DAPHNE — The Alabama League of Municipalities (ALM) hosted its fourth and final orientation training for newly elected and veteran municipal officials at the Daphne Civic Center last Thursday.

The training is in accordance with the Alabama Municipal Official Training Act, which took effect on Jan. 1 and requires all mayors and council members to complete 10 hours of training annually during their first term in office. In addition, all elected local officials are required to receive five hours of training credits annually after receiving the 40 hours required for ALM’s basic CMO certification.

Over 200 municipal officials registered for Thursday’s training, with Greg Cochran, executive director of ALM, saying around 1,200 officials participated.

“I think it’s an exciting time for our state,” Cochran said. “What we saw was a lot of generational changes where officials that had served a long period of time and had done a great job leading those communities decided to step away from office and it’s brought younger, new eyes, new perspectives to these communities, and so it’s an exciting time for all of them to see what’s on the horizon.”

These trainings take place every four years following the majority of municipal elections. The orientation also serves as a way for elected officials to learn new laws and regulations, current municipal issues, contacts and resources for solving day-to-day problems and provide an opportunity to discuss municipal problems with fellow officials from throughout the state.

Formal training takes place both in person and online, covering foundational government operations and best practices to abide by state laws. Municipal officials have the incentive of obtaining three different levels of CMO certification after completing 40, 80 and 120 credit hours of training as well as graduating.

Fairhope Mayor Sherry Sullivan, who also serves as ALM's president, said the league helps elected officials become better officers while also offering many other resources.

“I think getting to know the league and the resources they offer, whether it’s advocacy or the legal team, I think that’s important,” Sullivan said. “I think these trainings are important, too, to build the relationships with the other elected officials in your region. That’s why I’m glad we did them in four places across the state because these are the folks you’re going to lean on. There’s no challenge that you’re gonna have that somebody else hasn’t faced, so to build those relationships and just be able to pick up a phone and call and say, ‘Hey, how did you handle this?’ I think that’s one of the most important things this training offers.”