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 ad- vertising inquiries, subscriptions or other information relating to the magazine, 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 Debra Buckner Kevin Cleghorn Debbie Cross Ellen Foote
Gerone Hobbs
John Montgomery David Thompson
Terri Harrison Sandra Cawyer Terry McNatt
Brenda DeShields Jimmy Hart
Bill Hollenbeck Heather Stevens
National Association of Counties (NACo) Board Affiliations
Debbie Wise: NACo board member. She is the Randolph County Circuit Clerk and presi- dent of the AAC Board of Directors.
Ted Harden: Finance & Intergovernmental Af- fairs 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.
COUNTY LINES, SUMMER 2018
DIRECTOR’S DESK
Looking toward the future of our counties
Bil penned, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.” How fortunate and blessed we are to be here at this mo- ment in time, and to be a part of government service that truly is the closest to those we serve. We are fortunate also to be a part of this year’s amazing celebration of 50 years at the Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC). Tis organization means so much, and we should all be encouraged by the strength our counties have because of the vision of our county forefathers in 1968. Troughout this issue you will find information recapping this year’s conference, held in Benton County Aug. 8-10. It was a wonderful event that reflected count- less hours of work by our AAC staff, leaders — both past and present, and the Board of Directors. I hope you were able to attend. We stayed true to our conference theme, “Honoring our Past, Celebrating the
B
il Keane, creator of Te Family Circus cartoons, was amazingly wonderful at perspective and seemed to often weave into his cartoons good life lessons. Also responsible for many great quotes,
Chris Villines AAC
Executive Director
Present, Envisioning our Future.” Eddie Jones narrated a video recapping how the AAC was founded and walking through the early years. I encourage you to both take a look at that video at
www.arcounties.org AND to read Eddie’s article in this maga- zine. Te honor was ours at this year’s conference, though, when we had the pleasure of hosting past AAC Presidents Judy Beth Hutcherson and Mike Jacobs at our head table along with past AAC Executive Directors Brenda Pruitt and Eddie Jones. As for celebrating the present, speakers like Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Congressman
Steve Womack, NACo Executive Director Matt Chase, Beatles expert Bill Stainton and a host of leaders in the opioid crisis all provided a great synopsis of where county government stands in the present. As for the celebratory aspect, everyone enjoyed the Beatles tribute band “Liverpool Legends.” Teir performance was icing on the cake. For the future, we all got a glimpse of things on the horizon. Ideas abound for the 2019 Arkansas legislative session, and the hood will be up on things like 9-1-1, homestead credits, and road funding. New legislators and statewide elected of- ficials also will bring fresh ideas, and we will continue to forge great partnerships between state and local government. Attending the AAC annual conference continues to be the most important tool in the toolbox of being the best county or district official you can be. And we en- courage you to continue coming to this wonderful event. Next August we will be in Garland County, and we will be getting details out to you in early 2019 so you can begin making plans to unravel the mystery of our future. Hats off to all of you for great government service at home.
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Right before this magazine went to print, the Information Network of Arkansas (INA) hosted the 2018 Arkansas Digital Government Transformation Awards lun- cheon in Little Rock. Tis year the AAC and Arkansas Municipal League (ARML) partnered with INA to focus the event on local government transformation … and
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