MAC and its members were treated to two anniversary presents at the 2023 Michigan Counties Legislative Conference.

Prior to his remarks on April 25 to a plenary session of the event, which drew approximately 300 to Lansing, Matthew Chase, CEO of the National Association of Counties, presented President Stan Ponstein and other MAC leaders a crystal trophy for the MAC display case.

More importantly, and surprisingly, Chase shared a bit of news: MAC just may be the oldest counties association in the entire country!

“I can say we were equal parts surprised and pleased to hear Matt’s nugget of news about our historic position,” said Stephan Currie, MAC’s executive director. “He did tell us his research isn’t quite complete, but, as of now, there’s no information that any association is older than MAC. If that holds, we will have even more to celebrate at the Anniversary Gala we are planning for the Annual Conference in October.”

The conference also included:

• State of MAC and Legislative Update reports
• A briefing on the state budget from State Budget Director Chris Harkins
• A discussion on legislative priorities with the leaders of the Michigan House and Senate
• 12 policy breakout sessions

Presentations and other documents from the conference can be found here.

Photos from the conference can be found here.

MAC’s next major event is the Annual Conference, planned for Oct. 1-3 at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Kalamazoo. Registration for that event should open in early August.

For the latest information on MAC events, click here.