Hundreds of county and state officials are due back at their desks today after a long weekend in this beach resort where they schmoozed, studied and networked at the annual Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) meeting.
Huge receptions sponsored by corporations and lobbyists and hosted by public officials such as Gov. Martin O?Malley and Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith tend to get the media attention, along with the traditional crab feast for 1,500 people on Friday.
“But we take pride in the educational program,” said David Bliden, executive director of MACO for 17 years. He pointed to the 150 people who packed Thursday?s 7:45 a.m. session on financial management, one of dozens of seminars on the nitty-gritty of local government.
The sessions were especially important this year because the last election produced a 43 percent turnover in local government, Bliden said.
Two large exhibit halls housed booths for 200 companies anxious to do business with local government selling them concrete, generators, uniforms and financial services. Fifty state agencies also had displays, handing out freebies such as beach balls from the Transportation Authority and fluorescent yardsticks from Emergency Management.
“We look at the exhibits as offering a one-stop shop,” Bliden said.
The Ocean City conference is the biggest moneymaker for the association after dues, netting about $380,000 last year.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the conference is the chance for networking and informal face-to-face meetings with cabinet secretaries and other top officials. There are also occasions for a little romance.
“It could be said that our first date actually happened here in Ocean City at a MACO conference” in 1986, Gov. Martin O?Malley said about him and his wife, Catherine Curran O?Malley. “But that would be a lie. I considered it more of a date than she did. She considered it one of those annoyances when I would try to chat her up.”
“Conventions are the backbone of our business,” Ocean City Mayor Richard Meehan said. He used the event to lobby against slot machines, as did the marquees of boardwalk hotels that fear the gambling would hurt the tourist trade.
