Our board met in Martinsburg, WV on May 17-18 at the Holiday Inn and Suites. It was a very good Board meeting with lots of discussion and interaction among members.

The attendance was great!

Doug Copenhaver and Elaine Mauck , members of the Berkeley County Council welcomed us to the county and contributed much to our weekend.

A special “thank you” goes to Vivian, Megan and Ermel. It takes a lot of time and planning to put a meeting such as this together and these folks always think of everything.

I am hoping that all county commissioners are making plans to attend the annual meeting to be held in Morgantown at the Waterfront Place Hotel

August 10-11. Please note that this is a change of location.

It was originally planned for Canaan Valley. During this conference the State Auditor’s in –service training program for all County Commissioners/Councils will take place. The State Code says that this training is mandatory and I guarantee you will learn a lot.

Jack Woodrum, CCAWV Legislative Chairman and I will be speaking at the Tax Reform Meeting to be held on June 9th. The Tax Reform Committee has invited us to speak to them, on behalf of counties, about our concerns, our fears and positive things that can benefit counties with tax reform in West Virginia. Believe me this is a major task for Jack and I. I hope we can cover all the bases and represent all counties well.

Another issue that is being discussed is home rule for counties. Will counties benefit from home rule? Do counties want home rule? These are questions we need to have answers to before the next Legislative Session.

We will be talking about these things at our annual meeting in August. Please make plans now to attend and let us know what you think is best for counties.