Twenty-nine county officials graduated on Aug. 4 from Levels I and II of the Institute of Government for County Officials at the 48th Annual Conference of the South Carolina Association of Counties (SCAC), held Aug. 2–5.
 
Level I
 
      Graduating from Level I were:  Calhoun County — John D. Nelson, Council Member; Dorchester County — Carroll S. Duncan, Council Member; Florence County — Alphonso Bradley, Council Member; Greenwood County — Steven J. Brown, Council Chairman; Lancaster County — Lee C. Weeks, Tax Collector, and Virginia C. Burgess, Deputy Clerk to Council; Lee County — Clarence M. Caudill III, Assessor; Lexington County — Chris Folsom, Deputy County Administrator; Marion County — Simon Jenkins, Council Member; Oconee County — Paul A. Cain, Council Vice Chairman; Richland County — Julie-Ann Dixon and Kelvin E. Washington, Sr., Council Members; Williamsburg County — Sharon W. Staggers, Clerk of Court.
 
Level II

 
      Graduating from Level II were:  Abbeville County — James P. McCord, Council Member; Bamberg County — Thomas M. Thomas, Assistant County Administrator/Finance Director; Beaufort County — Cynthia M. Bensch, Council Member; Charleston County — Anna B. Johnson, Council Member; Cherokee County — Steven C. Blanton, Jr., Council Member; Darlington County — Robert L. Kilgo, Jr., Council Member; Dorchester County — George H. Bailey, Council Vice Chairman, and Larry S. Hargett, Council Member; Greenwood County — Toby L. Chappell, County Manager, and Jacqueline Hackett, Zoning Technician; Hampton County — Roy T. Hollingsworth, Jr., Ph.D., Council Vice Chairman, and Thomas C. Smalls, Sheriff; Lancaster County — Brian Carnes, Council Vice Chairman; Marion County — Simon Jenkins, Council Member; Spartanburg County — Roger A. Nutt, Council Member; and Williamsburg County — Kimber W. Cooper, Treasurer.
 
      The SCAC — in cooperation with the Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Center for Livable Communities, College of Charleston, and the Strom Thurmond Institute of Government and Public Affairs, Clemson University — holds the Institute of Government for County Officials three times per year. The Institute of Government provides county officials the opportunity to enhance their skills and abilities to function more effectively.
      County officials must complete 27 hours of instruction, including 18 hours of required topics and 9 hours of elective topics, to graduate from Level I. They must complete 18 hours of instruction to graduate from Level II.
 
      The SCAC, chartered on June 22, 1967, is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization whose membership includes all 46 counties in South Carolina. Governed by a 29-member board of directors elected each year by county officials at the Association’s annual conference, the SCAC is the only organization representing county governments in the state.
      The Association provides a number of services, programs and activities to county governments and their officials, including: research and technical assistance; education and training; legal assistance; policy development, advocacy and legislative information; publications, including a magazine and newsletter; meetings and conferences; public information, including an annual directory and website; and financial services, including the S.C. Counties Workers’ Compensation Trust and S.C. Counties Property & Liability Trust.