|
Plan to attend the 2012 NACo Annual Conference |  | | To find out more, click here |
|
 Associate and Sustaining Members
|
NACO Associate and Sustaining Members enable NACO to enhance its continuing education programs for county officials across the state. Visit NACO's complete associate and sustaining membership list here.
|
|
Education Foundation Memorial Program | |
A gift to NACO's Education Foundation ensures that the children of county officials and county employees are eligible to apply for scholarships to continue their education at Nebraska's higher learning institutions. Whatever their passion - history, art, music, science, education, sports - the NACO Education Foundation will provide them an opportunity to fund their education beyond the K-12 level. Memorial gifts to NACO's Education Foundation are tax deductible and will be a lasting legacy in honor of your loved one's commitment to educating the children of Nebraska's county officials and employees. For more information about how to make a memorial gift, please contact Larry Dix / 402-434-5660 ext. 226. |
|
|
Conference Matters | |
Lodging Reservation Date
NACO has received numerous inquiries regarding the date that county officials will be able to contact the contracted hotels to acquire lodging reservations for the 2012 Annual Conference to be held in Kearney at the Younes Event Center.
In a future issue of E-Line, NACO will publish a list of hotels contracted with for the 2012 Annual Conference along with the reservations phone numbers. County officials may begin contacting these hotels on August 30, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time. Reservations must be made by using the published phone numbers to receive the contracted rate for the conference. No reservations (on-line or other) will be accepted at the contracted rate prior to August 30th. On August 30 or after, those officials making reservations for the conference must use the phone numbers published by NACO to received the contracted rate. The contracted rate will not be available with on-line reservations.
Keynote Speaker
New Times: New Leadership
What counties are experiencing today is much bigger and more far reaching than the typical economic peaks and valleys. These new times are changing the size and scope of county government, demanding new ways of thinking and doing business, and requiring new leadership. New leadership doesn't necessarily mean new leaders; it means that leaders need to change the way they demonstrate leadership.
On December 12 , at NACO's 118th Annual NACO Conference, guest speaker, David Rabiner, will explore the qualities county leaders need to successfully guide their communities and organizations through this important evolution in county government. More important, his program will outline the obstacles that get in the way of transformational leadership and provide a blueprint for becoming a relevant, new leader in these challenging new times.
David is a partner in Rabiner Resources, a speaking, training, and consulting firm based in Portland, Oregon. A former local government executive manager, he understands the unique challenges of running a local government organization and has specialized in the area of public-sector leadership for the past 19 years.
Stay tuned in subsequent issues of NACO E-Line for previews of the program, New Times: New Leadership, he will deliver at the Annual Conference in December.
Affiliate Groups' Agendas
NACO has sent planning material to each affiliate group president to enable them to begin planning their individual agendas for the annual conference. County officials who have ideas or suggestions for their group's agenda are encouraged to contact their affiliate group president as soon as possible.
2015 & 2016 Annual Conferences
At a June 22, 2012 meeting of the NACO Board of Directors, a motion was made, seconded and passed that the 2015 & 2016 NACO Annual Conferences be held in Kearney at the Younes Conference Center. This decision was made after proposals were received from four different conference facitlities across the state. The NACO Conference Committee, appointed by NACO President, LeRoy Janssen, reviewed the submitted proposals and made a report and recommendation to the NACO Board of Directors, after which, the NACO Board of Directors voted to award contracts for the 2015 and 2016 conferences to the Younes Conference Center. The 2013 and 2014 conferences will be held in downtown Omaha at the CenturyLink Event Center. |
NACO Executive Director, Larry Dix, Presented Award from Nebraska Judicial Branch | |
NACO Executive Director, Larry Dix, was presented with an award from Chief Justice, Mike Heavican during the state judges' leadership meeting on May 21, 2012 in Lincoln, in recognition and appreciation of NACO's essential contributions to the delivery of justice to all citizens throughout the state, including ongoing support and funding of district courts and county courts.
To read more, click here. |
Hall County Recognized by NACo for Innovative County Government Efforts | |
Hall County, Nebraska was recently recognized by the National Association of Counties (NACo) for implementing innovative county government programs to better serve area residents. The 2012 NACo Achievement Awards winners will be honored during the NACo's 78th Annual Conference and Exposition in Allgheny County/Pittsburgh, PA., July 13-17.
To read more, click here. |
North Dakota County Recorders Association Becomes First NACRC Affiliated State Association | |
During their meeting on June 7, 2012 in Fargo, North Dakota, the North Dakota County Recorders Association voted to become an affiliated state association of the National Association of County Recorders, Election Officials and Clerks.
