State and Local Daily Digest: Wyo.’s Natural Resource Explorer; Tenn. Senator Wants to De-Annex Then Doesn’t
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Also in our news roundup: A micro-housing model city; Pennsylvania takes to medical marijuana; and Maine braces for budworms.
CHEYENNE, WYOMING
MAPPING | Infrastructure planning just got a little easier in the Cowboy State, where Gov. Matt Mead recently announced the launch of the Natural Resource Energy Explorer. The online mapping tool grants government officials and the public access to geospatial datasets on everything from the location of oil and gas wells to sage grouse conservation areas. Mead’s administration hopes the information can be used to speed up energy projects. [Wyoming Tribune Eagle]
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
DE-ANNEXATION | A Memphis Democrat has done an about-face on the de-annexation bill he co-sponsored in opposition to his party. Sen. Reginald Tate was fine with Southwind, where he lives, being allowed to separate from the city, but the House version of the bill included an additional nine areas—about 111,000 residents. "Do I have the capacity as a senator to change it or re-do it? Yes I do,” Tate said. “Will it go? I don't know.” [The Commercial Appeal]
VENETA, OREGON
HOUSING | Micro-housing for the homeless and working poor is coming to Veneta, Oregon, in an effort to remove barriers to shelter. Following SquareOne Villages’ nationally regarded success in the easterly city of Eugene, the nonprofit plans to build 10 to 20 houses less than 250 square feet as a model for other municipalities struggling to combat homelessness. Construction must be finished by 2018, according to the terms of the $148,200 grant SquareOne obtained from the Portland-based Meyer Memorial Trust. [The Register-Guard]
TURLOCK, CALIFORNIA
MAYORAL CONTROVERSIES | Turlock Mayor Gary Soiseth has been criticized for his decision not to recuse himself from a vote to allow one of his campaign contributors to take over the downtown farmer’s market. The city lacks a law against voting when there’s a conflict of interest, but Soiseth may need to mend relations with angry residents nonetheless. Perhaps he could learn from a previous mayor’s public relations campaign after calling a World War II cannon, gifted to the city by veterans, a “piece of junk”? [Modesto Bee]
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
MEDICAL MARIJUANA | Legal medical marijuana is expected to become a reality in Pennsylvania, now that it’s finally been approved by previously resistant House lawmakers. The appeals of parents of suffering children are credited, in part, with the body’s change of heart. That would make the Keystone State the 23rd to sanction cannabis’ growth and sale. [The Morning Call]
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
CITY HALL TRANSITIONS | Salt Lake City’s “rainy day fund” is about to take a big hit. Taxpayers must pay close to $1 million for the severance and benefits packages of former City Hall employees of previous Mayor Ralph Becker, who were let go when Jackie Biskupski entered office. “It's the mayor's prerogative [to replace department heads]. But it comes with an expense,” said Council Chairman James Rogers. “Is what she is doing better for the city or worse? We'll have to wait and see." [The Salt Lake Tribune]
TOLEDO, OHIO
INFRASTRUCTURE | As the winter winds down, pothole repair season has begun in full force. City leaders in Toledo are having to reassess funding options for those repairs after voters rejected raising a temporary income tax, some of which would have gone toward street maintenance. Toledo has “more than $750 million in street repairs that need funding,” according to Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson. [The Blade]
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
WATER | In the shadow of Flint, Michigan’s water crisis, local governments across the country have increased their scrutiny over their own water infrastructure. In Wilmington, officials reassured citizens that their water supply is in good shape. "It's unfortunate what's going on in Flint, but I can assure you our water is of the highest quality," Public Works Commissioner Jeffrey Starkey told the city’s council members. [The News Journal]
ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
PARKS AND RECREATION | Police are cracking down on the "I-240 cut," a popular though illegal hiking route that overlooks the Asheville skyline. People have been hiking the cut since the I-240 tunnel was built in the 1970s, and punishments for those caught have been fairly lenient. But the fun times are over. [Citizen-Times]
AUGUSTA, MAINE
FOREST INVADERS | Maine’s timber industry is better prepared to deal with a tricky pest, the spruce budworm, than it has been in the past, according to a newly published report. But forestland owners will need to alter certain harvesting techniques to avoid being hit hard by an insect that has already plagued 15 million acres of forest in Canada. [Portland Press-Herald]
Dave Nyczepir is a News Editor and Quinn Libson writes at Government Executive's Route Fifty.
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