I recently heard from one of our members, Debra Bechtel from Catawba County NC, who told me that we needed to do more relevant programming for counties. I valued and appreciated Debra's viewpoint and want to act to make change. As someone who joined IMLA many years ago as a county attorney, I know we have never been as directly relevant to counties as I'd like us to be. Let's change that. I've asked Debra to get more involved and help identify for us topics and programs we can include to be more relevant for counties. I'm asking Caroline to schedule a call/zoom to get together and begin the process. While we've not been as topical as I'd like, I want you to know that we're engaged now in filing an amicus brief in an important case involved jail administration seek certiorari to turn around a decision from the 7th Circuit against Polk County WI in which the court held the county liable for actions of a correctional officer in direct disregard of county policies and with no evidence that the county had knowledge of the officer's criminal conduct. Similarly, we have engaged in the past in supporting county governments in cases across the country through our amicus program and I welcome hearing from you about cases in which we need to offer support. Prior to Covid, I had tried to band together attorneys who represent social service departments as that is generally a county function in many states but may extend to include cities as well. I'd like to get that initiative back on track. Let me know other areas in which we need to become involved when we meet in the coming weeks. Chuck [photo] Charles W. Thompson, Jr. Executive Director/General Counsel International Municipal Lawyers Association, Inc. A 51 Monroe St., Suite 404, Rockville, MD, 20850 [cid:image003.jpg@01D6B1E5.09022150]<http://www.facebook.com/IMLA-259977855541/> [cid:image004.jpg@01D6B1E5.09022150] <http://www.linkedin.com/company/international-municipal-lawyers-association-inc./> [cid:image005.jpg@01D6B1E5.09022150] <http://twitter.com/imlalegal> [cid:image006.jpg@01D6B1E5.09022150] <http://soundcloud.com/internationalmunicipallawyersassociation> P (202) 466-5424 ext. 7110 M (240)-876-6790 Direct (202)-742-1016 W www.imla.org<http://www.imla.org/> Plan Ahead! IMLA's 85th Annual Conference, September 21-25 & 29-30, 2020, Virtual! IMLA's 2021 Mid-Year Seminar<https://imla.org/events/seminars>, April 23-26, 2021 in Washington, DC!