A Publication of the Texas Association of Counties V olume 25, Number 5 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 • QR CODES FOR TAXES • AFTER DISASTER STRIKES • MEDIA TIPS • KAIZEN • OIL BOOM ADVICE The Midland Imagibrarium 3859 Counties_.indd 1 9/6/13 4:38 AM HOW DO YOUR EMPLOYEES VOLUME 25, NUMBER 5 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 TAKE THEIR RETIREMENT? Having your coee made-to-order is one of life’s little luxuries. Shouldn’t your employees have that same luxury with their deferred compensation account? 2013 Ofcers Features That’s why Nationwide oers a wide variety of & Board of Directors 20 Read All About It 12 tips for delivering the county educational resources and quality investment options PRESIDENT Connie Hickman message to fit the unique needs of public sector employees. Navarro County Justice of the Peace PRESIDENT ELECT Don Allred 24 QR Codes for Taxes Oer your employees a deferred comp program Oldham County Judge Comal County earns County Best VICE PRESIDENT Practices Award for becoming first in that’s made-to-order. Joyce Hudman Brazoria County Clerk the country to give taxpayers direct MEMBERS link to online tax statements via QR Luanne Caraway codes p. 24 Hays County Tax Assessor-Collector Renee Couch After Disaster Strikes: What Next? Contact us today. Comal County Treasurer 26 Edward Dion Tips and resources for building 877-677-3678 El Paso County Auditor community resilience Laurie English 112th District Attorney 30 Voices of County Government NRSforu.com Larry Gallardo County officials discuss their Hidalgo County Constable passion for public service and local Neil Fritsch Calhoun County Commissioner government Roger Harmon Johnson County Judge 32 How to Make Toast, Better Teresa Kiel Counties use kaizen events to help Guadalupe County Clerk improve public sector efficiencies Patti Jones Lubbock County Commissioner p. 36 Daniel Law 36 Making the Most of an Oil Boom Caldwell County Sheriff Officials from shale-impacted counties Tommy Owens discuss what to do to help ensure Upton County Commissioner community success before, during Jackie Miller, Jr. Ellis County Justice of the Peace and after an oil boom Wes Suiter Angelina County Judge 40 The Midland Imagibrarium Sherri Woodn Midland County visionaries create Tom Green County District Clerk new community library experience Nationwide Retirement Solutions (Nationwide) partners with the EX OFFICIO MEMBERS National Association of Counties (NACo) to provide counties Vernon Cook and their employees with a competitive deferred compensation Roberts County Judge program. As part of this partnership, Nationwide pays a fee to Immediate Past President Departments NACo in exchange for NACo’s exclusive endorsement, marketing Marc Hamlin support, and program oversight of Nationwide products made Brazos County District Clerk 4 Staff Report / 5 Website Spotlight / 6 Clipboard / 15 Historical Highlights / 18 Emergency Services / 49 Calendar / available under the program. For more information, including fees NACo Representative paid, Nationwide encourages you to visit NRSforu.com. Ron Hickman 50 Implications / 51 County Information Project / 52 One Last Look Information provided by retirement specialists is for educational Harris County Constable purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. NACo Representative Retirement Specialists are registered representatives of Nationwide Investment Services Corporation, member FINRA. County Staff In MI only: Nationwide Investment Svcs. Corporation. Gene Terry, Executive Director / Leah Magnus, Communications Manager / Maria Sprow, Editor ©2011 Nationwide Retirement Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Contributing Writers Graphic Design One Nationwide Blvd., Columbus, OH 43215. Nationwide, On Liz Carmack and Joel Nihlean, / Ben Chomiak, Your Side and the Nationwide framemark are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. NRV-0443AO-NX (3/11) SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 • COU NTY 3 3859 Counties_.indd 3 9/6/13 4:38 AM Midland County visionaries create new community library experience By Maria Sprow here are a lot of ways to not quiet. It’s not stuffy. It’s not old. describe the Midland County It’s not familiar. It’s rambunctious. It’s Centennial Library. It’s been lively. It’s innovative. It’s an adventure. Tdescribed as a “gymnasium e Centennial Library is an for the mind,” by Midland County experience — for everyone. It’s a Public Library Foundation President meeting space, an exhibit space, a Andy Shaffer; an “imagibrarium” community space. It’s a place where by Midland County Judge Mike kids can play video games and exercise, Bradford; and a “pathway to adventure where teens can make movies and and, unencumbered, to freedom” by where adults can browse one of the Midland County Public Library Advisory Board member Ed Todd. premiere genealogy collections in the state. It’s a place where the To describe