Anderson Andrews Angelina Leon Archer Atascosa Austin Bailey Bandera Bastrop Baylor Bee Bell Blanco Borden Bosque Bowie Brazoria Brazos Brewster Briscoe Brooks Brown Burleson Kinney Burnet Caldwell Calhoun Callahan Cameron Carson Cass Castro Chambers Cherokee Childress Clay Cochran Coke Coleman Collin Collingsworth Colorado Comal Comanche Concho Cooke Coryell Cottle Crane Crockett Crosby Culberson Dallam Dallas Dawson Jim Wells Deaf Smith Delta Denton DeWitt Dickens Dimmit Donley Duval Eastland Edwards El Paso Erath Falls Fannin Fayette Foard Fort Bend Franklin Freestone Gaines Galveston Garza Gillespie Glasscock Goliad Gonzales Gray Grayson Gregg Grimes Guadalupe Hale Hamilton Hansford Hardeman Hardin Harris Hunt Bexar Harrison Hartley Haskell Hays Hemphill Henderson Hidalgo Hockley Hood Hopkins Houston Howard Hudspeth Hutchinson Irion Upton Fisher Floyd Aransas Jefferson Camp Jim Hogg Armstrong Wilson Johnson Jones Karnes Kaufman Kendall Kenedy Kent Kerr Kimble King Ector Frio Kleberg Knox La Salle Lamar Lamb Lee Loving Lipscomb Llano Lubbock Lynn Titus Madison Ellis Hill Marion Martin Mason Matagorda Maverick McCulloch McLennan McMullen Medina Live Oak Menard Midland Milam Mills Mitchell Montague Montgomery Morris Hall Motley Nacogdoches Navarro Newton Nolan Nueces Moore Orange Palo Pinto Panola Parker Parmer Ochiltree Oldham Pecos Polk Potter Presidio Rains Randall Reagan Real Red River Reeves Refugio Roberts Robertson Rockwall Runnels Rusk Sabine San Augustine San Jacinto San Patricio San Saba Schleicher Scurry Shackelford Shelby Sherman Smith Somervell Starr Stephens Sterling Stonewall Sutton Swisher Tarrant Taylor Terrell Terry Throckmorton Tom Green Travis Trinity Tyler Upshur Uvalde Val Verde Van Zandt Victoria Walker Waller Liberty Ward Wharton Wheeler Wichita Wilbarger Willacy Williamson Jackson Jasper Washington Jeff Davis Winkler Wise Lampasas Wood Yoakum Limestone Webb Jack Lavaca Young Zapata Zavala

Connecting with Constituents

Practical Ideas for Educating the Public

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Anderson Andrews Angelina Leon Archer Atascosa Austin Bailey Bandera Bastrop Baylor Bee Bell Blanco Borden Bosque Bowie Brazoria Brazos Brewster Briscoe Brooks Brown Burleson Kinney Burnet Caldwell Calhoun Callahan Cameron Carson Cass Castro Chambers Cherokee Childress Clay Cochran Coke Coleman Collin Collingsworth Colorado Comal Comanche Concho Cooke Coryell Cottle Crane Crockett Crosby Culberson Dallam Dallas Dawson Jim Wells Deaf Smith Delta Denton DeWitt Dickens Dimmit Donley Duval Eastland Edwards El Paso Erath Falls Fannin Fayette Foard Fort Bend Franklin Freestone Gaines Galveston Garza Gillespie Glasscock Goliad Gonzales Gray Grayson Gregg Grimes Guadalupe Hale Hamilton Hansford Hardeman Hardin Harris Hunt Bexar Harrison Hartley Haskell Hays Hemphill Henderson Hidalgo Hockley Hood Hopkins Houston Howard Hudspeth Hutchinson Irion Upton Fisher Floyd Aransas Jefferson Camp Jim Hogg Armstrong Wilson Johnson Jones Karnes Kaufman Kendall Kenedy Kent Kerr Kimble King Ector Frio Kleberg Knox La Salle Lamar Lamb Lee Loving Lipscomb Llano Lubbock Lynn Titus Madison Ellis Hill Marion Martin Mason Matagorda Maverick McCulloch McLennan McMullen Medina Live Oak Menard Midland Milam Mills Mitchell Montague Montgomery Morris Hall Motley Nacogdoches Navarro Newton Nolan Nueces Moore Orange Palo Pinto Panola Parker Parmer Ochiltree Oldham Pecos Polk Potter Presidio Rains Randall Reagan Real Red River Reeves Refugio Roberts Robertson Rockwall Runnels Rusk Sabine San Augustine San Jacinto San Patricio San Saba Schleicher Scurry Shackelford Shelby Sherman Smith Somervell Starr Stephens Sterling Stonewall Sutton Swisher Tarrant Taylor Terrell Terry Throckmorton Tom Green Travis Trinity Tyler Upshur Uvalde Val Verde Van Zandt Victoria Walker Waller Liberty Ward Wharton Wheeler Wichita Wilbarger Willacy Williamson Jackson Jasper Washington Jeff Davis Winkler Wise Lampasas Wood Yoakum Limestone Webb Jack Lavaca Young Zapata Zavala

Connecting with Constituents:Practical Ideas for Educating the Public

Texas county government delivers efficient, essential services to county residents, providing tremendous value for their tax

dollars. Connect with constituents and help spread the word that Texas Counties Deliver.