Jack Arrowsmith, clerk, Douglas County, Colorado, who serves as NACRC's incoming president and current membership committee chair, said, "As local associations struggle to keep costs low and still offer significant benefits to their membership, North Dakota was quick to realize that the NACRC's Affiliated State Association program provided a great solution. State association members enjoy a broad range of benefits and are provided with a national perspective, increasing the value of their local association. Forming mutually beneficial partnerships makes good sense."
To read more, click here. |
MIPS Bytes | |
Windows Computer Maintenance Programs for Free
Everyone wants to keep their computer running as fast as possible. With everyday use our computers slow down as a result of the accumulation of temporary files (web browsers store lots of these), having fragmented files on our hard drives, and by the installation of unwanted viruses or malware. Let's break this list of issues down with some causes and free solutions. I know the programs below are free for home use, but I recommend you review any free program's EULA before loading it on a commercial or governmental computer.
Temporary Files - By simply using our computers in our everyday lives, thousands of temporary files are created and stored on our hard drives. This is both normal and necessary. These files not only take a lot of disk space, but they slow the system down because they are always being cataloged, read and indexed by our programs and the operating system. These files reside all over your hard drive and it would be close to impossible to locate them all. That is where CCleaner comes in. With a single click this fantastic utility quickly scans your hard drive and presents you with a list of files to be removed. Another click removes them. I ran this on my computer and it found unneeded files from Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, Firefox, Adobe, Office 2010, Anti-virus, Remote Desktop, and more. This utility also does a good job at cleaning up your system registry.
Fragmented Files - For the most part you cannot control how your computer writes your files on your hard drive. Your computer is constantly reading and writing files at the same time. The drive is always moving to disk locations (called sectors) to read files into memory, but at the same time it writes files in any unused sectors along the way. Files end up being broken up and put on your hard disk all over the place. A hard drive has fragmentation when files are separated into pieces (fragments) and written to disk in non-adjacent sectors. Hard drive fragmentation can really slow your computer down - way down. How much fragmentation affects your speed depends on what files are fragmented and what percentage of fragmentation your drive has. Windows comes with a built in defragmenting program, but it is not near as robust and feature rich as the free Defraggler. This utility has many features including letting you see which files are fragmented and how badly. You can select which file(s) to defragment or simply click the defrag button to do them all.
AVG Anti-virus Free (free.avg.com) Viruses / Malware - Our computers are constantly being asked to load things from our emails and from the Internet. We are aware of some of these programs wanting to be installed and others we are not. I do not think we can stay ahead of all the hackers out there, but at least we can try and keep up. The best way to avoid the nightmare of unwanted programs on our computer is not allowing them to be installed in the first place. Like most of the free offerings out there, Avast! and AVG Anti-virus gives you a list of features for free with more features available in their paid "pro" version. Every computer needs to have some sort of anti-virus loaded to help it fight off the threats coming at it via the Internet, network, compact disc, portable hard drive, thumb drive, or other USB storage devices. |
NACO Receptionist, De Troxel, Retires | |
After 15 years of dedication, NACO's receptionist, De Troxel has retired. De's was the pleasant voice county officials heard first when they contacted the NACO office. Through 15 years she enjoyed being of service to Nebraska's county officials.
De started at NACO and NIRMA in June, 1997. She was hired by former NACO Executive Director, Jack Mills. "Through the years I have learned a tremendous amount of things and I will miss working with the NACO staff, and visiting with county officials. Retiring was a difficult decision for me but I will be 71 years old in November and I want to take time to travel and visit my children and grandchildren while my health is good," De said.
De has been a volunteer for the Lied Center in Nebraska for several years and, once retired, hopes to find additional volunteer work at one of the Lincoln hospitals. In addition to volunteering at the Lied Center, De does quite a bit of work with the Widows Group and Second Wind, a group of retired people, at her church. Additionally, she assists with wedding receptions at her church.
"I've seen a lot of changes since I began my employment at NACO. Technology has grown by leaps and bounds and computers have streamlined my responsibilities at NACO immensely. There were times, several years ago, when things got pretty demanding at conference time and during workshops, but now, thanks to technology, things take less time and get easier with each year."
"I want to thank Larry Dix and the NACO staff for all of their support and for contributing to this very important part of my life. The support means a great deal to me and I will never forget it. NACO has always been a wonderful place to work."
"We will miss De and we certainly appreciate her dedication and pleasant attitude through the years," NACO Executive Director, Larry Dix said. "She always has a smile on her face and her appreciation of county officials and their responsibilities will be hard to replace."
