Secure Arkansas

Have our local officials lost control of our counties?

According to the Arkansas Constitution, Article 7, Section 28 & 30, county officials have the responsibility to exercise distinct and individual authority of “exclusive original jurisdiction” in all matters pertaining to local concerns.

The proposed ordinance from the Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC):
‘AN ORDINANCE ENACTING A CODE OF ORDINANCES FOR THE COUNTY OF ________, STATE OF ARKANSAS; REVISING, AMENDING, RESTATING, CODIFYING AND COMPILING CERTAIN EXISTING GENERAL ORDINANCES OF THE POLITICAL SUBDIVISION DEALING WITH THE SUBJECTS EMBRACED IN SUCH CODE OF ORDINANCES, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY” is a bad ordinance and must be killed.

Section 3 of the proposed ordinance calls for the repealing of all ordinances unless they are included and re-ordained, in whole or in part, in this code that is shown in Section 2 of the proposed ordinance.

It is the opinion of Secure Arkansas that the proposed AAC resolution would be a forfeiture by the county officials responsibility to exercise distinct and individual authority of “exclusive original jurisdiction” in all matters pertaining to local concerns.  It would take control away from the JPs and local courts and allow the Association of Arkansas Counties, a Non-Government Organization, which is a non-elected entity.  The AAC receives their directives from the National Association of Counties (NACo).

The AAC, a non-government organization (NGO), is not always looking out  for the best interest of the people of the county.  AAC gets their marching orders in the form of directives from the National Association of Counties (NACo), another NGO, and passes these directives down to all 75 counties in Arkansas. These directives become either an ordinance or a resolution which has to be sponsored by a Justice of the Peace (JP) during a quorum court session in order to be acted on.  If the ordinance or resolution has a sponsor and is brought up during a quorum court session and is seconded, it has to be voted on. If the ordinance or resolution receives the majority vote, it will pass and become law.

NACo supports and endorses U.N. Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development, so most of what is being passed down from the AAC is U.N. Agenda 21 directives. The United Nations was designed from the start to promote the cause of world socialism.  U.N. Agenda 21 Sustainable Development is destroying our freedoms and limiting our God-given rights.

Allowing an unelected body (AAC and NACo) to dictate to an elected body (county government) what to pass as law has to stop!  It is time that the quorum court reviews all directives and uses only the U.S. Constitution and State Constitution as their basis before any future directives are introduced to the quorum court to vote on.

Look at the authority that the National Association of Counties (NACo) has over most of our country through our local governments and elected officials!  NACo was founded in 1935, claims to be the voice for counties, is in every state, and out of 3,141 counties, NACo provides directives to 3,069 of them!
Click here to see how it breaks down.

This link claims that 48 of 50 states have operational county governments.  “Connecticut and Rhode Island are divided into geographic regions called counties, but they do not have functioning [county] governments.”  County governments need to WAKE UP and regain local control before they go the way of Connecticut and Rhode Island!

Click here to view information about the staff of Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC).  Are you aware that Chris Villines from Benton in Saline County, Arkansas, is the Executive Director of AAC?  Those of you who are politically active, PAY ATTENTION!

From their website:
Chris Villines
Executive Director
cvillines@arcounties.org

Chris Villines brings a life-long passion of public service in county government to the AAC executive director position. He was named the seventh executive director of the association in April 2010. Chris was named as one of Ten Outstanding Young Arkansans by the Jaycees in 1998 and later that year was elected to the position of Saline County Collector. He served as collector for 11 years until his selection by the AAC Board of Directors in April 2010.

Chris and Tonya have been married 21 years and will celebrate their 22th anniversary this May. They live in Saline County with their two children — Trevor, 16 and Ali Grace, 11. Tonya is the Junior Achievement Education Program Manager.

Villines also developed a “big picture” view from his active role as president of the Collectors’ Association. Leading the Collectors’ Association for several years was itself an intensive training ground from his active role working with the Legislature.

“The AAC’s role is to help make each county official the best county official they can be, to give them the tools necessary to do that,” Chris said in a summer 2010 County Lines article.

