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Virtual Training Options Offer Convenience for Municipal Officials

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a need to move many meetings to an online format, but virtual meetings can be a good option for some training functions at any time. Here are several online training options available through the Municipal Association of SC. 

Municipal Elected Officials Institute of Government 
For years, the MEO Institute maintained a variety of online, on-demand training sessions. The on-demand courses address such topics as 
  • budgeting and municipal finance, 
  • the Freedom of Information Act in South Carolina;
  • forms of municipal government; 
  • municipal economic development and
  • municipal governance and policy. 
Learn more about online and in-person courses. 

Planning and zoning training
In 2020, the Association launched the “Online Orientation Training for Planning and Zoning Officials.” This six-hour course, available to elected officials as well as relevant staff at no charge, meets a state training requirement for all officials working in that area. 

The Association initially established this training after an amendment to the SC Comprehensive Planning Act made such training a requirement for planning and zoning officials. The training is six sessions, each lasting an hour, as well as video exercises and knowledge-check quizzes. Each of the sessions provides its own completion certificate.  At the completion of the full six-hour orientation training, municipal planning officials can receive a copy of their transcript.

Risk Management Services training videos
The Association’s Risk Management Services recently began developing safety training videos available to members of the SC Municipal Insurance Trust and SC Municipal Insurance and Risk Financing Fund. The videos, available through the LocalGovU online training system, can be set up by employers in a customizable list to provide both safety orientation and refresher sessions. 

The videos developed so far cover such topics as
  • emergency action planning;
  • energy control procedure, or lockout/tagout;
  • fall protection;
  • forklift safety; and
  • heat stress. 
SCMIT and SCMIRF members can find the Risk Management Services online training videos via LocalGovU.