MICHIGAN
• The leadership in KENT COUNTY was named Newsmaker of the Year for 2001 by the Grand Rapids Business Journal.
Citing a laundry list of accomplishments, Business Journal Editor Carole Valade-Copenhaver said the county was being recognized because the events and programs initiated and completed by the county “…went a long way toward shaping the lives of citizens living and working in Kent County.”
Accepting the award for the county were County Administrator Daryl Delabbio and Commissioner Kathy Kuhn.
“While we’ve [the commission] been historically conservative, the county was not afraid to venture into some risky areas [this year],” Delabbio said. “I think that is what is really setting apart this commission.”
• Noting that Kmart is a good corporate citizen, OAKLAND COUNTY Executive L. Brook Patterson recently called upon the business community in Michigan to come to the aid of the financially strapped company.
Patterson also announced that for the next 18 months, the county will shift some of its purchasing power to Kmart.
“We have 1,500 inmates in our jail to feed a day. That’s a lot of potatoes. We buy clothing for more than 100 kids who live in our Children’s Village. We wax over 1.8 million square feet of office space. We buy windshield solvent and antifreeze for over 640 cars,” Patterson explained of the decision.
The plan would shift about $50,000 a month in county purchasing power for supplies over to Kmart Corporation. Over the next year, that commitment would mean $600,000 worth of financial support.
“If I can get 200 more companies to do the same thing, together we will have generated over $100 million in new revenue for Kmart,” Patterson said. “More than $100 million to help a company that has helped us in so many ways.”
Kmart invests heavily in the county by paying more than $3.5 million in property taxes annually.
NORTH CAROLINA
• The belt tightening continues. CABARRUS COUNTY Manager Frank Clifton recently issued a stark warning to commissioners. Clifton warned the commission that the loss of state revenue and the declining economy could force a property-tax increase or deep cuts in county services.
In early February, in response to Gov. Mike Easley’s decision to withhold $1.4 million in county money, Clifton imposed a freeze on hiring and most capital projects.
Sales tax revenue for the first half of FY2001-02 was only 44.22 percent of what had been budgeted. If this pattern continues, the county could see an additional shortfall of $2.3 million.
Earlier this year Clifton had said a tax increase probably would not be necessary until FY2003-04, but now he has told The Charlotte Observer that he doesn’t expect the county to receive any of the $4 million it normally gets as reimbursements for defunct state taxes.
That’s 4 cents on the property-tax rate.
• On Feb. 27, President George W. Bush met with representatives of MECKLENBURG COUNTY’S Work First program.
Work First is an innovative collaboration between social services and the business community to help county welfare recipients acquire work skills, find jobs and become self-sufficient. The TANF program was established in 1997 in answer to a federal mandate and has subsequently helped 12,127 people become employed.
Six months before welfare reform, a first-of-its-kind partnership between the Department of Social Services and the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce was formed to encourage businesses with hiring needs to tap into the resource of public assistance clients. DSS offers Work First clients counseling, education and work place fundamentals and then employers hire, train and mentor clients for jobs.
The county has decreased its adult TANF caseload by nearly 60 percent from July 1994. Some 3,883 companies, about 76 percent of the Chamber’s member companies, have hired Work First participants since the program began in 1997.
NEW YORK
With the recent public disclosure of several OSHA violations and other worker safety hazards throughout the county, SUFFOLK COUNTY Presiding Officer Paul J. Tonna wants the county to opt into a program established by New York labor law. By becoming a part of the program, the county could require contractors and subcontractors to establish apprenticeship-training programs prior to entering into a contract with the county.
The state law cited by Tonna does not compel any governmental entity to require apprentice-training program participation. It only offers counties the ability to opt into the program. In addition to initiating the option process, Tonna’s bill would prohibit any contractor or subcontractor from even bidding for a county contract unless they have an apprentice-training program in place prior to bidding.
The bill, which already has a group of nine bipartisan legislators as co-sponsors, is scheduled for a vote on March 13.