He was born in Harrison, but his family moved to Benton before his first birthday. His dad owned a title company in Benton, and Chris, a self-proclaimed “courthouse rat,” grew up working for him. Chris earned a degree in finance at University of Arkansas and studying a year of law school, he then went to work for a company doing site acquisition for cellular towers. He did the site acquisition work from 1993-98, when Saline County voters chose their new 28-year-old collector.

Chris Villines … Point by Point

• President, Arkansas County Collectors Association

• Chair, Arkansas County Collectors Continuing Education Board

• Chair, Arkansas County Collectors Association Legislative Committee

• President, Collectors Apprentice System Team

• Association of Arkansas Counties Board of Directors; active on the Personnel Committee and the Technology Committee

• Association of Arkansas Legislative Committee; has participated actively in seven sessions of the Arkansas General Assembly

• Commissioner of State Lands Advisory Council

• Former Regional and Zoning Manager for a cellular communications tower siting company

• Rotary Club 12 years (Benton); President 2006-07

• Saline County Habitat for Humanity board member

• Saline County Boys and Girls Club board member, two years

• Member Fellowship Bible Church, 21 years

• Saline County Sharefest coordinator, two years

• Named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Arkansans by the Jaycees, 1998

• President, Rho Epsilon Fraternity (U of A Finance/Real Estate)

• Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Degree, 1988, U of A at Fayetteville; attended Leflar School of Law, U of A at Fayetteville, 1992-93

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NACo “The County Sustainability Team”
These are unelected bureaucrats that indoctrinate local officials and assist local government in implementing dangerous Sustainable Development / U.N. Agenda 21 policies.

Smart Communities Network concentrates on the design, construction, and maintenance of green buildings.  The information below about NACo is taken from this page which mentions county government, Sustainable Development, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors:

“National Association of Counties (NACo)

NACo is the only organization representing the country’s 3,069 county governments. Established in 1935, NACo works to improve county government, act as a liaison with other levels of government, present the county position on national issues, and assist counties in helping their citizens achieve a better quality of life.

The National Association of Counties established the Sustainable Development Task Force (SDTF) in 1993 to learn more about sustainable development and how it relates to county government and to serve as a clearinghouse for local government examples of sustainable development. In the following years, the SDTF articulated a set of principles of sustainability, a definition for sustainable development, and developed a resolution on sustainable development that was later passed by the NACo membership. The SDTF was also charged with assisting the Steering Committees in formulating a plan of implementation for the resolution, working closely with the President’s Council on Sustainable Development (PCSD), and creating forums to discuss and facilitate the development of a local model of sustainability.

The new Sustainability Leadership Team (SLT) was appointed by President Douglas R. Bovin to build upon the work of the SDTF. Particularly, the SLT is advising NACo on the establishment of the Joint Center for Sustainable Development cosponsored by NACo and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.”
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Also under the Sustainable Communities link is information about Smart Growth for Neighborhoods: Affordable Housing and Regional Vision.  If you click their link, it will redirect you to this page.  However, if you search using the WayBack Machine (web archives), you’ll see this information.  Why wouldn’t they have kept that link active??

This link shows that NACo works hand-in-hand with mayors and the Forest Service as well.  From their site:

Joint Center for Sustainable Communities

“The Forest Service has a sustainability project underway with Joint Center.  The Joint Center is a partnership of the National Association of Counties (NACo) and U.S. Conference of Mayors.  The collaboration began in 1999 and initially involved working with rural counties to understand how they perceive and translate sustainable forest management into action.  In addition, NACo organized a dialogue with its Sustainability Leadership Team and a workshop on “Strengthening the Sustainability of Local Communities through Forests” during its Annual Conference in July 1999.  The initial work served as the springboard for continuing work with NACo and the Mayors.”

