News From Across the Nation - March 19, 2018

â–º The HALL COUNTY Board of Commissioners recently approved transitional housing for homeless men involved in workforce development, the Gainesville Times reported. North Georgia Works! will pay the county $1 rent per year for the space.

Each Georgia Works! participant is housed at a facility for up to a year while they participate in transitional work (earning $7.40 per hour for 30-plus hours per week). All participants renounce dependency and remain drug and alcohol free. Personal support, case management and workforce training is offered throughout the program. The organization also provide AA/NA classes, GED classes, help obtaining a driver’s license, help setting up a bank account and a life skills preparation course.

â–º NEWTON COUNTY is the new home of a $750 million data center for Facebook, according to a report by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. In addition to construction jobs, the 970,000-square foot data center, the ninth for the social media company, is expected to bring 100 new jobs to the county once it opens.

At a news conference, Facebook representatives said they chose the county because of its access to renewable energy and a strong talent pool. Walton EMC will install hundreds of acres of solar panels on Georgia’s electric grid as part of a power supply agreement with Facebook. Groundbreaking is expected to begin in late March with completion by 2020.

“This is a big day for Newton County,” Marcello Banes, chairman of the Newton County Board of Commissioners, said at the news conference. “We’re excited about Facebook being in our community. It’s a wonderful partnership.”

ILLINOIS

KENDALL COUNTY recently hosted a roundtable discussion on how to combat opioid addiction, according to a report by KendallCountyNOW. In all, 45 representatives from government, private and non-profit organizations gathered at the county health department to discuss the problem. County Coroner Jacquie Purcell noted that of 15 overdose deaths last year, 13 were caused by opioids. The county has seen a steady increase in the past five years, she said. She also noted that with no hospital in the county, some local residents are transported to hospitals in other counties, where the death is counted there, so the actual number of resident opioid deaths is likely higher.

IOWA

The Iowa House of Representatives is proposing legislation that would change the redistricting process for county boards of supervisors, The Des Moines Register reported. The bill would require any county with a population of 60,000 or more to require district residents to choose a candidate who also lives in the district.

Currently, county boards of supervisors can also be elected at large or a supervisor must live in the district but voters can cast at-large votes. The bill was approved by the House and is now headed to the state Senate.

KANSAS

The SEDGWICK COUNTY Zoo recently welcomed a new baby Sumatran orangutan to its menagerie. Last year, the county renewed its agreement with the zoo to provide funding for 109 full-time employees at the zoo as well as half of the zoo’s capital improvements over the next five years, the Wichita Eagle reported. “I’m very happy that we’ve partnered with the zoo and that we can look forward to five years of partnership,” Commissioner David Dennis said. Outlays for 2018 call for $800,000 in spending for fixing the viewing panel at an alligator exhibit, new water heaters for the hippos and a new lighting system for the orangutan and chimpanzee exhibit.

MICHIGAN

WAYNE COUNTY is expected to build a $553 million justice center, the county recently announced. The center will include a 2,280-bed jail, offices for the Sheriff’s Department, prosecutor’s office, a criminal courthouse and a juvenile detention facility. Completion is expected in 2022.

NEBRASKA

With no real plan to use some of Enola’s streets, MADISON COUNTY may well just let the community go to seed, literally.

The unpaved roads are getting overgrown, some even by trees, and the Board of Commissioners is considering vacating or abandoning some of those overgrown streets. The properties could revert to the current adjacent landowners, Norfolk Daily News reported.

NEVADA

â–º Haircuts and Heinekens won’t mix in CLARK COUNTY, now that the commissioners have axed a proposal to let owners of salons and barbershops sell alcohol to patrons.

Chairman Steve Sisolak told the Las Vegas Sun that issues with the sale, marketing and distribution of the drinks stymied the commission.

â–º WASHOE COUNTY restaurants with patios are opening their doggie doors to non-service canines, and the County Health District will distribute “Dog Access Approved” signs thanks to a $3,000 grant from the Food and Drug Administration.

NEW JERSEY

â–º HUDSON COUNTY will no longer work with FedEx. County Executive Tom DeGise signed an executive order ending its relationship with the carrier because the company allows guns and ammunition to be shipped “without reasonable restrictions.” DeGise said Hudson County has spent more than $60,000 shipping through FedEx over the last three years, NJ.com reported.

FedEx has faced increased scrutiny in recent weeks after a list was leaked of gun manufacturers and businesses who were given a cheaper, less secure shipping option.

â–º HUNTERDON COUNTY plans to create a central booking process for those arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It is expected to be in place by April.

After being arrested, apprehended drivers will be transported to the Hunterdon County Justice Center in Flemington where they will be tested using an Alcotest machine and charged before being released. The process will replace bookings in the county’s 14 different towns; each would have had to buy a $25,000 Alcotest machine.

NORTH CAROLINA

Following the Florida school shooting, ROCKINGHAM COUNTY Sheriff Sam Page wants to pair schools with armed volunteers.

A 2013 state law allows sheriffs’ offices and local police departments to set up volunteer school safety resource programs staffed with experienced law enforcement or military police officers. That law was passed after the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

The volunteers would work in public schools under agreements between sheriffs’ offices and school boards. They would have the power to arrest anyone while on duty and must meet firearms proficiency standards required of people serving as criminal justice officers, the statute says.

Page has been working with Superintendent Rodney Shotwell to implement the program by next school year, The Winston-Salem Journal reported, making it the first such program, if the school board approves it, and Page sees it as a model for other counties.

UTAH

An employee with the UTAH COUNTY Assessor’s department is hoping to find homes for 50-year-old agricultural applications rather than shredding them after they are scanned ordigitized. 

Diane Garcia’s family operated a farm in the 1960s and expects other descendants of farmers might be interested in keeping the original documents as family heirlooms. “It’s just kind of cool,” Garcia told The Daily Herald. “Because it’s in their handwriting and it’s the fun, old crinkly paper, and it’s the official document that was recorded.”

WASHINGTON

â–º The Three Rivers Mall has plenty of space, parking and accessibility, and may be perfect for the COWLITZ COUNTY administrative offices. Accessibility for people with physical disabilities has driven the county to find a better fit for offices that serve the public. Maintenance costs are also becoming prohibitive, and space constraints make it hard to keep departments consolidated, The Daily News reported.

â–º KING COUNTY has created an Immigrant and Refugee Commission. The permanent body will act as a central point of contact, communication and coordination for all immigrant and refugee residents. It will also focus on understanding and addressing challenges faced by immigrant and refugee communities living in suburban cities and unincorporated areas of the county.

The commission will assist and advise the county and other levels of government on issues, programs, plans, funding and policies impacting immigrant and refugee communities and promote civic participation and government representation.

Thirteen voting members and four nonvoting members will serve three-year terms.

WISCONSIN

MILWAUKEE COUNTY Executive Chris Abele has proposed terminating pension benefits for employees convicted of a felony and has asked the County Board to approve the amendment to a county pension ordinance, The Journal Sentinel reported. The County Board approved a measure blocking other employees now facing criminal charges in the dehydration death of a jail inmate from obtaining pension benefits.