Department News

Douglas County District Court Administrator Linda Koester-Vogelsang received the Culture of Health Award from WorkWell Douglas County during the LiveWell Douglas County annual celebration breakfast on Nov. 18 at the Cider Gallery. Linda leads the Douglas County District Court wellness program, and her team was recognized for their continued wellness efforts through the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the election results, visit: http://dgcoks.org/election2022. The canvass was held on Monday, Nov. 21.

There will be a town hall meeting about the five Douglas County Commission districts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, in Flory Meeting Hall at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, 2120 Harper St. 

This morning (Oct. 26), a contractor working on the sprinkler system at the County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts Street, turned on sprinklers in the southeast corner of the building.  This has led to water damage in the County Commission meeting room, Treasurer’s Office and Appraiser’s Office.

The Treasurer’s Office in the Courthouse is closed, but the South Iowa satellite location, 2000 W. 31st Street, is open and the $5 fee to use the location is being waived. If you need to renew your motor vehicle tag, here are some options:

Firefighters have responded to several grassfires in recent weeks that occurred generally in the same area southeast of Lawrence and south of Eudora to the Johnson County line. Due to the similar nature and timing of the fires that tend to cluster around the same location, they are considered suspicious in nature at this time.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office investigators are asking for help from community members who might have seen any suspicious activity or vehicles in the area of the fires. Dates of several recent fires are noted below.

Douglas County is seeking applications for this year’s Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge!

The competition - open to students in grades 6 through 12 - consists of preparing a written business plan, an executive summary, an elevator speech, formal presentation and trade show presentation. Students compete for $3,000 in prize money. The students’ work is judged by local entrepreneurs, teachers and community leaders. The deadline to submit an application is Friday, Nov. 18.

The Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council (HCC) will host a public meeting about cultural and historic resource preservation from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 15, at the Vinland Fairgrounds, 1736 N 700 Road. HCC is gathering community input for a Rural Preservation Plan.

A town hall meeting about the Wakarusa Drive extension project will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, at the Greenbush Resource Center, formerly Wakarusa School, 1104 E 1000 Road. It will be an opportunity for the community to hear about the project, ask questions and provide comments.

The Douglas County Elections Office completed recounting the votes for the constitutional amendment on Friday afternoon, Aug. 19, and a canvass was held shortly thereafter at 3:30 p.m.

The hand-counted recount results from a total of 47,657 ballots are:

• Yes - 8,718

• No - 38,703

There were 217 under votes, which means no choice was marked on the ballot, and 19 over votes, which means the voter marked in both the yes and no target oval.

The primary results were:

Researchers will present findings from their examination of pedestrian and traffic stop data during a community meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 10, in the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St. The data has been collected in conjunction with the Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) and with Douglas County law enforcement agencies.

Douglas County Commissioner Shannon Reid is joining a select group of local officials as the inaugural cohort of the National Association of Counties’ Familiar Faces Leadership Network. This group is committed to improving life outcomes for high-needs residents with complex behavioral health conditions.

Fireworks can be legally discharged in the unincorporated areas of Douglas County as long as the property owner has given permission and provides supervision. Fireworks should not be discharged on a public street or roadway. Fireworks are allowed at the following times:

For 23 years, Jolene Cullen has worked in criminal justice. She has provided service in child abuse investigations, foster care placement, corrections, and house arrest programs. She currently serves as the Adult Services Officer in the Douglas County Behavioral Health Court program.

On May 19, she witnessed Amanda Klopfenstein and Joshua Walters graduate from the program and get their criminal charges dismissed. That’s what she loves most about her job.

The Board of County Commissioners will hold a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, regarding the petition for incorporation of the City of Clearfield. The hearing will be held in the County Commission meeting room located in the County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts Street, on the second floor. The meeting also will be available by Zoom. Here's the link: http://dgcoks.org/commissionmeetings. The public hearing is part of the County Commission's regular business meeting.

Jim Carpenter’s primary task may sound strange for a member of a prosecutor’s office.

“I was brought in to help to keep people out of jail,” said Carpenter, a new senior assistant district attorney in the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office.

When Kent Brown was elected Register of Deeds in November 2020, he had an extensive spreadsheet of all of the traits that he was looking for in a Deputy. These included: leadership skills, industry experience and a willingness to learn. Shari Hicks, who was working in the County Clerk’s Office as the real estate coordinator, checked all of the boxes and more, he said.

“Shari’s positivity and enthusiastic attitude really made her stand out. She’s exactly the kind of energy I want to bring to this office.”

The Douglas County Commission will consider a new emergency public health order during its Feb. 9 meeting. The new order would require individuals to wear face coverings at indoor gatherings in which 500 or more individuals are in attendance in a single space, such as a concert, sporting event, trade show or convention.

Chief Judge James McCabria signed an administrative order today (Jan. 25) that adds Juneteenth as a holiday beginning this year for the Seventh Judicial District. In the order, it states June 19th marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The order also recognizes: