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Alice Cooper once sang, "School's out for summer"!! I hope you all are having a good early summer and just waiting for the sweltering heat, storms and all those things that make summer so enjoyable!! Just kidding of course! We have our annual meeting to look forward to in August at the Stonewall Resort. I hope you will attend both our association's meetings, as well as the Auditor's mandatory training sessions with an open mind and with your constituents at heart.
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Younger commissioners may need to speak to one of their "more experienced" commissioners to truly understand that!!! The legislative session is over and I think there are a bunch of people that are breathing sighs of relief. We lost on some bills, but we won on some bills too. It appears we may get some relief from the jail bills due to a couple of bills that did make it. I would personally like to thank Vivian, Jim Bowen, our legislative committee and any and all commissioners that visited the capitol, emailed, called or otherwise brow beat their representatives to further our cause!!
Vivian and Jim did an outstanding job of representing this organization and defending our views and again, I would like to thank them very, very much. We have our Board meeting coming up in Wood County at the Blennerhassett. I hope to see everyone there and be prepared for some lively discussion. We need to start mapping our legislative ideas now so we can be ready for the next session. Once again, thanks to all that helped during this past session, and stay healthy!!!!
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I assume all made it back safely to your home counties after our Commissioners Legislative meetings in Charleston. Thank you to all commissioners, administrators, and councilors that attended. I truly believe it was a very worthwhile conference. Even though we heard some "gloom and doom" discussions from some of our speakers, we also heard from the Legislative Leadership that they are willing to listen to, and work with us through this legislative session.
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Happy New Year!! I am sure you have all been offered this phrase once or twice, so I would like to be the last to offer it to you one more time. We are in to a New Year, that of 2013, one that is already filled with change. I am assuming the office of President of our Association with the departure of Ms. Cindy Pyles. I would like to offer Cindy my personal thanks and gratitude for leading our organization with class, intelligence and great direction. Thank you and the best of luck to you in all your endeavors.
We have a full plate to deal with as Commissioners, and we WILL continue moving forward with our agenda. Each and every one of you have the responsibility of representing your constituency to the best of your ability, and I hope you will do the same for your OWN organization, the County Commissioner’s Association of West Virginia! We have our Legislative Conference in late February, giving us the opportunity to discuss our legislative agenda with our representatives from across the State in a face to face setting. There is no better way to promote our ideas, other than speaking with them on a one on one basis.
Again, with the change I mentioned earlier. It is my responsibility to name a Vice President to fill that position until our Annual Meeting in August of 2013. I have appointed Nancy Cartmill, President of the Cabell County Commission, to do so. It is my hope that each of you will work with Nancy and I, and allow us to work with you, to continue moving our Association forward in a positive direction for our Counties and our constituency.
Have a great 2013, stay healthy, and let’s do what we need to do!!!!
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First of all, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The Association is already gearing up for the next legislative session. Our top priority is getting the regional jail costs under control. We
are doing so by working with Joe DeLong, Regional Jail Director, who has many ideas to get the cost of running the jails under control.
To do this, we need your participation during the 2013 legislation. As you are aware, many bills that will affect our budgets will pop up during the session. We need to prepare ourselves to make phone calls to legislators and attending meetings at the Capitol. Good Luck! It has been a pleasure serving as your President!