County Lines Magazine


County Lines is the official publication of the Association of Arkansas Counties. It is published quarterly. For advertising inquiries, subscriptions or other information relating to the magazine, please contact Randy M. Kemp at 501.372.7550.


Executive Director / Executive Editor Chris Villines


Managing Editor Randy M. Kemp


Association of Arkansas Counties www.arcounties.org


AAC Executive Board: Mike Jacobs – President


Sherry Bell Rita Chandler


Johnny Rye – Secretary-Treasurer Debra Buckner Jim Crawford


Larry Gammill Roger Haney Jimmy Hart


Danny Russell Judy Beth Hutcherson


Danny Hickman Leonard Krout Faron Ledbetter Skippy Leek Gene Raible


National Association of Counties Board Affiliations


Alvin Black: Public Lands Steering Committee. He is the Montgomery County Judge.


H.O. Gray: Chair, Aging Subcommittee of the Human Services & Education Steering Committee (Subcom- mittee chair). He serves on the Jefferson County Quorum Court.


Ted Harden: Finance & Intergovernmental Affairs Steering Committee. He serves on the Jefferson County Quorum Court.


Haze Hudson:Community & Economic Development Steering Committee. He is a member of the Miller County Quorum Court.


David Hudson: Chair of NACo’s Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee. He serves as Sebastian County Judge.


Mike Jacobs:NACo Board of Directors; the Member- ship Committee; and the Agricultural & Rural Affairs Steering Committee. He is the Johnson County Judge.


Buddy Villines: Transportation Steering Committee. He is Pulaski County Judge.


COUNTY LINES, WINTER 2011


and we encourage you to read it cover to cover so that you can learn of issues important to your respective offices and county government in general. It is a quarterly magazine that the AAC publishes in January, April, July and October. We also welcome you to click on our newly redesigned website, www.arcounties.org, so that you can register and access volumes of information. On this website you will also find archived editions of “County Lines” for further reading.


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Each newly elected official has joined a great family of public servants. When I first joined in 1999 I remember well that I was welcomed with open arms by people from across the state… people who didn’t know me at all, but who cared about me as a person, and my success as a member of the county government family. It took time and effort, but by faithfully attending all of my association meetings I began to learn the other elected officials and identify closely with them.


Te path of public service, specifically in the counties of Arkansas, can be very diffi-


cult yet very rewarding. It is not the financial compensation we seek, but rather the ful- fillment of helping people and government work in harmony. Being a county elected official gives one a unique experience: We are popularly elected to perform functions that often don’t prove to be popular at all.


More than anything, it is our desire at the Association of Arkansas Counties to let


you know that you are not on this path alone. Te laws are complex and we live in a period of strained relations between government and constituents. But none of the 1,300-plus county and district elected officials in this state need believe they are on an island. If you are dealing with an issue, chances are very good that someone in one of the other 74 counties is in the midst of the same problem, or has dealt with it already. 


When I think of communication, I remember the buzzing and whirring foreign to human ears the first time I heard it. Sitting in the corner of my dad’s title insurance office was the latest gizmo, possibly the first thing I had seen other than a TV that had more than two cords involved. In the early 1980’s facsimile machines were becoming commonplace. When the world began plugging faxes into


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From The Director’s Desk


Welcome to the Family!


Chris Villines AAC Executive Director


ith the dawn of a new year comes significant change


in county offices across the state. Dozens of newly-elected officials have been sworn in and great opportunity awaits. Many of you are receiving your “County Lines” magazine for the first time,


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