County Government Day Conference

It was a busy week last week as we had around 450 county officials in town for the annual county government day event in addition to the usual legislative hearings and committees. Included among the conference attendees were approximately 150 county commissioners from across the state. They took part in our TCCA board meeting and membership meeting and had opportunities to meet and greet with state legislators. At our Wednesday morning breakfast we were honored to have Governor Phil Bredesen, Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey and Speaker of the House Kent Williams there to address county officials. We were also joined by many other legislators at our breakfast.

More than 100 of the county officials in town also took advantage of a special session we organized on Wednesday to hear an update from state and federal departments and agencies on the Economic Recovery Act. Officials from the Governor’s Office, the State Departments of Transportation, Education, Economic and Community Development and Environment and Conservation and the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development office presented an update on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (often referred to as the federal economic stimulus legislation). The speakers outlined in general terms the funds that would be available to Tennessee and how such funds are planned to be distributed. A recurring message from the speakers was that the details of this legislation are still being sorted out as various federal departments and agencies continue to develop rules and regulations for the administration of the funds. If you would like more information about the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, contact our office via e-mail at tcca.connor@tncounties.org or by phone at (615) 532-3767 to request copies of a handout we distributed.