OKLAHOMA
While the truly paperless office may never actually exist, the OKLAHOMA COUNTY Assessor’s Office is working hard to get out from under the avalanche of paperwork it operates under.
Paper documents, which used to take up enormous amounts of file space, will now be digital documents, stored electronically.
The documents, which are saved for a variety of tax saving or tax filing purposes, will be scanned, checked for accuracy and then stored on disks. The documents are retrievable in a variety of ways, including the account number, the address, the name, or other variables.
If this program proves successful, County Assessor Mike Means sees endless possibilities.
“This is really exciting for me to see becoming a reality. If we can take these documents and bar code them for easy storage and reference, we can do it with all sorts of documents,” Means said. “We could even use technology to digitally store other types of pieces of paper like budgets, meeting notices, meeting minutes, personnel and other important documents.”
The county assessor’s office has been recognized nationally for promoting public access to public records and maps over the Internet.
PENNSYLVANIA
• The fallout from the collapse of Enron is hitting a little too close to home for CARBON COUNTY employees. The county’s pension fund lost $327,000 when Enron filed for bankruptcy and its stocks fell to less than $1 per share.
According to an article in The Morning Call, the county’s loss amounts to only about 0.6 percent of the fund, which finished last year at $48.5 million. County Controller Robert Crampsie said one of the fund’s two managers bought Enron stock in 2000 and sold it in January 2001 for a gain of $17,600. However, that same investment company purchased $372,0000 worth of Enron stock in November 2001 and sold it later that month as Enron’s collapse was becoming apparent, for a loss of about $362,000.
The county’s other investment manager had slightly better luck. The manager bought Enron stock in 1998 and sold some of it in February 2001, at a profit of $55,000. But it continued to hold some shares, which it sold in November 2001 for a loss of $37,500.
“This shows why you have to be diversified,” Crampsie said. Until a second investment company was hired in 1998, the country relied on one investment manager.
• The automation of all 73 municipal zoning maps in CHESTER COUNTY is nearing completion. Creating the 11x17, full-color maps was one of the first major projects of the Chester County GIS Consortium, created in spring 2001 by the county commission.
The new zoning maps, which include a table of updates and dates, will provide accurate and critical information for code enforcement, planning and development activities.
The maps were automated in the GIS to ensure that the Assessment Department has current and accurate zoning records needed for property valuation.
VIRGINIA
• As the spring nesting season starts to get underway, FAIRFAX COUNTY, in a public-private partnership known as GeesePeace, is getting ready to addle/oil Canada geese eggs throughout the county. The process prevents eggs from hatching.
Last year the county obtained a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to addle/oil the eggs through the county. The program was such a success that the county has applied for another permit and will be training volunteers.
Property owners with geese on their property can sign up to participate in the program by visiting the GeesePeace Web site and completing a property owner’s consent form. The county will then contact interested property owners and make a site visit to locate nests and oil the eggs using protocols developed by the Humane Society of the United States.
Property owners who wish to oil eggs on their property themselves under the county’s permit must first attend a free training class.
• The Volunteer Services Program of the HANOVER COUNTY Department of Community Resources was recently awarded the 2001 Governor’s Community Service and Volunteerism Award in the “government program” category.
The program was cited for its role in maximizing citizen involvement in an array of volunteer efforts to support local human services.
WASHINGTON
After three years of negotiations, and two failed land swaps in ten years, 640 acres of timberland in the Cascade foothills in PIERCE COUNTY is about to become open space resource conservancy land.
Under a proposal from County Executive John W. Ladenburg, the forest property will be removed from the county’s surplus properties list and transferred to the Parks and Recreation Department.
Acquired in the 1930s through foreclosure on nonpayment of property taxes, the land was deemed unsuitable for park use because it lacked any public access. However, in recent years Ladenburg has worked with environmentalists and other property owners to develop an access corridor.
Federal, state and private landowners and the county are working together to develop open space, nature conservancy and outdoor recreation opportunities.