the library is to throw away the traditional descriptors. seasons change constantly, where children move through holes in the It’s not just a collection of paperbacks and encyclopedias and DVDs wall and find themselves in their own special world, a place where and computers available for public use or a facility that encourages they can look up and see their place on Earth among the stars. It’s a literacy with summer reading programs and toddler story times. It’s place to read and eat lunch under a large oak tree — something hard TOP: The colorful Youth Services desk at the Midland County Centennial Library. BOTTOM: The Centennial Library was constructed in a 33,000-square-foot former Bed, Bath and Beyond store. (Photos courtesy of the Midland County Library System.) SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 • COUNTY 41 3859 Counties_.indd 41 9/9/13 5:49 AM TOP: Foam letters spell out the purpose of the enclosed children’s activity room. BOTTOM: Children nd a cozy spot to read at in the Midland County Centennial Library. 2003. “I congratulate the Midland County Commissioners for the foresight to see our needs as a growing population and responding with a facility that is a distinct treasure. is is not an expense but an investment that will pay great dividends.” “anks for having the political courage to do the right thing for the majority of us who want to see our community stay ahead of its incredible growth,” wrote Trey Wetendorf in another Letter to the Editor. “And thanks for taking an active interest in and responding to the needs of our community’s future leaders — the young professionals and new families who have moved here recently.” “We are at a crossroads in Midland, and we can either move forward with planned and smart growth, or we can get run over in the middle of the crossroad. We must invest now to ensure that longtime Midlanders and new families moving here every day have a city in which the quality of life provides the best for our children’s futures,” wrote Sherry Colwell in another letter. “We must commit ourselves, as the county already has done, to providing a quality of life that will last for generations to come. e new Centennial branch library will do just that.” The Making of the Imagibrarium When visitors open the front doors to the Centennial Library, one of the first things they see is a tree “growing’” along a pathway that separates the bookworms from the tech geeks — one of several trees the county purchased for a total of $200,000. e trees are, as Bradford puts it, “all Hollywood”: the kind of trees used on movie sets, made from steel and rubber. ey hide electrical cords and provide other essential infrastructural and aesthetic functions, such as lighting, seating and sound absorption. to find in drought-stricken Midland. But the trees aren’t the only thing Hollywood. e story behind It’s a place constructed of concrete but made up of dreams, visions the Centennial Library would lend itself to a feature film — if and big ideas. Hollywood made movies about libraries. “We wanted to do something spectacular, and I feel like we In many areas, the public library is a bruised but beloved cultural did,” said Midland County Public Library Director John Trischitti, icon, a hero beaten by time and looking for its moment of redemption. speaking during a session at the National Association of Counties Five years ago, Midland County’s library system was no exception. (NACo) 2013 County Solutions and Marketplace conference in e county, with a population of about 136,000 and growing, was Tarrant County. “Every individual in your community has an idea spending about $2 million a year to keep its libraries open for the of what a public library is, and in Midland, that (traditional) idea is 1,000 or so patrons. To Bradford and the county’s commissioners, wrong.” that seemed like an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars. So they added It all sounds like hyperbole, but the Midland County Centennial an agenda item to a commissioner’s meeting to consider closing the Library is a place residents are proud of, and the hype hasn’t county’s library system, and Bradford said it was set to happen, with diminished residents’ pride and enjoyment of the new $8.1 million an expected vote of 5-0. facility. But the local newspaper got wind of the agenda and ran a story, “Our community is better than ever,” wrote Buddy Sipes in a causing a frenzy in the county’s courthouse. Residents lined up in Letter to the Editor for the Midland Reporter-Telegram after the the hallways to tell commissioners what villains they were for even library’s grand opening, which featured special guests Laura Bush thinking about closing the libraries. Commissioners held public and Gen. Tommy Franks, who oversaw the United States Armed hearings for three days about the issue, said Bradford while speaking Forces operations in the Middle East from July 2000 until July at the NACo conference.