St. Clair County officials attend military installation forum

Two St. Clair County officials were in San Diego this past week to meet with senior military officials and discuss the future of bases and installations.

Terry W. Beach, who is both the executive director of the St. Clair County Intergovernmental Grants Department and the county’s economic development director, and the county’s Director of Military Affairs John Hughes attended the annual “Installation Innovation Forum.”

“The Association of Defense Communities holds this annual three-day event as a way for the 650 attendees to share and network with each other and with senior military and defense officials,” Beach said in a letter to residents.

Topics included encroachment, the federal budget, community partnerships, housing privatization, shared services, intergovernmental agreements and more.
“The networking was invaluable. St. Clair County has been an ADC member for decades and we also belonged to its predecessor organization-NAID (National Association of Installation Developers), which mainly dealt with closed or realigned bases,” Beach wrote.

“It was nice to hear mention that an original community partnership remains our Joint Use Agreement between the County and the Air Force followed by our County Joint Land Use Agreement that exists to restrict encroachment around (Scott Air Force) Base. Encroachment and the impact it has on an Installation’s survivability is immenseand it was a major theme of the Forum. (Land use agreement) ordinances are being enacted throughout the U.S. adjacent to military installations and it requires the full support of local government,” he said.

More on the event can be found on its website: https://installationinnovation.org/

PHOTO: John Hughes, St. Clair County director of military affairs, left, with Lucian Neimeyer, assistant secretary of defense.