By Meghan Daniel for Island Eye News
The South Carolina Municipal Association (MASC) recently announced that three Palms Island councilors have received graduation certificates from the Municipal Elected Officials Institute program.
Board members Ryan Buckhannon, Phillip Pounds and Rusty Streetman participated in more than 25 hours of classroom work, including two one-day sessions and two morning sessions, before receiving their respective graduation certificates during Hometown Legislative Action Week association, which was held virtually this year, during the first week of February. Learning sessions on “South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act, ethics and responsibility, budgeting, planning and zoning, human resources and economic development” constitute most of the program’s instructions, according to a press release published by Association.
Streetman said of his experience: “The program that MASC offers is excellent and very comprehensive. The training sessions are designed to give elected municipal officials a very solid knowledge base to help establish good public policies. I really enjoyed taking the courses and I feel that [the program] prepares an elected official to better serve his municipality and constituents. “
Streetman, Pounds and Buckhannon are now part of a cohort of more than 30 years of city officials who graduated from this program, which was designed to give “city officials a solid foundation in the operation of local government”, as well as to teach about the the role of elected officials and administrative officials, as well as “on the relationship between the local, state and federal levels of government”. Buckhannon praised the program and called for broad participation among city officials: “All elected officials should consider the fact that it gives an insight into how the city government works, from government to staff, [as well as] what you can and cannot do as an elected official. ”He added that“ there are some municipalities in the state [in which] each of its elected officials are graduates of the program. “
The association reports that the institute brings together its teaching resources from “recognized local government leaders in South Carolina and other states, state officials, professors and employees from state colleges and universities, as well as other guest speakers.”
Completion of the program requires participation in face-to-face and online courses, although the considerations of COVID-19 have resulted in a transition to more virtual training than usual this year, Streetman explained.
Pounds praised the program as “A great resource for newly elected officials with training programs, articles of interest” and an opportunity for greater insight into “what other municipalities are doing and the latest developments in Colombia”.