News From Across the Nation - April 30, 2018

Ever lock yourself out of your car? How about inside your car? BOULDER COUNTY Sheriff’s deputies recently responded to a call for an incident involving a hungry bear that broke into a vehicle looking for food and accidentally locked himself inside, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman said. Deputies were able to get the bear out without anyone, including the bear, being harmed. The county posted a photo of the bear inside the car, along with some tips for keeping bears away — including locking doors and stowing bird feeders when bears are around and not leaving pet food outside.

DELAWARE

Dick Cecil, executive director, Delaware Association of Counties, was recently honored with a Distinguished Service Award from the National Selective Service System for his 14 years as Delaware’s state director of the Selective Service System. Cecil recently retired from the volunteer position.

ILLINOIS

- As gun control measures were being debated among state lawmakers at the state capitol, the EFFINGHAM COUNTY Board voted 8–1 recently to adopt a resolution opposing certain bills introduced in the state General Assembly that the Board views as violating the Constitution. The resolution states that if the state infringes on Second Amendment rights, that the county would declare the county a sanctuary for gun owners.  Commissioner Karen Luchtefeld was the only member to oppose the proposal, saying “guns have changed (since the Second Amendment was adopted), but our gun laws have not kept pace,” WXEF-FM reported. She noted the number of people that could be killed in a minute by a flintlock rifle as opposed to modern firearms.

- Drivers who are suspected of driving drunk in McHENRY COUNTY but who refuse to take a breath test could be taken in for a blood test under a new county policy, according to the Northwest Herald. The new measure began April 15 and allows officers to obtain a warrant for a blood draw for any DUI suspect who refuses a breathalyzer, according to the county state’s attorney’s office. Two-thirds of drivers pulled over for suspected DUI refuse such tests, the state attorney, Patrick D. Kenneally, said.

INDIANA

LAKE COUNTY’s court system plans to go paperless by early next year, saving $340,000 a year, according to The Times of Northwest Indiana. The state will provide software and new computers, printers and scanners valued at up to $400,000 to help implement the new system. The County Council voted in 2015 to approve the move to the new system. The public will be able to access court records online starting next month and attorneys will be able to file paperwork any time online.

KENTUCKY

JEFFERSON COUNTY is one of six counties where public health officials are recommending that all residents receive a hepatitis A vaccination after an outbreak resulting in 311 cases and one death; 214 of the cases were located in the Jefferson County/Louisville area. The other counties are BULLITT, BOYD, CARTER, HARDIN and GREENUP. Those considered at high-risk of contracting hepatitis A include those who travel to countries where hepatitis A is common, those who are being treated with clot-factor concentrates and those who have a chronic liver disease. Read more about hepatitis A on the CDC website: https://bit.ly/2vFM17B.

MARYLAND

MONTGOMERY COUNTY residents are fed up with the noise from jets flying overhead and rattling windows as they head to Reagan National Airport. Some concerned citizens are asking the county councilmembers to budget $150,000 for an “airspace expert” to address their complaints, Bethesda Magazine reported. County officials have asked the Federal Aviation Agency to come up with new flight paths after they were changed three years ago to reduce fuel costs and increase safety, the magazine reported. The county received 807 complaints about airplane noise in 2016.

MINNESOTA

CHISAGO COUNTY is welcoming residents to spend the night in their brand-new jail to help deputies train before inmates arrive, KARE-TV reported. The new $24 million jail is touted as being bigger, safer and more high-tech than the old jail. The county circulated a flyer advertising the May 5 overnight stay that reads: “Ever wonder what it’s like to spend a night in jail? You don’t even need to commit a crime to find out!” The post online was shared more than 1,000 times.

“What we are trying to do is test the facility so that when we do put inmates in here, it’s safe, it’s structured and operated as efficiently and safely as possible,” said Chris Thoma, assistant jail administrator.

NEW YORK

Some WASHINGTON COUNTY employees are dangerously close to being too healthy and losing some of their earned sick days as a result.

They are allowed to save 205 days, but Treasurer Al Nolette called that situation unfair, saying that employees shouldn’t lose the benefit just because they are reliable, healthy employees. County supervisors rejected a plan for a second bank of sick days that employees could use if they were struck with a weeklong illness.

