The annual event was held Wednesday to educate elected officials and provide information on state legislation that may affect the counties.
"The whole point of the conference is to get the counties knowledgeable about statewide issues that affect them," said Kathleen Williams, assistant director of the S.C. Association of Counties. "We find a majority of county officials feel the classes help them and want to learn as much as they can. It is one of most popular things we do."
Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, chairman of Senate Finance Committee; Carl Blackstone, Gov. Mark Sanford's legislative adviser; and House Speaker Pro-Tem, Doug Smith, R-Spartanburg, spoke at the conference.
Jasper County Council members George Hood, Gladys Jones, Thomas McClary, Fred Tuten and Leroy Blackshear attended the conference with administrators Andrew Fulghum, Rose Dobson and Ronnie Malphrus. Bill McBride, a Beaufort County Councilman, was the sole representative from Beaufort.
"This is not the first time we've attended," McBride said of the Lowcountry officials. "It is always informative."
On Tuesday the Institute of Government held classes for the elected officials that ranged from public speaking to decision making.
"We had an orientation class for councilmen, dealing specifically with laws we're under and our authority," said Blackshear, who was elected last year.
County officials visited the Statehouse and met with legislators.
"Most of the folks I talked with were very interested in seeing that Jasper County gets a port or at least is given the process of trying to get one," Blackshear said of Jasper's highly contested work in progress.
Jasper officials were happy with the projects exposure in Columbia.
"I was pleased at how many legislators approached us and seemed pretty knowledgeable about what was going on," Jasper Administrator Fulghum said. "It was a very productive meeting, I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to the next one."