ATTEND AND GET EDUCATED

George Bernard Shaw said it perfectly. “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”

Bearing that in mind, we urge all of you to attend your League’s Annual Conference later this month in Atlantic City. You’ll find many details on our gathering in the center pages of Municipalities magazine and on this website.

This year’s theme, “Challenges and Changes: A Time for New Ideas,” gives a pretty good indication of our focus. We’ve scheduled a full slate of informational programming. And that has been further supplemented by the programming put together by our affiliate organizations. There is also much to be learned on the exhibit floor, in terms of the services and products that are available to better serve your fellow citizens. And, of course, we can’t begin to estimate the value of the “off program,” informal encounters, when two or a few local officials get together to discuss common problems and to explore uncommon solutions.

It all begins with a new time for a reliable standard. In the past, our Consulting Period has been held at the same time as our Thursday Afternoon Sessions. As we’ve beefed up our seminar programming, this created a conflict for some. In response to this situation, our 2008 Conference Consulting Period has been scheduled for Tuesday, November 18, 2008, from Noon until 2:00 P.M.

For years, local officials have been taking advantage of the League’s Consulting Period to deal with issues – big and small – that they face daily in the public’s service. We have rescheduled this session in the hopes that more of you can take advantage of this truly unique opportunity.

On behalf of President Bowser, his fellow officers, the members of our Executive Board and the League Staff, we all look forward to seeing you at the Conference. It really was planned with you and your municipality in mind.

Editorial from New Jersey Municipalities, Volume 85, Number 6, June 2008