Warren County Assessor Wendy Nordwald is ready to serve as president of the Missouri Association of Counties (MAC).“If there’s a legislative issue, I’m going to be the first to know,” she said. “If there’s something that needs to be addressed, MAC will be there to testify.”For Nordwald, it’s a mission of advocacy that benefits counties and taxpayers.“For 2017, MAC’s mission and duty is to preserve and protect local budgets from shrinking state reimbursement programs, as well as ensuring new ‘pass the buck’ initiatives are not passed down to local governments,” she said. “Counties depend on state funding for state mandated programs such as prisoner per diem and assessment maintenance.“County governments cannot absorb additional duties that are unfunded by the Legislature,” she noted. “As a county assessor, I am very familiar with the policies of ‘giveth and taketh it away’ when it comes to the reimbursement of county government for the state’s share of state-mandated programs.”MAC adopted the following 2017 County Government Platform, which she and the MAC board will submit to the state Legislature for the upcoming session:• Support legislative action to design a complete and detailed plan for upgrading statewide 9-1-1 wireless emergency services.• Support full funding of state mandates on county governments relating to the incarceration of state prisoners and unfunded-mandates for county services.• Support a transportation funding package that will address Missouri’s infrastructure needs.Nordwald has served as county assessor since 2004. She joined MAC in 2010 and its executive board in 2013. She was elected president for 2017 by the executive board.The election was held Nov. 21 at MAC’s 45th annual conference and expo at Tan-Tar-A Resort, Osage Beach.Nordwald will start her one-year term as president of MAC in January. Along with Nordwald, other members of MAC’s executive committee include the following:President-elect Dallas County Treasurer Becky Schofield, second Vice President Cape Girardeau Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy, third Vice President Andrew County Collector Phil Rogers, Treasurer Atchison County Clerk Susette Taylor and Past President Cooper County Clerk Darryl Kempf.Founded in 1972, MAC is a nonprofit lobbying alliance of more than 1,450 county administrative and elected officials who work to improve local services for Missouri’s taxpayers.Headquartered in Jefferson City and governed by a 65-member board of directors, MAC promotes passage of priority bills and monitors other legislation before the General Assembly and Congress to assess its effect on the state’s 114 counties, provides training resources during spring and fall annual meetings and operates a self-insured workers’ compensation insurance program for county officials and their employees.The MAC Self-Insured Workers’ Comp Trust, which was founded in 1987, has a membership of 90 counties and 11 related agencies.Wendy Nordwald