Time to Reflect, and Look Ahead

The month of June is a good time for us to pause and reflect on the previous five months. Sine die has come and gone. This was a difficult legislative session for counties and local governments as a whole. We appreciate each of you and the time you dedicated to making calls, sending emails and even making trips to Austin to help educate your legislators on the issues that are important to Texas counties. I also want to thank our Legislative Services team. The number of hours they have spent making sure you have the correct information and talking points has been incredible. I am extremely proud of the work they do.

On May 28, TAC celebrated its 50^th anniversary. At the end of a tough legislative session, it was so nice to be able to stop and reflect upon the past 50 years. TAC began as a conduit to provide better collaboration between counties and the state government. Now, 50 years later, we are still doing that plus so much more.

We have created an interactive timeline of TAC's key milestones at 50yearsofTAC.org. It illustrates the development of the wide array of services we now offer. In addition, the May–June issue of County magazine includes a feature and timeline about the development of TAC's pools. I hope you take time to explore both to see how far we have come. Our mission is to unite counties to achieve better solutions. We cannot achieve our mission without you; our success is your success.

The end of May also marked the completion of Module 2 for Leadership 254. The topic for this module was "Ethics and Integrity – Being Accountable for All Decisions." These are such important core values for county officials. A special thank you to my co-facilitator Nancy Baird for her work during this module.

The Leadership 254 class spent 2 1/2 days digging deep into the dilemmas local officials often face. How you make decisions and hold yourself out in your community and other arenas defines how others perceive you. However, it is not only how you make decisions, but also, do you own the decisions you make?  Do you hold yourself accountable? It is a lot to think about, isn't it? If you are interested in a deeper dive into this topic, please consider applying for the next class of Leadership 254. Applications will be accepted during the summer of 2020. Learn more about the program here.

Another TAC program of interest is our County Investment Academy. The Academy's annual conference is June 3–5. As county funding sources become more limited, it is important to understand the value of making sound investment decisions. The County Investment Academy is a great tool to help you develop your knowledge in this arena. If you missed the Conference of the County Investment Academy, there is still time to register for the Texas Public Funds Investment Conference, Nov. 7–8 at the Westin Hotel Houston, Memorial City.

Looking to September, we hope to see you Sept. 4–6 at the TAC Legislative Conference in Austin. Registration is open. Our team is working to make sure the sessions are relevant and will provide you with the information you need as you sort through the new statutes that affect your office and county. While you are in Austin, I welcome the opportunity to visit with you to see what more we can do to assist you and your county.

Thank you for your service to your county and to TAC. We value the relationship. When you think about it, the work we do affects every Texan. Cheers to another 50 years.