Calif. Fire Chief’s Improper Pension Use; Memphis Mayor-Elect’s Policy Playbooks
Bridges to Alameda, California. Hank Shiffman / Shutterstock.com
Also: Columbus bridge infested with spiders and no new fantasy sports regulation in Texas.
Here’s some of what we’ve been reading today ...
SACRAMENTO, California: A former Sacramento area fire chief will have to pay back more than $450,000 in pension benefits to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System after an administrative law judge ruled that the fire chief, who currently sits on the Loomis town council, had violated state law, The Sacramento Bee reports. Dave Wheeler, the newspaper reports, was improperly taking in a $137,000 annual pension from his time serving as a firefighter in Alameda while he was also in a $60,000 salaried position with the Loomis Fire Protection District. [The Sacramento Bee]
MEMPHIS, Tennessee: There’s a new mayor heading to City Hall in the Volunteer State’s largest city. But before taking office on Jan. 1, Jim Strickland is working on “policy playbooks” to bring with him, each playbook being put together by teams of advisers from the business community and Memphis-area stakeholder organizations, like the Junior League, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Center and the Mid-South Food Bank. “I am humbled that this talented, diverse group of business and community leaders is willing to provide sound guidance to ensure we are poised to provide better service, greater accountability and heightened transparency to our city,” Strickland said in a statement Wednesday, according to The Commercial Appeal.
Fourteen of the the 27 “team leaders” are women. [The Commercial Appeal]
COLUMBUS, Ohio: If you’re afraid of spiders, steer clear of the Main Street Bridge spanning the Scioto River in Ohio’s capital city. It’s infested with 5,000 to 10,000 spiders. But spiders aren’t stupid. They’re following food sources, in this case, insects drawn to the bridge’s lights. And the “guard rails are made perfectly for orb-weaving spiders,” Jim McCormac, a naturalist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, told The Columbus Dispatch. “You see spider webs on bridges, but not to this degree.” [The Columbus Dispatch]
GLENDALE, Arizona: Officials in this Phoenix-area city are considering drone rules that would restrict use of unmanned aerial vehicles like drones from zones surrounding a local airport, an Air Force base and the University of Phoenix Stadium, according to The Arizona Republic. If the rules are passed by the city council, Glendale would join the city of Phoenix and the town of Paradise Valley that have looked at rules governing the use of drones in their jurisdictions. [The Arizona Republic]
AUSTIN, Texas: Fantasy sports fans don’t need to worry about any new rules or regulations in the Lone Star State amid new scrutiny of online gaming companies, the Houston Chronicle reports. That’s because Gov. Greg Abbott thinks there are existing laws on the books to deal with any possible fraud. “I don’t know the details of what happened other than the headlines,” the governor said, according to the Chronicle. “But I also would be apprehensive about a state coming out and imposing regulations.” [Houston Chronicle]
Michael Grass is Executive Editor of Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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