Naco Annual Conference on a Budget
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DATES TO REMEMBER MAY 17, 2017 ELECTIONS VENDOR OPEN HOUSE – CENTRAL OHIO, FRANKLIN COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS, COLUMBUS MAY 19, 2017 JOINT MEETING OF THE CCAO AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS AND TAXATION AND FINANCE COMMITTEES, CCAO OFFICES, COLUMBUS MAY 26, 2017 CCAO LOBBYING TASKFORCE, CONFERENCE CALL JUNE 2, 2017 JOINT MEETING OF THE CCAO AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AND CCAO WATER QUALITY TASK FORCE, BLANCHARD RIVER DEMONSTRATION FARMS NETWORK, HARDIN COUNTY JUNE 14, 2017 CORSA HR HOTLINE: WHAT ISSUES ARE TRENDING? – A CCAO 2ND WEDNESDAY WEBINAR JUNE 16, 2017 CCAO BOARD OF DIRECTORS, CCAO OFFICES, COLUMBUS JUNE 26, 2017 NW OHIO COMMISSIONERS AND ENGINEERS QUARTERLY MEETING, MOUNT GILEAD STATE PARK, MORROW COUNTY 1 JULY 21-24, 2017 NACo ANNUAL CONFERENCE, GREATER COLUMBUS CONVENTION CENTER, FRANKLIN COUNTY ASSOCIATION NEWS CCAO/OAEO to host election equipment expo for the OGA and administration CCAO and the Ohio Association of Elections Officials (OAEO) are holding an Election Equipment Expo on Tuesday, May 16 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Museum Center of the Statehouse for members of the Ohio General Assembly and Administration. The purpose of this expo is to show the members of the Ohio General Assembly and the Administration the types of equipment in the marketplace. Attendance is open to commissioners, county executives and county council members, administrators and commissioners’ clerks who would like to attend. The members of the CCAO/OAEO Joint Committee on Administration of Elections are supporting this effort to help state decision makers see the type of election equipment they are being asked to partner with counties in obtaining statewide before the 2020 Presidential Election season. In addition, there will be five regional elections equipment vendor open houses around the state held so that county leaders can conveniently examine the products as well. Please see the following article for the first open house hosted by the Franklin County Board of Elections on May 17, the day following the expo for state officials. If you are interested in stopping by the Statehouse on May 16, please contact Mary Jane Neiman, CCAO public relations associate, at (614) 220-7979 or (888) 757-1904 to let her know that you will be attending. Elections vendor open house – May 17 The Franklin County Board of Elections (BOE), in coordination with CCAO and the Ohio Association of Election Officials (OAEO), will host an Elections Vendor Open House on Wednesday, May 17 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The Open House will be held at the Franklin County Board of Elections, 1700 Morse Road, in Columbus. This open house follows a Voting Equipment Expo for the General Assembly and Administration held at the Statehouse on the preceding day. This May 17 Open House is designed to provide the Central Ohio county commissioners, county administrators, commissioners’ clerks and BOE officials with an opportunity to view all the certified voting systems in one location. The following Ohio-certified voting system vendors will be on hand to demonstrate their products and answer questions: • Clear Ballot Group, Inc. • Dominion Voting • Election Systems & Software (ES&S) • Hart InterCivic • Unisyn Voting Solutions 2 For more information and to RSVP your attendance, please contact Suzanne Brown at (614) 525-4268. Other regional elections equipment open houses - Four other regional elections equipment vendor open houses will be held around the state in the coming months. Stay tuned for more information. Morrow County to host NW District – June 26 Join Morrow County Commissioners Tom Whiston, Burgess Castle and Warren Davis and County Engineer Bart Dennison for the next Northwest Ohio Commissioners and Engineers Association Quarterly Meeting on Monday, June 26 at Mount Gilead State Park – Shelter #1, 4119 State Route 95, in Mount Gilead. Registration begins at 10 a.m. followed by the business meeting at 10:30 a.m. Lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m. The following tours depart at 12:30 p.m.: • Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Tour 7721 Steam Corners Road, Lexington. • Cardinal Center Shooting Center and Campground 616 State Route 61, Marengo Registration fee: $10 (includes lunch and tours). Registration deadline: June 16. Meeting registration fees must be paid by June 26. Read more… Golf Outing (optional): Tee times start at 2 p.m. at Pine Lakes Golf Course (across the road from the state park). Greens fees: $26 (payable to the golf course on June 26). CCAO Deferred Comp Plan mobileweb app The CCAO Deferred Compensation Plan/Empower Retirement has a mobileweb app so that you may monitor your retirement plan wherever you go! Visit www.ccao457.com via your mobile device. Once there, the mobile web app will automatically launch for you. And to make it even easier, you can bookmark the site or create a shortcut icon on your mobile desktop for quick access. Refer to the Add an Icon link on the mobile web app. Read more… STATE ACTIVITIES BWC approves rebates Workers' compensation rebates worth about $1.1 billion gained the approval of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Board of Directors. The rebates include $967 million to private employers, $41 million to school districts and $92 million to local governments. The BWC has issued about $3 billion in rebates in the past four years, and has decreased premiums by about $2 billion. The bureau has cited its strong investment returns for how it is able to issue the rebates and cut rates. 