County Commission | The Magazine October 2018 | Page 10

THE COUNTY LINE
I
Sonny Brasfield
Executive Director
Beginning
a new era
for the
Association
New ‘home base’
in Montgomery
better equipped to
serve members
10 | OCTOBER 2018
t was the spring of 1977, and
dreams of Major League
Baseball still bounced around
in the head of a Tuscaloosa teenager.
College applications were being filled
out, and high school graduation was
only a few weeks away.
Not surprisingly, achieving the
graduation and application goals
turned out to be much more realistic
than that baseball thing.
Anyway, at the same time in
Montgomery, the Association of
County Commissions of Alabama
was moving into its brand new
building at 100 North Jackson
Street. The ground-breaking
photographs show county officials
— most of whom have long-since
left us — beaming with pride that
Alabama’s 67 county governments
would, finally, have their own
physical presence in the state’s capital
city.
Just two blocks from the Capitol,
the opening of the building would
be a major step forward for county
government in Alabama. And for the
next 40 years, thousands of county
officials and employees, state officials
and others involved in government
in Alabama would come in and out
the door at 100 North Jackson.
Over the years, many of
Alabama’s major policy issues have
been solved and resolved inside the
Association’s headquarters. Decisions
that have provided counties with
revenue from the Alabama Trust
Fund, created a constitutional
amendment barring unfunded
mandates, and put in motion
the two largest road and bridge
programs in Alabama’s history all
were born inside that building.
It has been a gathering spot in
Montgomery for county officials. It
has watched over the growth of the
Association’s services. And it has
been a home for county officials and
employees who know that doing
their jobs effectively means having a
strong presence in Montgomery.
Honestly, if the walls could talk,
they could recount the history of
Alabama over the past 40 years.
In just a few weeks, as 2018
turns into 2019, the building at 100
North Jackson will begin a new
phase of service. On January 1, it
will become the home of the claims
staff that will handle the hundreds
of claims filed every year through
our three insurance programs. The
walls will still hear stories about
counties and the problems they face,
but the perspective of those doing
the talking will be just a little bit
different.
At the same time, the
Association’s staff will move into a
new home just across the parking
lot at 2 North Jackson Street.
Today, work is well underway on
repurposing level 7 of the Business
Center of Alabama so that counties
can expand and renew their
perspective — ushering in a new era
for the Association, without losing
what has been so good about the
headquarters that have served us so
well for 40 years.
Commissioners and county
officials will still find the new
office to be a great “home base” in
Montgomery. The new facilities
have been designed to provide the
members with an upgraded place
to gather, updated resources for the
staff and an even larger conference
room and meeting facility that
can house about 50 or more. The
Association staff will also have more
functional space that will raise the