Engage Douglas County received the Coalition of Excellence Award for Coalition in Focus from CADCA, the nation’s leading substance use and misuse prevention organization. The Coalition of Excellence award is part of CADCA’s Got Outcomes! award program, which gives national recognition to exemplary coalitions that have clearly documented their impact on population-level substance abuse outcomes. Engage Douglas County will receive this prestigious award on Feb. 2 during CADCA’s 2023 National Leadership Forum at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

Douglas County Commissioners will continue their discussion about map options and the process for moving to five Commission Districts during their Wednesday, Dec. 14, meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St., on the second floor in the Commission meeting room. The meeting also is available by Zoom. Meeting information is posted here: http://dgcoks.org/commissionmeetings.

Douglas County Commissioners will discuss map options and the process for moving to five Commission Districts at their Dec. 7 meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the historic County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St., on the second floor in the Commission meeting room. The meeting also is available by Zoom. Meeting information is posted here: http://dgcoks.org/commissionmeetings. There will be an opportunity to hear from the public on the five districts during the meeting.

The Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council was recently accepted into the National Network of Criminal Justice Coordinating Councils (NNCJCC) by the Justice Management Institute. Douglas County is among 12 new member jurisdictions, bringing the total number of councils represented in the network to 40.

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.

The Douglas County Sustainability Office recently received a 2022 LiveWell Community Wellness Grant for the Common Ground 10th Anniversary Enhancement Project in the amount of $10,000.

The grant is funded by Douglas County Community Foundation in partnership with the Kansas Health Foundation.

In an effort to include diverse and equitable community input on the Climate Action Plan, Douglas County Sustainability is conducting targeted focus groups to gauge how community members throughout the county experience climate impacts. Input shared from these sessions combined with narrivatives of lived experiences collected by community members and survey data will guide policy and strategy recommendations in the Douglas County Climate Action Plan.

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. 

The Douglas County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) is seeking the community’s input on potential areas of focus through a survey. The results will be used to help develop the next strategic plan.

The survey can be found here: http://dgcoks.org/cjccsurvey22, and it will close on Nov. 30.

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.