Educating our citizens and communicating with them is the key to having an understanding. It can also be a great way to mobilize some support when it comes to communicating with our legislators. The more our citizens understand the issues and limitations that we deal with at the county level, the more they can help advocate for us and the local issues.
Don’t forget, out of the 8,000-plus bills filed each legislative season, there’s no doubt that each one started with a good idea, even if it wasn’t quite thought through all the way to the result or unintended consequences or costs of those good ideas.
Comal County is an extremely fast-growing county. The developers love it! The old-timers (and not-so-old-timers) hate it. The bottom line is that many folks just don’t like change. The other issue is that people cherish their private property rights but are the first to ring the bell when they don’t like what their neighbor is doing, especially when that neighbor ends up being a developer.
In the “off season” between legislative sessions, see what you can do to recruit some backup and rally the troops. If you’ve interacted with your legislators, and especially if you’ve found your way down to Austin during the session, share your experiences. Help them understand how the sausage is made and how they can have an effective voice and advocate for our counties and their friends and neighbors. So many folks just don’t know. They are more distracted by the “bumper sticker” fights, like education, elections, border, etc., that happen in Austin than the less sexy bills that have real effects on our jobs and our constituents’ pocketbooks.
Take the time. Keep on communicating. Give your people the “why” of things, and don’t take for granted how important it is to collaborate (commiserate, ha!) with our peers around the state! Just last week at a conference, a friend from another county shared a flyer he’d published to educate his citizens about subdivision regulations and county authority. It was a GREAT resource! My first question to him was if I could borrow it to create one of my own, to which his answer was yes, and my flyers are being printed as we speak! In the next two weeks alone, I have two big meetings where those flyers will be golden, and they may even save my (broken record) vocal cords a little bit, too.
