Take Advantage of the Municipal Association’s Listserves

The Municipal Association of SC offers 14 listserves for different kinds of officials and staff members. Through these listserves, users can connect with colleagues across the state, asking questions and learning about best practices. They also allow users to search through past discussion threads, set up polls to ask questions and share documents. 

There are individual listserves for the Municipal Association’s various affiliate organizations. These listserves address the professional needs of business licensing officials, community development officials, court administrators, finance directors, clerks and treasurers, human resources directors, Main Street South Carolina program directors, municipal attorneys, municipal power system managers, stormwater managers, technology directors and utility billing officials. 

Some of the listserves aren’t connected to any of the affiliate organizations, including the listserve for the state’s planning and zoning officials, and one for city managers and administrators. One is available for public information officers — both those city staff members with that title, and those who have communication aspects in their jobs, which includes city managers and administrators as well as other department heads.

Discussions

Listserve discussions can cover an incredibly wide range of topics, raised by officials learning how their colleagues handle particular issues of concern. Here are a few recent examples: 

• The SC Municipal Human Resources Association – The single most active listserve has recently discussed job task tests for firefighters, take-home vehicle policies as a hiring incentive for police officers, and offering Hepatitis vaccines for public safety workers. 
• The SC Municipal Finance Officers, Clerks and Treasurers Association – Recent threads on the MFOCTA listserve have included which cities and towns use a convenience fee for credit card purchases at city hall, the public meetings for which cities are providing livestreaming — city council meetings, committee meetings, board meetings — and guidance for how cities should report their American Rescue Plan expenditures. 
• Planning and zoning — In recent months, conversations on this listserve have included regulating donation centers within a city, setting timelines for a property with a nonconforming use under the city’s zoning to conform with the zoning code, and handling applications for vinyl wraps to be placed on the exterior of buildings in the historic district. 

Setting a listserve account 

Everyone with a current affiliate membership is a member of the affiliate’s listserve. They can access their listserve through their member home page on the Association’s website. 

To assess a listserve for the first time, members should log in at www.masc.sc, select “Member Home,” then set communication preferences, such as whether they want to receive email notifications about posts. 

Join other listserves on this webpage by selecting “request access” on the appropriate listserve. The listserves have several orientation videos, including one explaining listserve features, one that provides a walkthrough for requesting access, and one that explains how to set up a profile, including notification preferences. 

For listserve assistance, call the helpline at 803.933.1297.