By sharing your county’s story, you’ll help improve the public’s and legislators’ understanding about and trust in county government.

Reach out to the local news media, community leaders and legislators with your county’s story. Share good news that illustrates the value your county delivers to residents. Don’t miss opportunities to explain the difficult issues facing your county.

Ideas to Get You Started1. Offer to write a regular column in your local paper that features

current county issues.

2. Host a series of public meetings with Q&A sessions to explain a difficult issue facing your county.

3. Create an annual newsletter highlighting completed projects within your department.

4. Produce a brochure introducing yourself and explaining how your office and department serve the public. Include contact information.

5. Speak to community groups and students about how county government works using TAC’s Texas Counties Deliver PowerPoint included on the flash drive in your toolkit.

6. Establish a Facebook page or Twitter account for your county, for individual county departments or for you as an official to share news,

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Anderson Andrews Angelina Leon Archer Atascosa Austin Bailey Bandera Bastrop Baylor Bee Bell Blanco Borden Bosque Bowie Brazoria Brazos Brewster Briscoe Brooks Brown Burleson Kinney Burnet Caldwell Calhoun Callahan Cameron Carson Cass Castro Chambers Cherokee Childress Clay Cochran Coke Coleman Collin Collingsworth Colorado Comal Comanche Concho Cooke Coryell Cottle Crane Crockett Crosby Culberson Dallam Dallas Dawson Jim Wells Deaf Smith Delta Denton DeWitt Dickens Dimmit Donley Duval Eastland Edwards El Paso Erath Falls Fannin Fayette Foard Fort Bend Franklin Freestone Gaines Galveston Garza Gillespie Glasscock Goliad Gonzales Gray Grayson Gregg Grimes Guadalupe Hale Hamilton Hansford Hardeman Hardin Harris Hunt Bexar Harrison Hartley Haskell Hays Hemphill Henderson Hidalgo Hockley Hood Hopkins Houston Howard Hudspeth Hutchinson Irion Upton Fisher Floyd Aransas Jefferson Camp Jim Hogg Armstrong Wilson Johnson Jones Karnes Kaufman Kendall Kenedy Kent Kerr Kimble King Ector Frio Kleberg Knox La Salle Lamar Lamb Lee Loving Lipscomb Llano Lubbock Lynn Titus Madison Ellis Hill Marion Martin Mason Matagorda Maverick McCulloch McLennan McMullen Medina Live Oak Menard Midland Milam Mills Mitchell Montague Montgomery Morris Hall Motley Nacogdoches Navarro Newton Nolan Nueces Moore Orange Palo Pinto Panola Parker Parmer Ochiltree Oldham Pecos Polk Potter Presidio Rains Randall Reagan Real Red River Reeves Refugio Roberts Robertson Rockwall Runnels Rusk Sabine San Augustine San Jacinto San Patricio San Saba Schleicher Scurry Shackelford Shelby Sherman Smith Somervell Starr Stephens Sterling Stonewall Sutton Swisher Tarrant Taylor Terrell Terry Throckmorton Tom Green Travis Trinity Tyler Upshur Uvalde Val Verde Van Zandt Victoria Walker Waller Liberty Ward Wharton Wheeler Wichita Wilbarger Willacy Williamson Jackson Jasper Washington Jeff Davis Winkler Wise Lampasas Wood Yoakum Limestone Webb Jack Lavaca Young Zapata Zavala

publicize county meetings, and post links to county web pages and other resources for the public. See social media tips at www.county.org/socialmedia.

7. Produce an annual report that explains the county’s tax rate(s), presents budget highlights, major county accomplishments and goals for the coming year. It can be brief. Post it on your county’s website and publish it in a brochure. Provide contact details for more info.

8. Invite a community leader (or two) to lunch. Use the tools in this kit as launching points for a conversation to shed light on how county government functions efficiently and with transparency and accountability in your community.

9. Schedule time to meet regularly with your state legislators to review the issues that mean the most to your county.

Find Resources and Inspiration! Order and download resources to help with your public outreach and get inspiration from what other county officials are doing. Visit www.county.org/texascountiesdeliver.

How do you share your county’s story? TAC wants to know. Please send your examples, ideas and other feedback to txcountiesdeliver@county.org.

P.O. Box 2131 • Austin, Texas 78768(512) 478-8753 • (800) 456-5974 • county.org