An August 25, 2015, SoMdNews article reported on the useful information Calvert County officials acquired at the 2015 MACo Summer Conference.  One result is that the County Commissioners are now considering whether to join the Rural Counties Commission, which is a chapter organization within MACo. From the article:

Commissioners’ Vice President Evan Slaughenhoupt (R), who is on the board of directors for the Maryland Association of Counties, which held its annual summer conference in Ocean City Aug. 12 through 15, said one of the outcomes of this year’s conference is that the county is pursuing the possibility of joining the Rural Counties Coalition.

The Rural Counties Coalition is within the Maryland Association of Counties. While MACo is a nonpartisan organization that advocates for the interests of the counties during the state legislative session, Slaughenhoupt said, the counties in the state vary wildly and the Rural Counties Commission is a more focused effort to advocate for the interests of rural counties like Calvert County.

Terry Shannon, county administrator, said staff has been directed to examine the possibility of joining the coalition, which has a yearly cost of $1,000. Joining the coalition would be an administrative function, not done during the BOCC meetings.

“This coalition provides some cohesiveness,” Shannon said in an interview.

In the article County officials also discussed the value they gained while at the MACo conference from networking with other county officials, meeting with Maryland cabinet secretaries, and learning about policy issues such as medical cannabis.