3 New county flags flown at the Statehouse Ohio’s 88 counties are as diverse as the state itself. The Ohio counties are named after a variety of people and things. Some are named after Ohio governors and politicians, and many have Native American names. In addition, each of Ohio's 88 counties fly a county flag. All 88 county flags are flown at the Ohio Statehouse on special occasions throughout the year. Recently, the Capital Square Review and Advisory Board (CSRAB) had new flags made to replace the aging original flags that had been donated by counties in 2005. CSRAB has returned the original flags to CCAO. The next time you stop in Columbus, please stop to pick up your flag! The CSRAB needs your help to update the description of your county flag. Click here to review the description and send any updates to Mike Rupert, communications specialist, Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board, Ohio Statehouse, at (614) 728-4185. FEDERAL NEWS Remote sales tax bills reintroduced Bipartisan coalitions in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives reintroduced two remote sales tax bills: S. 976 - Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) of 2017 and H.R. 2193 - Remote Transactions Parity Act (RTPA) of 2017. Both bills were introduced during the 114th Congress, and MFA was passed by the Senate 69 to 27 in the 113th Congress. Congressman Steve Stivers (Dist. 15-Hilliard) is a co-sponsor of H.R. 2193. The current inability of states and local governments to enforce existing sales taxes is essentially the result of decades-old Supreme Court decisions National Bellas Hess v. Department of Revenue (1967) and Quill Corp. v. North Dakota (1992). Upon enactment, MFA and RTPA would not automatically grant states and local governments with the ability to enforce existing sales taxes. To exercise this authority, states and local governments would need to simplify sales and use tax administration through one of two options: adoption of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA), whereby participating states have already implemented simplification measures, or adoption of measures to meet minimum simplification requirements detailed in the bill. In 2011, Gov. Kasich signed an executive order authorizing Ohio to join the Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement. This means that Ohio joins over 20 other states as full standing members of the SSUTA. NACo and other state and local governmental organizations released a joint statement commending the introduction of MFA and RTPA and urging their passage. NACo will continue 4 to track all efforts that would allow or prevent counties from collecting sales taxes on remote purchases. To view NACo’s resources on this topic, please click here. USDA woodland restoration project for 17 SE Ohio counties In an effort to restore oak-hickory woodlands, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources teamed up to create the Collaborative Oak Management project in southeastern Ohio. The project area includes the Wayne National Forest and Ohio state forests, as well as privately held forest land. Approximately 73 percent of the land within the Wayne National Forest is privately owned and interspersed within the forest boundaries. However, the boundaries of private and public land don’t exist for invasive species and wildlife. The Collaborative Oak Management project provides a mechanism to restore oak-hickory woodlands seamlessly across both public and private land. The NRCS created a special Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) as part of the Collaborative Oak Management Project to help restoring oak-hickory woodlands owned privately. Through EQIP, woodland owners in the project area can receive both technical assistance from professional foresters, and financial assistance to implement conservation measures recommended by the foresters. Conservation measures that promote oak and hickory growth include the control of invasive plant and undesirable trees that out compete oaks and hickories. Woodland owners in Adams, Athens, Gallia, Hocking, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Scioto, Vinton, Morgan, Monroe, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pike, Ross and Washington counties may apply for the EQIP Oak Management Program. Ohio NRCS allocated $300,000 for the EQIP Oak Management Program this year. Application deadline: May 22. Individuals interested in applying for the EQIP Oak Management program should make an appointment with the local NRCS conservationist to start the application process.