More than 450 new and returning mayors and council members filled the ballroom at the Renaissance Hotel in Montgomery Wednesday to be trained as they take their seats.
The Alabama League of Municipalities is hosting the two-day orientation, which ends today, to familiarize new mayors and council members about ALM services, the Alabama Open Meetings Act, ethics laws and more.
“I think for any newly elected official, that it’s really important that they learn the roles of mayor and council, learn things like the bid law and things about planning and Open Meetings Act—all those kind of things that they may or may not know, especially if they’re newly elected,” said Fairhope Mayor Sherry Sullivan, ALM president. “But it’s even important for people who’ve been in office for a while to continue learning about these things, or just to refresh their memory.”
ALM worked last session to pass the Alabama Municipal Official Training Act requiring mayors and councilmembers to complete 10 hours of training annually, provided by ALM, during their first term in office. All elected local officials will be required to receive five hours of training credits annually after receiving the 40 hours required for ALM’s basic Certified Municipal Official (CMO) certification.
ALM is hosting the training sessions across the state, having already held one in Tuscaloosa and others to come. In all, more than 1,000 mayors and councilmembers will have attended from the state’s smallest municipalities to its largest.
