Member Login
| Presidents Message |
| Sunday, 17 June 2007 21:52 | |||
 What a year! It seems like only yesterday Walt Schmidlen passed the gavel to me to preside as president of the West Virginia Association of Counties. Althought the presidency adds to one’s already busy schedule I can truthfully say that I have enjoyed the year and I am proud to have served our members. As I look back we enjoyed many more positives than negatives.First and foremost, the Association continues to exist. There was concern that if we had less than 100% county participation the Association might fold, but because the board of directors, member counties and staff remained focused on success and continued to move forward we emerged as an association that is stronger than ever. With the continued improvement in the relationships with our legislators and governor the Association remains a strong and respected voice for counties in our state. Secondly, through the hard work and determination of our Executive Director, Patti Hamilton, and a few never-say-die county officials we were able to get a much-deserved pay increase that become effective July 1, 2006. To get a pay increase is always difficult but to get one in an election year is nearly impossible. (Even those who do not want to pay dues to the Association were able to receive and enjoy the fruits of our labor.) January brought us several new county officials and they were welcomed by us at our New County Officials Training in December. I believe that this is a very important program and I trust we will continue it in the future. Training and education helps us to be better, smarter leaders in our counties. Perhaps the most important achievement of the year was the formation of our own property and liability self-insurance pool. Through professional contact made by our executive director the discussion began over a year ago with officials of the Virginia Association of Counties the officers of the VACo Risk Management Program to begin a similar program for West Virginia counties. I want to thank Patti for her hard work and her devotion to the Association. It is never easy to be THE ONE who answers to so many. Also, I thank Kathy and Mary for the constant support and help. These folks made my job much easier. It is a pleasure to work with professional people. I pledge to help in any way I can to further the goals and purposes of the WVACo as we continue to work on such important issues as regional jails and incarcerations, elections, property tax and county revenue and many others. Bob Pasley Wayne County Clerk
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