Fearing Lake Erie Toxins, Toledo Stockpiles Water; Vermont’s Ancient Computer System
Ruslan Grumble / Shutterstock.com
Also: Orange County’s tainted jailhouse informant program and overtaxed 911 dispatchers in Montana.
Here’s what we’ve been reading this weekend …
TOLEDO, Ohio: Although public officials have said that city’s water is safe to drink, some residents have been stockpiling bottled water just in case there’s a repeat of last summer’s algal boom crisis, where the water filtration system failed to keep organic toxins from Lake Erie out of the drinking water supply, the Toledo Blade reports. “I don’t know if they trust the water or not, but it seems like they’re staying ahead of the situation in case there is a problem,” a manager of a local grocery store told the newspaper. [Toledo Blade]
BURLINGTON, Vermont: The computer system that provides Vermonters food benefits, home heating assistance and children’s health care is 32 years old and, as the Burlington Free Press reports, “technicians who understand the underlying programming language are going extinct.” In an interview, the former secretary of the Agency of Human Services, Con Hogan, said of ACCESS: “I don’t know how it’s lasted this long.” [Burlington Free Press]
ORANGE COUNTY, California: There’s been a mess in the Orange County District Attorney’s Office involving a “tainted” jailhouse informant program where violations of defendants’ right to due process undermined multiple murder cases. According to The Huffington Post, many legal experts think “the only way to resolve it is with a sweeping external investigation, one that may need to include federal authorities.” [The Huffington Post]
GREAT FALLS, Montana: The Great Falls-Cascade County 911 dispatch center has the largest call volume per dispatcher among major cities in the state of Montana and Great Falls Police Chief David Bowen told the city commission, according to the Great Falls Tribune, that there are concerns “about the low manning levels, turnover and burnout for dispatchers.” [Great Falls Tribune]
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida: This city’s new recycling program has a big problem in some neighborhoods. Unlike trash pickup, which happens in alleyways behind residences, the new blue-bin recycling program happens curbside in front to eliminate possible problems bringing trucks through narrow alleyways. And that decision been irksome, according to the Tampa Bay Times:
"It was a clumsy start, to say the least,'' said City Council member Darden Rice, who said she has gotten a fair share of complaints. "It's not council's job to micromanage the city, but it is our responsibility to stick our noses in when the conversation gets loud.''
Michael Grass is Executive Editor of Government Executive's Route Fifty.
NEXT STORY: Does Seattle’s Trash Monitoring Violate Privacy Rights?