Examples of similar types of ordinances are turning up in other parts of the country for both counties and cities (with almost exact same title as the proposed Arkansas ordinance):

Lincoln County North Carolina

“AN ORDINANCE ENACTING A CODE OF ORDINANCES FOR LINCOLN COUNTY, REVISING, AMENDING, RESTATING, CODIFYING, AND COMPILING CERTAIN EXISTING GENERAL ORDINANCES OF LINCOLN COUNTY DEALING WITH SUBJECTS EMBRACED IN SUCH CODE OF ORDINANCES”

Jefferson County, Indiana

“AN ORDINANCE ENACTING A CODE OF ORDINANCES FOR JEFFERSON COUNTY, INDIANA, REVISING, AMENDING, RESTATING, CODIFYING AND COMPILING CERTAIN EXISTING GENERAL ORDINANCES OF THE TOWN DEALING WITH SUBJECTS EMBRACED IN THE CODE OF ORDINANCES, AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.”

State of South Carolina, County of Marlboro (Solid Waste)

“AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING, REVISING, AMENDING, RESTATING, CODIFYING, AND COMPILING THE MARLBORO COUNTY SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN…”

State of Oregon

“ADOPTING A NEW CODE OF ORDINANCES FOR MULTNOMAH COUNTY; REVISING, AMENDING, RESTATING, CODIFYING AND REPEALING EXISTING MULTNOMAH COUNTY CODE PROVISIONS AND CERTAIN GENERAL ORDINANCES; AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY”

Town of Lowell, Indiana

“AN ORDINANCE REVISING, AMENDING, RESTATING, CODIFYING, AND COMPILING CERTAIN EXISTING GENERAL ORDINANCES OF THE TOWN DEALING WITH SUBJECTS EMBRACED IN SAID CODE”

See how local governments have been rubber-stamped by this unelected, bureaucratic NGO?

Lowell, Indiana’s ordinance states, in part:  “WHEREAS, the present general ordinances of the Town of Lowell are incomplete and inadequate and the

manner of arrangement, classification, and indexing thereof is insufficient to meet the immediate needs of the Town, and […]”

This is a slap in the face to our local elected officials!

The following is some extra information from NACo of which we should be aware.

Click here to see the dangerous U.N. Agenda 21-type resolutions adopted at the annual business meeting in Portland, Oregon, on July 19, 2011, in which most states were present.

Listed below are some of the many resolutions adopted by NACo delegates from the above link.  The information below was pulled directly from their website:

1. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS

• Supporting the White House Rural Council (Secure Arkansas’ note: click here to read more about the establishment of these councils via Executive Order, and also watch this FoxNews YouTube video about Executive Order 13575 and Rural Councils)

Issue: Improvement of Rural Policy.

Adopted Policy: NACo supports the President’s decision to create the White House Rural Council and pledges to work with Council Chairman Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, to bring forward the perspective of rural counties to the council.

2. ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND LAND USE

• Supporting Ratification of the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea

Issue: The United States is NOT allowed to participate in deliberations which affect the national security, environmental concerns relating to the use of the seas, and to economic development for U.S. coastal communities.

Adopted Policy: NACo strongly supports the ratification of the United Nation’s Law of the Sea Treaty.
(Secure Arkansas’ note:  the Law of the Sea Treaty calls for technology transfers and wealth transfers from developed to undeveloped nations.)

• Conservation Easement Tax Incentives

Issue: Continuation of enhanced federal tax deduction for donations of conservation easements.

Adopted Policy: NACo supports continuation of the enhanced federal tax deduction for donations of conservation and trail easements to facilitate their use by counties, special districts and other units of local government as a land planning, conservation and management tool.

• Supporting of Special Redevelopment and Smart Growth Zones

Issue: The federal government should support holistic implementation of county and other local government plans for neighborhood redevelopment and smart growth.

Adopted Policy: The National Association of Counties calls on Congress to create special economic zones to receive specific federal incentives, such as, but not limited to, tax-preferred bonds, for the purpose of livable, walkable, green developments, and communities.

3. HUMAN SERVICES AND EDUCATION

• Establishment of an Office of Rural Education Policy in the Department of

Education

Issue: An office within the Department of Education representing rural schools.

Adopted Policy: NACo strongly supports the establishment of an Office of Rural Education inside the Department of Education.

4. LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT

• Infrastructure Funding for Local One-Stop Centers

Issue: Dedicated infrastructure funding for local One-Stop Career Centers.

