VML / VML Insurance

Free workshops to address conflict management, civic engagement

Governing officials are under ever increasing pressure to demonstrate leadership and provide solutions to myriad community problems. When faced with difficult choices and competing interests, how do you work toward solutions that serve to unite rather than divide your city, town or county?

VML and VML Insurance Programs will help local government officials sort through such issues by sponsoring a series of free communications workshops tailored for them this spring.

Attendees will acquire an assortment of practical tools for addressing conflict management and community engagement. The workshops are open to all local government officials working for cities, towns, counties, schools and authorities.
The first two workshops will be held March 30 in Abingdon and on March 31 in Vinton. Both will run from 10:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Lunch will be included.

Four more of the workshops will be held in other parts of the state in April and in May. Details will be announced shortly. If your community is interested in being the host for one of the four workshops in April or May, please contact Steve Craig, managing director of VML Insurance Programs, at 1-800-963-6800 or at scraig@vmlins.org.

These workshops were developed in response to a number of challenges identified by local officials attending the 2009 VML Mayors Institute in Roanoke in October. Aside from coping with fiscal woes, attendees identified several communications-related challenges they felt were important to address. These included consensus building, conflict resolution, intergovernmental relationships and community engagement.

VML and VML Insurance Programs have selected two dynamic speakers to preside over the workshops – Melissa Maybury Lubin, director of the Virginia Tech Richmond Center, and Harrisonburg Mayor Kai Degner, director of civic engagement at the Fairfield Center in Harrisonburg.

The agenda, speaker bios and registration form are attached. Seating is limited so registrations will be honored on a first come, first served basis. Registration ends March 24. Agenda & registraion (PDF) contents

Call issued for mandate reviews

The Commission on Local Government is preparing to undertake its annual review of selected state mandates on local governments. The COLG publishes a catalog of mandates (http://bit.ly/9tO0ok); local governments can request that any of those mandates included in Part A of the above report be scheduled for an assessment.

• Mandates already scheduled for an assessment include:

• Supplement pay for employees in military service

• Law enforcement terrorism prevention grant

• Mental health transition plans for incarcerated juveniles

• Waste management facility operator’s license

• Rail enhancement program

• Land use permits

• For additional information, or to request that a mandate be reviewed, contact Susan Williams at the COLG: 804/786-6508; Susan.Williams@dhcd.virginia.gov. contents

Newspaper blog focuses on budget cut effects

Veteran Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Michael Martz has launched a blog on the newspaper’s Web site that deals with the effects of state budget cuts on local communities. Martz has written extensively in recent months on how state budget cuts and declining local revenues could affect local governments in central Virginia.

Martz’s first blog entry dealt with a letter from VML and VACo to House Speaker Bill Howell requesting that House committees not consider legislation that reduces local tax revenues or piles-on additional state mandates.

The blog offers local government officials across the state an opportunity to participate in an ongoing dialogue about how slashing state spending will play out in their communities. Join-in the discussions.

Check-out the blog at: http://bit.ly/d428WE. Contact Martz at MMartz@timesdispatch.com. contents

Proposed Regulation

Governing Juvenile Correctional Centers. The Board of Juvenile Justice has proposed regulations to consolidate provisions of two regulations that will govern juvenile correctional centers. Most provisions in the new regulation will not vary in any substantive way from those mandated by current regulation, board policy, or law. However, several new provisions apply, one of which is requiring each juvenile correctional center to have a community liaison and allow each facility to form a community advisory committee. Public hearings will be held. For additional information, contact Janet Van Cuyk, Department of Juvenile Justice, at 804/371-4097 or janet.vancuyk@djj.virginia.gov. contents

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