NORTH CAROLINA

A few months after a ransomware attack froze dozens of its servers, MECKLENBURG COUNTY is spending $2.3 million on cyber security upgrades.

Most of the funding will go towards prevention, network access policies, backup data and security operations. The commissioners have already invested about $16 million for cyber security over the past three years, Spectrum News Charlotte reported. It took the county months to restore all of its servers after the December attack.

OREGON

State regulators are challenging DOUGLAS COUNTY’s plan to allow more rural housing on farmland and forestland. The county opened about 22,500 acres to the development of 20-acre home sites on properties that it had found were of marginal value for agriculture and forestry.

The Department of Land Conservation and Development and the Department of Fish and Wildlife have objected to the amendment of the county’s comprehensive plan before the state’s Land Use Board of Appeals, The Capital Press reported.

PENNSYLVANIA

- With a road repair wish list growing, LUZERNE COUNTY may add a $5 vehicle registration fee. The county estimates that implementing the fee could generate nearly $1.5 million a year, with the state department of transportation matching up to $2 million for the first year, but the state won’t commit beyond that.

- All counties must acquire voting machines that leave a paper trail by the end of 2019. Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has mandated the change in advance of the 2020 primary elections, to provide a backup of the votes cast.

Counties estimate that replacing the machines statewide will cost $125 million, and Pennsylvania will receive $13.5 million of the $356 million Congress recently appropriated for election security, with the state adding a 5 percent match. The resulting $14.1 million will be allocated to counties based on their population, The Lock Haven Express reported. Voting machines are projected to cost around $5,400. The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania is working with the state to secure more funding for new voting machines.

UTAH

- GRAND COUNTY’s nonpartisan council, approved in 1992, has withstood efforts to change it in 2004 and 2012. But by 2020, it will have to comply with a new standard the Legislature passed recently, requiring counties to adopt one of four approved forms of government, all of which require candidates run on party tickets, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

- SAN JUAN COUNTY has sued the federal government, citing various historic records indicating the county maintained a “road” since 1886 on federally-managed land. 

The Bureau of Land Management declined the county’s long-standing request to authorize a motorized route there, a decision the state had challenged before the Interior Board of Land Appeals, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

VIRGINIA

Gov. Ralph Northam (D) vetoed a bill that would have reduced the tax bills for two golf courses and cut $1.5 million from ARLINGTON COUNTY’s tax revenue. The General Assembly had passed a bill assessing the courses as open space, rather than at their current value, which is based on the surrounding developed land, Arlington Now reported.

“This is a local dispute over a local government’s method of assessing land for property taxation,” Northam wrote when announcing the veto. “As such, the solution to this dispute should be reached on the local level without the involvement of the state.”

WASHINGTON

- Suburban opposition to safe drug consumption sites, called Community Health Engagement Locations, has pushed KING COUNTY health officials to put the proposed pilot project outside of Seattle on hold. A plan presented by a county task force on heroin and opiate addiction recommended pilot safe drug sites for Seattle and one outside of the city in King County. The city allocated over $1 million to fund a feasibility study for the project, Seattle Weekly reported.

Long employed in Europe and Vancouver, British Columbia, research has shown that the facilities prevent drug overdose deaths, reduce HIV infection rates among addicts who use needles and increase referrals to drug treatment.

- The stress on the power grid has prompted MASON COUNTY to place a moratorium on new crypto mining operations. The moratorium encompasses “computer or data processing loads related to virtual or cryptocurrency mining, bitcoin, blockchain or similar purposes.” Applications that have already been approved are not subject to the freeze, officials stressed.

Commissioners are also concerned that mining operations are unsafe, Coin Desk reported. The process involves using computers to perform accounting functions for days at a time, which can overheat the computers and start fires.

CHELAN COUNTY passed a similar moratorium earlier this year, citing the electrical cost of mining and safety concerns as reasons for the prohibition.

WYOMING

The state Supreme Court has struck down a TETON COUNTY regulation prohibiting shared ownership of campgrounds.

The court ruled that the regulation requiring all campsites be owned by a single entity exceeds the county’s zoning authority because it regulates ownership of land, rather than use of land. A developer transferred deeds to each campground to 21 separate LLCs, prior to attempting to sell them, according to The Jackson Hole News and Report. The developer challenged the county’s regulation.