LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. — Local leaders are sharing tables this week with other city and town representatives across the state.
This is because the Municipal Association of South Carolina is hosting its annual conference in Charleston.
The agenda includes networking, problem-solving and more. The conference is aimed at better equipping council members from Lexington, Columbia and beyond.
"All the states in the nation are dealing with more conflict today than we ever have and so it's good to go in and hear other people's perspectives, to sit side-by-side at tables with members from other cities to hear the conflict that they're dealing with and then maybe we can learn from each other as well as the presenters being able to weigh in on these issues," Teddy Luckadoo, Batesburg-Leesville town manager said.
They're learning the newest ways to protect IT infrastructure, how state budget dollars can be applied, and best practices to unify a small town for example.
"There was a law enforcement reform bill that passed this past session. There are a number of new requirements that all cities and towns, their police forces will have to comply with," said Scott Slatton, Municipal Association of South Carolina communications director. "We'll talk about how that law got passed and the Municipal Association's involvement in the passage of that law, and then we'll have a separate session that will provide small towns in particular details on what's in that law and what they would have to do in order to comply with the law."
All of these valuable lessons can be applied in local towns like Batesburg-Leesville and South Congaree.
With 271 municipalities present, several ideas combined and thought through are certainly better than just one.
The conference wraps up this Sunday.