Military veterans are encouraged to record their military discharge form (DD214) with the Douglas County Register of Deeds office for safekeeping. This is an important document that is often needed for veterans’ benefits. 

The Register of Deeds office offers this service for veterans at no cost. Veterans keep the original document. The recording provides safe and secure storage for peace of mind. Free certified copies can be accessed quickly by authorized parties.

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 dedicated to opening the Treatment and Recovery Center as soon as possible and staff are working tirelessly to ensure our community has a state-of-the-art center that provides affordable, quality services.

The Treasurer’s Office will be closed Monday, Oct. 10, for staff training. For motor vehicle and tax payment information, visit: http://dgcoks.org/treasurer.

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.

Karen Willey was elected August 28 by the Douglas County Democratic precinct committee to represent the Third District as a County Commissioner. 

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.

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

Douglas County Emergency Management will be hosting a full-scale training exercise on Friday, Sept. 23, at Youth Sports Complex, 4911 W. 27th St., in Lawrence.

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 City of Lawrence and Douglas County will have new leaders, Kathy Richardson and Kim Criner Ritchie, for their separate Sustainability Offices. Both offices will follow their respective priorities while continuing to collaborate on projects that improve sustainability efforts throughout Lawrence and Douglas County. Previously, Lawrence-Douglas County Sustainability was a combined office that worked on initiatives for both the City and the County.