A time to celebrate a half-century of accomplishments
By AAC Executive Director Chris Villines
In 1968, a small group of county and district elected officials gathered together in downtown Little Rock at the first of what would become annual conferences of the Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC). Dreaming big about this new and unique network across the state was no doubt an exciting, yet daunting proposition. Had they been able to look into the future, I have to think they would have been extremely satisfied with what this group has accomplished in the span of half a century.
I have been told at one time the second largest political body in the world was the Pulaski County Quorum Court, with members numbering in the hundreds — second only to the Politburo in the U.S.S.R. To digress a bit, I remember always being chastised by elementary teachers for referring to it as Russia, as that was a state within the U.S.S.R., not the country. Ironic how things turn out sometimes.
Whether we housed the second largest political gathering or not is unverified, but between insanely large legislative bodies that met only once a year and a fee system of county elected offices, county government in Arkansas was known for its inefficiencies and — because of a fee system — potential for abuse.
The Association of Arkansas Counties was instrumental in the passage of Amendment 55 in 1974, which passed by a vote of 242,419 for and 230,014 against. This sweeping reform of county government created manageable sized quorum courts that met once a month instead of once per year to approve the annual budget prior to its passage.
Amendment 55 eliminated much of the fee system, replacing it with salaried, non-commissioned elected positions in our counties. Amendment 55 could not have been passed without the AAC and the powerful networks that sprung from the organization and its annual meetings.
Fast forwarding to recent years, Arkansas had the shortest terms in the United States for countywide offices at only two years. In the 2015 legislative session all of you worked hard alongside the AAC to send to the voters a constitutional amendment referral. Ultimately the voters approved that measure, and many of you are about to be elected to the first four-year terms for countywide office in our state’s history.
As we move into the present and future, I believe the AAC is setting a gold standard across the country in how we are approaching the opioid epidemic. While the crux of this issue does not necessarily involve legislative pathways, we find ourselves with important partners in the Arkansas Municipal League (ARML) and the state of Arkansas.
Many thanks to Mike Rainwater for pushing this issue to us in 2017. His vision and an extraordinary partnership with the Municipal League has positioned the counties of Arkansas well as we look to solve this scourge in our society. Under the city leadership from ARML Executive Director Don Zimmerman and Chief Counsel Mark Hayes, the cities have signed more than 90 percent of our state’s city population in more than 200 cities and towns to the list of engaged parties, alongside an unprecedented 72 of 75 Arkansas counties, to join in investigation and litigation of the pharmaceutical companies responsible for creating the opioid epidemic.
Arkansas ranks second highest in the country in opioid prescriptions dispensed per capita. It is a remarkably bad thing to have this many addictive pills in our society, but what really makes this situation bad is the egregiously unethical marketing of these drugs by pharmaceutical companies who knew that, despite their assurances to the contrary, these pills were addictive and dangerous.
I welcome the opportunity for the AAC, ARML and state of Arkansas to take the lead in cleaning up this problem and restoring our population to fulfilling relationships and lives free from addiction and resulting behavior that costs money.
So I tell you all this to lead into a time to celebrate what we have accomplished, what we are accomplishing, and what we will accomplish as an association. This summer marks our 50th annual conference. We have changed locations to accommodate what we expect to be our largest attendence ever in the spacious Embassy Suites Hotel and Convention Center in Rogers, Arkansas. Save the dates and plan on attending this conference when it takes place August 8-10.
We are already working out details on spectacular programming, speakers and events for the 2018 conference — and soon the theme will be available and the room blocks will open up and be available. We will alert all of you by postcard and email when these rooms open up, and we hope to see many of our county friends in attendance.