NACO is sponsoring a card shower for De. If you would like to send her a card, her mailing address is De Troxel, 2128 Stone Creek Loop South, Lincoln, NE 68512. |
|
| |
Hello, my name is Ryan Johnson and I was recently hired to work for the Federal, State and Local Government (FSLG) division of the Internal Revenue Service. The Federal, State and Local Government division's mission is to provide government entities top-quality service by helping them understand and comply with their federal tax responsibilities and applying the law with integrity and fairness to all.
This objective is accomplished through partnering, coalition-building, and conducting outreach with FSLG customers; and is balanced with our responsibility for assessing compliance through employment tax examinations and compliance checks on filing requirements. Our goal is to assist all governmental entities to voluntarily comply with the tax laws and is achieved by providing first class customer service to our government customers.
Tom Goman who has been the FSLG Nebraska agent for the past 10 years is retiring in January of 2013. I will be working with Tom until his retirement and I will be your primary contact after his retirement. I look forward to working with all of you. Please feel free to contact me with any of your questions or concerns. I will be working out of Omaha. The best way to contact me is via email. My email address is: Ryan.W.Johnson@irs.gov. My office telephone is 402-233-7412. I very much look forward to working with you over the coming years. I hope to meet with you all at your upcoming conferences. |
Register Now for Assessors Workshop & Continuing Education |
The Nebraska Assessors Association Board of Directors met in Kearney on May 17 to plan the annual Assessors Workshop. In addition to the 2-day workshop, a 1-day continuing education seminar entitled "Land Valuation" will follow the workshop. The workshop will be held in Kearney at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Convention Center. The Workshop will begin at 1:00 p.m. (CST) on Monday, August 27 and will conclude at 12:00 p.m. (CST.) on Wednesday, August 29 with a lunch following. The 1-day Land Valuation seminar will follow at 1:00 p.m. (CST.) on Wednesday, August 29 and conclude at 12:00 p.m. (CST) on Thursday, August 30. A tentative agenda for the workshop and seminar can be found by clicking here.
Advance registration can now be made on-line at NACO's website for the workshop and the 1-day seminar. The fee for attending the workshop will be $85.00 for registrations received on or before August 1. The fee for attending the Land Valuation class will be $40.00 for registrations received on or before August 1. After August 1, a late registration fee of $25.00 will be added. Cancellations must be made in writing on or before August 17 to receive a full refund. A cancellation fee of $25.00 will be assessed for any cancellations received after August 17. Registration for the workshop and/or seminar will be posted on NACO's website on Monday, June 4. Click here to visit NACO's website.
Guest rooms may be reserved by contacting the Holiday Inn Hotel and Convention Center at (308) 237-5971. Room rates are $72.95 single/double. When making reservations, inform hotel staff that you are attending the Assessors Workshop to receive the contracted rate.
Assessors are reminded that the 2013 annual dues for the County Assessors Association of Nebraska are $50.00 and should be mailed to the association treasurer, Janet Shaul, Garden County Assessor. Registration fees for the the workshop and Land Valuation class should be mailed directly to NACO. |
Updated County Government Day PowerPoint CD Available |
An updated PowerPoint presentation is available on CD for use by counties during their annual County Government Day. The PowerPoint provides a comprehensive look at county government functions in the State of Nebraska. The CD is customizable and is available for $10 to cover processing, shipping and handling. The order form is available here. |
2012 Directory of County Officials | |
The order form for the NACO 2012 Directory of County Officials is available here or on the NACO website. Each directory is $17 if tax-exempt or $18 if taxable. |
News from NACo | |
 Counties Reach Out to Communities During National County Government Month
Several Nebraska counties participated in the 2012 National County Government Month.
To read more, click here.
Make plans now to attend NACO's Annual Conference and Expostion
July 13-17, 2012, Pittsburgh/Allgheny County, Pennsylvania
Click here for conference overview. |
NACo Web-based Education |
Supreme Court Review (Hosted by State and Local Legal Center)
Thursday, July 19, 1:00 - 2:15 p.m. EDT
Join Paul Clement, who argued the Affordable Care Act case on behalf of the states before the Supreme Court, and Patricia Millett, who argued three cases before the Court this term impacting state or local government, in a discussion about the practical implications of the most important cases affecting state and local government from the Supreme Court's 2011 term. The State and Local Legal Center (SLLC) is organizing this webinar for all Big Seven members, and Lisa Soronen, Executive Director of the SLLC, also will participate in the conversation.
To register, click here.
For more information on these or other upcoming or previous webinars, visit the NACo Web-based Education page.
|
|
|
|
|
