Georgia County Government - May/June 2008 - (Page 7)

President’sMessage The More Involved You are With ACCG, the More You’ll Do Association County Commissioners of Georgia Officers serving through April 2009 President VIRGINIA GRAY Clayton County First Vice President JAN TANKERSLEY Bulloch County Second Vice President LAMAR PARIS Union County Third Vice President G. MELVIN DAVIS Oconee County By Virginia Gray President uring my tenure as a county commissioner, going on 13 years in office, I’ve met every day with the conviction that it is, above all else, a privilege to be elected into public office. The public has entrusted you with important decisions and expressed their confidence in your abilities to represent their best interests. Similarly, it is also a great privilege to be appointed president of Association County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG). You, my colleagues in county government, have placed your trust in me, and I am not only immensely honored, I am committed, just as I have been in public office, to providing the best service I can. Most of my predecessors have talked about the increasing complexity of government, perhaps especially of local government. As federal and state programs are cut, it is local government that is left , always, to make up for lost funding, lost services and cope with the needs that remain. We have been, and remain, very focused on “big” issues – transportation, proposed changes to the property tax, the ongoing problem of the drought, crises in health care systems and economic development needs in parts of the state that have lacked prosperity. These challenges will persist; however, I believe that other issues we’ve seen as perhaps less pressing, are set to quickly become major priorities in all Georgia’s communities, such as a growing aging population and bigger challenges among youth at risk. The PRESIDENT continued on page 8 D Executive Director JERRY R. GRIFFIN Board of Managers 1st District JERRY SHEARIN, Paulding County 2nd District MIKE BERG, Dawson County 3rd District BURRELL ELLIS, DeKalb County 4th District EUGENE HARDWICK, Lamar County 5th District KEVIN LITTLE, Walton County 6th District C. BROOKS BAILEY, Pulaski County 7th District JOHN R. GRAHAM, Warren County 8th District CLINTON PERRY, Taylor County 9th District D. M. MULLIS, Laurens County 10th District CHARLES LINGLE, Dougherty County 11th District EUGENE DYAL, Bacon County 12th District JOHN McIVER, Liberty County Consolidated Government Representative HEIDI DAVISON, Athens-Clarke County At-Large DAVID GAULT, Jones County JAMES KHOURY, Peach County SAM OLENS, Cobb County HELEN STONE, Chatham County AARON VARNER, Newton County Active Past Presidents GLENDA BATTLE, Decatur County CLARENCE BROWN, Bartow County BILLY CROKER, Polk County JAMES V. HAM, Monroe County BENJAMIN HAYWARD, Mitchell County TOM MCMICHAEL, Houston County O. D. NETTER, Ben Hill County Ex-Officio NACo Board Members/Officers: RICHARD ENGLISH, Troup County JAMES HAM, Monroe County Section Presidents Attorneys’ Section: MICHAEL LONG, Houston County Managers’/Administrators’ Section: KEVIN POE, Floyd County Clerks’ Section: BRENDA STALVEY, Echols County Service Program Chairs ACCG Insurance Program Representatives (IRMA) JOHN STRICKLAND, Clinch County Group Self Insurance Workers’ Compensation Fund (GSIWCF) WALTER L. SANDERS, Greene County Pension Representative H. JAY WALKER, Houston County MAY/JUNE 2008 www.accg.org When you become more involved with ACCG, you will want to do more – not only within the association, but also within your community. 7 http://www.accg.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Georgia County Government - May 2008

Georgia County Government - May 2008 Contents President’s Message County Matters ACCG 2008 Annual Meeting: Highlights County Focus: Clayton County Negotiating a Professional Service Firm Contract: Part 3 Counties Get Involved in Efforts to End Sexual Abuse of Children Smart Growth Scorecard Gives Communities a Way to Grade New Developments Wireless Technologies Critical for First Responders Research Corner: The ACCG Policy Process RDCs Assist the USS Georgia Flag Project Extension News: Animals Take Spotlight in Disaster Planning Georgia’s Grand Old Courthouses: Grady County NACo News: Green Initiative Launches Searchable Database Insurance News: ACCG Announces New Inmate Medical Savings Program County Parade Index of Advertisers

Georgia County Government - May 2008

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