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.

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.