Register Online.

Attachments:

WVACO Fall 2011 Board Registration.pdf

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322 Kb

The August Interim Session took a back seat to the Legislative Redistricting Special Session. Several meetings were canceled in order to allow time for maps to be reviewed and the redistricting bills to be worked in committee. A few topics of interest were covered, including:

·        - The Regional Jail Oversight Committee heard from a company that specializes in “on demand” facilities to expand jails without building permanent structures. The cost is much lower at $10 per bed/per day and the pods are guaranteed for 10 years but generally last for 20 years. The company emphasized that local contractors and labor are used for constructing pods. This was presented as a less costly solution to jail and prison overcrowding than actually investing in a new prison. The Reverend Matthew Watts of Kanawha County countered the proposal stating that we need to solve the problem through rehabilitation, not incarceration.

At NACo’s recent Annual Conference in Portland, OR, NACo launched Counties Work -- the first online game specifically related to county government.  The game lets students learn about county government by running their own county. NACo partnered with iCivics Inc. to educate and inform students, Grades 6 through 12, about the important role and functions county government plays. Not only will the students be able to play the game in classrooms while studying civics, but teachers will have curriculum and quizzes to assist them in their lesson plans.

NACo needs your help to get the word out to county officials, school systems, teachers and kids.

Attached are a number of marketing materials that will allow you to spread the word.

·         Link to the actual game – www.naco.org/countieswork

·         Attached is an icon/banner ad for the game. You can place the icon on your state association website and encourage counties to do so as well. Use this link with the icon to go directly to the game,www.naco.org/countieswork

·         Attached is a one page flyer on Counties Work to distribute at meetings and conferences.

·         Attached is an article on Counties Work to reprint in your newsletter or magazine.

·         Attached is a list of iCivics contacts, one per state, that you can contact to coordinate efforts with to get the Counties Work game in schools this year.

If you have questions, please contact me at 202-942-4264or  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Tom Goodman at 202-942-4222or  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Attachments:

Counties Work article1.doc	[Counties Work Article]	30 Kb
Counties Work one page flyer.pdf	[Counties Work - One Page Flyer]	1193 Kb
iCivics State Coordinators Contacts.pdf	[iCivics State Coordinators Contacts]	97 Kb

Studies for the 2011 Interim Session have been adopted and organizational meetings took place in June. Topics of interest were:

► Overcrowding at Regional Jails continues to be a concern for the Legislative Oversight Committee. RJA Director Larry Parsons told the committee that many inmates are forced to sleep on mattresses on cell floors. The jails are designed to hold a maximum of 2,784 prisoners but have been averaging around 1,700 above design capacity. The problem stems from overcrowding at the Division of Corrections' prisons so overflow remains in the jails until the inmates can be transferred to the prison system. Overcrowding leads to other problems such as inability to isolate certain inmates and increased tensions among inmates, leading to incidents of inmate violence, according to Parsons.