COLLEGE STATION — More than 500 Texas county officials are on hand for the 41st Annual County Judges and Commissioners’ Continuing Education Conference & Education Exposition at the College Station Hilton Conference Center.
The four-day event is conducted by the V.G. Young Institute of County Government, which is part of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. The institute provides information and educational and technical assistance to elected officials at no additional cost to tax payers.
“Texas is one of a very small number of states that requires all elected officials to earn continuing education credits,” explained John Gilmartin, Extension coordinator of the institute. “We provide that service to county commissioners, judges, treasurers, tax assessor-collectors and county and district clerks.”
Sessions are led by leaders in government, the private sector, academia and county officials. Topics include county budgeting, open meeting laws, bonds, certificates of obligation and tax notes, bridge inspection, county roads, county government liability, ethics training and juvenile justice.
Gilmartin believes better informed county officials means better county government.
“We don’t tell county officials how to govern or provide services,” he explained. “We want to provide the most up-to-date information so they can make informed decisions and feel confident that those decisions are based on the best and latest information.”
Consider this — nearly one-half of the 1,270 commissioners court members are newly elected every two years, and their official responsibilities and duties are foreign to most of them.
“Often when someone new is elected to office, you get a big turnover because the official wants to hire the people who supported him or her. That’s not always possible — there are certain guidelines for hiring and firing that have to be followed, and we teach them here,” Richard Avery, Extension specialist, V.G. Young Institute, said.
The Extension Service began to provide county officials with continuing education in 1956 through its County Officials Program. Then in 1969, the 61st Texas Legislature created the V.G. Young Institute of County Government to help Texas’ county officials become more effective public servants.
“We’re very proud that 1999 marks our 30th anniversary,” Gilmartin said.
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