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November / December 2011
Volume 23, Number 6

By Vernon Cook, Roberts County Judge and President, Texas Association of Counties

Looking Back to Move Forward

As these comments hit the press we will be nearing the Holiday Season. I am pleased to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It is our most sincere hope and prayer that all of us truly remember and dedicate ourselves to the real meaning of the Holiday Season — the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In addition to the Holiday Season, we are rapidly approaching our December Board Meeting and Officer Elections for the Texas Association of Counties. As my two year term as TAC President nears an end, I think it might be appropriate to look back over the last couple years and talk a little about some of the accomplishments and developments that have been of importance to our Association.

Without a doubt, naming Gene Terry the TAC executive director was the most momentous decision made by our Board in the last three years. I continue to feel that Gene brings a unique set of skills to the TAC Director’s desk that will serve us all well in the coming years. Thanks Gene, for your sincere thoughtfulness, responsiveness and dedication that have moved the organization ever more forward in its goal to serve all county officials.

As Gene Terry assumed the Director’s chair, another area of concern gained momentum with each passing month. The succession process became an area of major importance, not only in the Director’s office, but throughout the organization. With the impending retirement of numerous administrative officers and department heads, it became readily apparent that the organization needed to develop redundancy and experience in back-up positions.

I am pleased to say that your Association has taken great strides in solving the succession issue. Staff at all levels dealt with significant changes in leadership, organization and structure. As always, change can be challenging, but we are secure and comfortable with the improvements made in the efficiency and structure of our Association. TAC is looking forward to many years of providing productive, efficient services to our membership.

As our readers are well aware, this past Legislative Session opened with dire attitudes as to the state’s economic situation. With economic forecasts down to the tune of $27 billion, many thought local government would be hammered severely by the Legislature to achieve a balanced budget.

However, thanks in large part to work by local elected county officials, our TAC Legislative Department, our TAC County Information Project, our affiliate organizations and County Judges and Commissioners Association General Counsel Jim Allison, we are proud to report that county government escaped the 2011 Legislative Session relatively unscathed. In spite of extreme deficits in State revenue, few unfunded mandates were handed down — in fact, many of us sensed an increasing awareness on behalf of legislators regarding the passage and significance of unfunded mandates. A big Thank Y ou is deserved by all who had a role in making our presence felt during the 82nd Texas Legislature.

As we close, I want to again take this opportunity to wish everyone the very best for the coming Holiday Season. It is an honor and a privilege to have served as your TAC President for the last two years. I want to pass along early congratulations to your President Elect, The Honorable Connie Hickman, Navarro County justice of the peace, as well as to the association’s next Board of Directors as they gear up for the coming year.