. He offered his time and promised to be more active.
So, we called Driv’n Joe to find out his view on that commission meeting and to report that he had at least one “convert.” Well, we found him more than 200 miles away from his location the night before – at a county commission meeting in extreme South Alabama.
“I’m a little tired, but I’m learning a lot about county government,” he said via cell phone somewhere between that courthouse and home.
In the last couple of months, I’d say we’ve learned a lot about the commitment of county officials and employees as well.
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