7 Page 1 of 2 Mish, Catherine From: Jim Talen [jtalen@aol.com] Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 4:00 AM To: _Heartwell, George ‘Subject: Kent County Update - 4/20/09 Kent County Update News and Views from Commissioner Jim Talen ‘ptf. 20, 2009- Vol, seve 5 In This fssue Dear George, Many thanks to County Administrator Daryl Delabbio, whose "Weekly Report” provided the PPrescripton Discount Card s Popular information for several of this week’s articles. If this newsletter is not of interest, you can easily remove Land Use Tip Senior Mitage Needs Assessment yourself from the list By clicking the Now Recycing Factty Undorway SafeUnsubscribe link at the bottom ofthis County Website Use Growing message. Comments and suggestions of any kind are appreciated! Land Use Trip Quick Links Five Kent County Commissioners (Antor, Hirsch, Ponstein, eaters cope TTalen, Synk) and two local township officials (Jennifer Christian ‘Network 130 and Eric Fouch) will be traveling to Lancaster, PA. this week, to (Civ ot Grand Rapids ear about that area's land use policies and how they are ‘Grand Rapkis DOA working. Lancaster County has become a national model by aD preserving more acres of farmland (68,000 acres on 698 farms) ‘than any other county in the U.S. The privately-funded trp is a welcome experience as | participate in an ad hoc county ‘committee that re-examines Kent County's role in preserving ‘open space and agricultural iand. Prescription Discount Card is Popular ‘The Area Agency on Aging of West Michigan (AAAWM) has distributed over 25,000 prescription discount cards in Kent County. Card usage has been tracked at 50 uses in December, 200 in January, 600 in February and is expected to be over 1,000 in Match. AAAWM has asked United Networks of America, the program administrator, to print the card in Spanish, as well as English. Senior Millage Needs Assessment The Area Agency on Aging is also conducting a senior millage needs assessment survey through the end of this month. The survey is targeted to older adults and tries to discover their knowledge of mrillage funded services and project their needs over the next five years. The results will be used by the Kent County Senior Milage Review Committze in funding decisions for 2010. New Recycling Facility Underway Kent County began demolition, last week, at the site ofits new single stream recycling facility on Wealthy St. SW and the work will go on for 3-4 weeks. Design plans are currently being reviewed 71212009 2 6 .7122009 2 Z Page 2 of 2 ‘and construction is expscted to begin in July. County Website Use Growing Kent County's website, aovessKent.com, had more than 2.6 million visits in 2008, a 10.4 percent \crease over 2007. Did you know that you can now watch County Commission meetings online? In addition to appearing on Cable Channel 24 at 7:30 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, you can now watch the meetings at your convenience at https:/www_accesskent.com/Calendar/showMinutes jsp. ‘Thanks, again, for reading! Until next time. Warmest Regards, Jim Forward email Emil Marketing by Easatetnsunscrbe® This email wes sent to gheartwe@grity.us by jtalen@aol.com, eT Update Profils/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. TRY IT FREE Committee to Elect Jim Talen | 323 Paris SE | Grand Rapids | MI | 49503