Newton Citizen

COVINGTON -- Newton County Commissioners Nancy Schulz and Earnest Simmons are among more than 100 county officials from across the state recently recognized by the Association County Commissioners of Georgia for completion of the Commissioners Training Program and the Certified Commissioners Advanced Program at the association's 96th annual Meeting held in Savannah.

The training programs are offered by ACCG in conjunction with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia and have educated more than 2,600 elected and appointed county officials in the last two decades.

"Our training programs are nationally recognized as an outstanding example of training for county commissioners and other county officials," said ACCG Executive Director Ross King. "We are extremely proud of this year's graduates, who committed the time to complete these training programs and expand their knowledge in many key areas of local government operations."

The Commissioners Training Program requires county officials to take a total of 48 hours of instruction, including five required courses and three elective courses.

Required courses include County Government Law/Personal Liability; Economic Development; Financial Management I; Fundamentals of Property Appraisal and Taxation; and Personnel/Human Resources. Completion of CCAP requires an additional 48 hours of course instruction, as well as participation in a two-day Advanced Leadership Institute and the completion of a summary project report.