Adopted Policy: NACo supports providing dedicated infrastructure funding for the facilities and operations of Local One- Stop Career Centers.

5. PUBLIC LANDS

• Japan Reconstruction Aid to Include Manufactured Wood Products Generated from Federal Forests in Accordance with the Northwest Forest Plan

Issue: Manufactured Wood Products to Japan as Reconstruction Aid.

Adopted Policy: NACo supports including manufactured wood products from the federal forests of the Northwest in any aid package offered to the Japanese government, or as a result of action taken by the United Nations, will assist in rebuilding domestic communities while assisting a key ally of the United States. [bold and red font emphasis ours]

• Calling for Membership on Landscape Conservation Cooperatives Steering Committees to Include County Elected Official(s)

Issue: County membership on Landscape Conservation Cooperatives.

Adopted Policy: NACo supports the expansion of LCC Steering Committees to include at least one elected county official on each Steering Committee, and preferably one from each state in those eco-regions which are multi-state.

6. TRANSPORTATION

• Flexible Transit Funding

Issue: Lack of flexibility that denies local transit operators from using federal funds to provide service for special events.

Adopted Policy: The National Association of Counties supports amending Title 49 and revising federal transit regulations to allow more flexibility for transit operators in the spending of federal transit funds when providing service for local special events.

• Maintaining Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Designation Threshold

Levels

Issue: Maintaining current Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) designation

threshold levels.

Adopted Policy: The National Association of Counties (NACo) opposes legislation or regulation directing the MPO population threshold to be raised from its current level of 50,000 people.

• Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA)

Issue: Support expansion of the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) during reauthorization of surface transportation legislation.

Adopted Policy: NACo supports expanding the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) of 1998 which is a financing mechanism that allows local jurisdictions that dedicate a portion of locally-based funding streams to infrastructure improvements to leverage Federal financing to speed the completion of eligible transportation projects.

Make sure you check out the following NACo document:

2012 Emerging Sustainability Strategies in America’s Counties

Local government jurisdiction is being dissolved all over the country in favor of Regionalism. With Regionalism, unelected people run the show. Some examples in Arkansas are the Arkansas Planning and Development Districts. There are presently eight Planning and Development Districts in Arkansas. Another is the Conservation District.  In Arkansas, there are presently seven conservation districts. Another is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).  In Arkansas, there are currently seven MPOs.  All of these mentioned are run by unelected officials at taxpayers’ expense!

How do the bureaucrats in this National Association of Counties (NACo) NON-governmental organization know how to operate?  They follow the

NACo County Leadership Handbook which is distributed to over 3,000 member counties and their local officials.  NACo has several affiliates which are listed on page 53 of their handbook and also shown below:

ACTION ALERT:
Contact Chris Villines, Executive Director of the Association of Arkansas Counties, and also Mike Jacobs, President of the Association of Arkansas Counties, and tell them to NOT SUPPORT the Proposed Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC) Ordinance:  An Ordinance Enacting a Code of Ordinances for Counties in the State of Arkansas.  We don’t appreciate these U.N. Agenda 21-style politics coming into our state through the organization they represent!

Remember:  The Association of Arkansas Counties is a non-governmental organization which is NOT accountable to YOU, the taxpayer.  HOWEVER, the Association of Arkansas Counties is funded by your TAXPAYER MONEY.  There are THOUSANDS of NGOs in America that are promoting the destruction of America.

Chris Villines
Executive Director – Association of Arkansas Counties

Little Rock, Arkansas

Phone: (501) 372-7550

Fax: (501) 372-0611
email:  cvillines@arcounties.org

website:  www.arcounties.org

Mike Jacobs
President, Board of Directors – Association of Arkansas Counties

Johnson County Judge

215 West Main Street

Clarksville, Arkansas 72830

Phone: (479) 754-2175

email:  sjoyner@jcjudge.onmicrosoft.com

PLEASE forward this email to your family and friends.  You’ve seen that this is a nationwide problem and is tied to the United Nations!  This should show you how your local government has been taken over!