County administrators who have earned the Certificate in County Administration. Coursework for the Certified County Administrator designation can be taken in any order as long as the Certificate in County Administration is completed first.
Under the County Government Education Institute, a currently employed county administrator may be approved for designation as a Certified County Administrator (CCA) by the ACCA Board of Directors at its annual August meeting if the county administrator has met all of the requirements set out below as of July 31 in the year of application. Persons approved for the CCA designation will receive their certification during the Awards Ceremony held in connection with the ACCA Annual Convention. The requirements for CCA designation are as follows:
The CCA designation is not available to any other administrative personnel. All applications seeking the CCA designation must be submitted to the Association of County Commissions of Alabama accompanied by the resolution adopted by the county administrator’s employer no later than July 31 of the year in which application is made. The ACCA Board of Directors will review all applications for CCA designation at its annual August meeting. All applicants must be currently employed as a county administrator at the time of ACCA Board approval. The educational requirements for CCA designation are as follows:
Participants who have received the Certified County Administrator designation will be required to complete at least 12 continuing education units (CEUs) during a two-year period in order to retain the designation. The two year period to complete the continuing education requirement begins to run on the April 1 following the date that the CCA Designation has been granted and ends on March 31 two years later. Example: if the CCA designation is received in August 2011, the continuing education requirement begins on April 1, 2012, and the 12 CEUs must be obtained no later than March 31, 2014. This cycle must be repeated for each two-year period to retain the designation.
Continuing education units may be earned by attendance at the following:
Any person who is deficient in meeting the continuing education requirements will be granted an additional 12 months to reach the minimum requirement. However, during the extension period, the requirement to earn an additional 12 CEU for the next two-year period must also be fulfilled. The first units earned will be applied to the deficiency from the previous two-year period.
Any person who fails to meet the requirements – after the extension period – will forfeit their designation as a Certified County Administrator and will be required to complete the educational program requirements at the time in order to again receive the CCA designation.
In addition to the County Government Education Institute programs, administrators may also be interested in training offered by the Alabama chapter of the Association of Public Personnel Administrators. Though this group is not directly associated with ACCA, county staff members frequently benefit from the group’s education program.