Fall is here, bringing with it thoughts of legislative issues and regional meeting schedules! Since this is a presidential election year, the legislative session will be delayed by a month, and so will our normal regional meeting schedule. In fact, because of many election changes among our members as well as changes to legislative membership, we are waiting until after Election Day to begin. Most meeting will be scheduled in late November and December. Watch your mail for the schedule, arriving soon!

Speaking of elections, we are currently planning our agenda for the upcoming “Basic Training for Newly Elected and Veteran County Commissioners.” It will be held at the Best Western Hotel, Bridgeport, Harrison County on November 28-30, 2012. Please save the date. We’ll cover all the standard topics with some new twists as well! We’re working on a brand new interactive session titled “Establishing Effective Communication, Can You Hear Me Now?” borrowed from a fellow association’s communication officer, prepared for a National Association of Counties’ meetings! I think it will be a fun and informative session, regardless of your tenure in office! So plan to join us on November 28th, to learn, to mentor and to exchange ideas and issues!

Finally, let me encourage you to send us things that you are doing out in the community to bring public awareness to the office of county commission. We want to future your story in our monthly column, “County Commission Outreach”, to applaud your efforts and to encourage your fellow commissioners to get out there and get involved as well!