Back to Contents

September / October 2009
Volume 21, Number 5

By Karen Ann Norris, Executive Director, Texas Association of Counties

Bits and Pieces from Nashville and Austin

News from NACo . . .
TAC President J.D. Johnson lead the Texas Delegation to this summer’s National Association of Counties’ Annual Conference in Nashville, Tenn., and as usual, NACo produced an excellent program with emphasis on the economic recovery but what interested me most was the “hallway talk” with county officials from around the country. In Texas, we have our budget challenges, with tougher times on the horizon in terms of revenue expectations. But the news from other states was truly bleak. Time and time again I heard sentiments of “Our county will never be the same again. We’ll never be able to do more than the mandates.” If there was a positive side to this dialogue, it was in the determination of county officials to “keep control and governance on the local level” even as they recognized they had no choice but to change the way they delivered services. I even heard from those who were excited about an innovation or cooperative effort they were using to keep services flowing. It all just reinforces that when times are tough, county officials dig in – figure things out – to do the best job for their citizens.

Thank you Richard Slagle . . .
Our August Annual Conference had a focus on serving the public and was informally dedicated to Richard Slagle, the retiring director of our field services department. As one of the “founding” members of our field services department, Richard has been a favorite through the years with our members and a true “lifeline” for so many people, helping to guide them through some very stormy waters when it comes to personnel issues. I feel Richard’s very example has gone a long way in establishing professional human resource functions in Texas counties and we congratulate him on a well-earned retirement.

Richard’s leaving marks one more step in the transition in staff leadership that our organization is undergoing. I’m proud to announce that Richard’s replacement is Mike Strawn, promoted from managing our loss control services. Mike’s many years of experience within our field operations well qualify him for the position and you can look forward to continued excellent service from our great field team.

A special time for me . . .
I’ve commented before about this being our 40th anniversary year. Now, I want to share a very special time from the TAC Annual Conference when we honored our TAC Past Presidents. It’s been more than 10 years since this group last met and we were delighted that six out of the seven were able to join us, including:

• The Honorable Giles Dalby, retired Garza County Judge and TAC President 1983-1984;
• The Honorable Bill Melton, retired Dallas County Treasurer and TAC President 1987-88;
• The Honorable Jay Johnson, former Swisher County Judge and the current director of TAC’s Education Program and TAC President 1993-94;
• The Honorable Mickey West, retired Palo Pinto County Judge and TAC President 2000- 01 and then during a second term 2004-05;
• The Honorable Bill Bailey, Harris County Constable and TAC President
  2002-03; and
• Our immediate past president, The Honorable Marc Hamlin, Brazos County District Clerk and TAC President 2006-07.

Our remaining past president, Retired San Patricio County Commissioner Carl Duncan, was unfortunately unable to join us because of ill health.

Each was honored with a Life Membership in TAC but what may have meant the most to each one of them and to those of us fortunate enough to be with them on that day were the stories of our history and the people who meant very much to the growth and success of our organization. While they were with us, each of these gentlemen made contributions in the form of an oral history. The oral histories are a major thrust of this 40th anniversary and our effort to document TAC’s history for “future generations” of members and staff.

An organization without history can easily lose sight of its mission and core values. We won’t allow that to happen to TAC.