News from Across the Nation - Jan. 23, 2017

OREGON

For the first time, the all-female MULTNOMAH COUNTY Board of County Commissioners will have people of color in the majority. Three new members of the Board were sworn in Jan. 3, including (from second left to right) Sharon Meieran, Jessica Vega Pederson and Lori Stegmann. Chair Deborah Kafoury (left) and Commissioner Loretta Smith (right), the Portland Tribune reported. Photo by Stephanie Yao Long

 

ARIZONA

Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks are suing MARICOPA COUNTY to break their lease at the county-owned Chase Field. For several months, the team and the county have clashed over repairs and renovations to the ballpark. The team is contracted to play there through 2028.

CALIFORNIA

● Thanks to grant funding, SAN DIEGO COUNTY’s Health and Human Services Agency will provide 200 free child car seats for low-income parents. A $155,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety will pay for the car seats and for child safety workshops through September of this year. It’s part of the county’s Keep ‘Em Safe program. A new California law requires that children under the age of 2 be fastened into rear-facing child safety seats — unless the child weighs at least 40 pounds or is 40 inches tall. Photo by San Diego County News Center

● LOS ANGELES COUNTY’s Board of Supervisors will contribute $1 million this year and $2 million next year to a legal aid fund to help immigrants facing deportation charges, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. The L.A. Justice Fund, which including the city’s contribution, will raise $10 million, is a partnership between Los Angeles city and county, California Community Foundation, Weingart Foundation and the California Endowment. 

The county’s $3 million contribution is subject to matching donations, and private philanthropic organizations are expected to chip in $5 million. The money will not be used to aid immigrants with serious criminal histories, but rather, military families, refugees and unaccompanied minors, for example.

COLORADO

ARAPAHOE and DOUGLAS counties and the city of Aurora are in the process of creating a joint police-sheriff’s crime lab. Douglas County will cover most of the upfront construction costs ($23 million) for the building. Aurora ($15 million) and Arapahoe County ($30 million) will pay the shared costs of equipment, IT infrastructure, and current and future staffing. The lab should be up and running in the summer of 2018.

ILLINOIS

● Shoplifting cases will remain misdemeanors in COOK COUNTY, unless the thief steals $1,000 or more in merchandise — or has 10 prior felony convictions, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Illinois has long had one of the lowest thresholds in the Midwest for filing felony shoplifting charges. Previously, shoplifters in Cook County could, in certain cases, be charged with a felony for stealing goods valued at $300. In neighboring states, Wisconsin has a felony retail theft threshold of $2,500 loss; it’s $1,000 in Michigan and $750 in Indiana. 

Critics of Cook County's low threshold say it resulted in too many nonviolent offenders being jailed — for months or even years — at taxpayers’ expense.

Under new standards, prosecutors can still approve felony charges if they believe the circumstances warrant them.

● DUPAGE COUNTY Division of Transportation (DOT) has launched a new web-based application (app) that will enable residents to report potholes, signal outages and other road maintenance or safety issues.

The app allows users send a photo detailing the problem and the precise location of the issue on a map. Users can also look at other existing maintenance or safety issues in their area and add information to those reports. The DOT and Geographic Information Systems Department collaborated on the project.

KENTUCKY

The people have spoken: MONROE COUNTY will stay dry. In a special local option election Jan. 10, the vote to legalize sales of alcohol came up 690 votes short — 1,211 votes in favor versus 1,901 votes against.

County Magistrate Roger Deckard told the Glasgow Daily Times that had the measure passed, money from license fees would have benefited the county’s general fund.

MARYLAND

● BALTIMORE COUNTY officials are considering how they might regulate solar farms in rural parts of the county. This comes at a time when farmers are becoming interested in switching from crops to solar panels, according to The Baltimore Sun. County Councilman Wade Kach proposed a measure that would limit solar installations in rural areas to the lesser of 20 acres or 50 percent of the property.

It would also specify how close panels can be to the property line, their height and how much landscaping and fencing would be required. The bill would not apply to rural residents with only enough panels to power their homes and farms.

Some solar companies are offering $1,000 per acre per year to lease farmland to install panels.

● The groundwork is being laid in HARFORD COUNTY for a “phased-in transition” to develop an EMS system that would supplement medical services provided by private volunteer fire companies.

County Executive Barry Glassman said it’s a process that may take several years to complete, The Baltimore Sun reported. He emphasized that county-operated ambulances would not compete with volunteer EMS units but would “provide an additional safety net” and surge capacity.

Glassman proposes creating a medical director’s position in the county’s Department of Emergency Services and a county EMS Standards Board to help with the transition.

MISSOURI

A state appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that ST. LOUIS COUNTY has no authority to impose minimum law enforcement standards on the 57 municipal police agencies within the county, according to the Post-Dispatch.

County officials had originally argued that public health statutes in the county’s charter could be used set standards for municipal police departments. Later, the county abandoned that position but continued to argue its right to impose the training requirements.

Twelve municipalities went to court within days of the ordinance’s passage in late 2015 to block its implementation. 

NEW YORK

SUFFOLK COUNTY Executive Steve Bellone is proposing a law that would sidestep a State Supreme Court ruling against development on protected farmland. It would allow farmers to build farm stands and other related structures on preserved land without permits, the Riverhead News-Review reported.

The county’s program, the first of its kind in 1974, offers property owners money in exchange for a legally binding agreement stating the land won’t be developed.

Justice Thomas Whelan’s decision was a response to a lawsuit the Long Island Pine Barrens Society brought against the county. In the suit, the organization claimed development should not be allowed on preserved farms where public funds were used to purchase development rights.

OHIO

The Cleveland police department has signed a contract with the CUYAHOGA COUNTY prosecutor’s office to reimburse the city up to $500,000 to buy and install cameras in 275 police cars. That money comes from criminal forfeitures, The Plain Dealer reported.

County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said, “The dash cams will result in a sharp increase in convictions. Police misconduct complaints will drop like a rock, and public confidence will rise dramatically.” 

SOUTH DAKOTA

While a state board works to find new homes for hundreds of wild horses from a troubled sanctuary, DEWEY and ZIEBACH counties have been paying to care for them.

Members of the South Dakota Animal Industry Board are seeking a court order to transfer horses surrendered by the nonprofit International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros, which straddles the counties, to the ownership of another suitable caretaker. The horses have been temporarily impounded — but are still under the society’s ownership — since October, the Salina Journal reported.

TEXAS

● BEXAR COUNTY commissioners passed a resolution opposing the Texas Legislature’s efforts to impose revenue or appraisal caps on Texas counties and cities. The resolution says caps “would diminish local control and tie the hands of county officials by limiting their ability to provide essential services to address the needs of their citizens,” among other “detrimental” factors, according to The Rivard Report. Twelve other Texas counties represented by the Alamo Area Council of Governments have signed the document.

● Two DALLAS COUNTY commissioners want to scrap truancy courts and instead send kids who skip school to justices of the peace, who generally handle small claims and evictions. Dropping caseloads have reduced the need for the courts and a new state law will direct schools to view court as a last resort, so John Wiley Price and Mike Cantrell argue the county will be $3.2 million a year better off by closing them, according to the Dallas Morning News.

VIRGINIA

After retroactively collecting $50 business licenses from independent contractors over five years, and hiring two auditors to do so, ALBEMARLE COUNTY expects to bring in more than $11.3 million in revenue, Cville-Weekly reported.

News From Across the Nation is compiled by Charles Taylor and Charlie Ban, senior staff writers. If you have an item for News From, please email ctaylor@naco.org or cban@naco.org