Platform

Barbara Baier’s Platform
To Bring Change to the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners:

EQUITY
Balancing quality of life issues for both urban and rural residents.
The Lancaster County Board of Commissioners needs to address: 
 
• The lack of safe drinking water in rural communities such as Emerald;
• Threats to water availability caused by unchecked development;
• Increased incidents of pollution and algae blooms in area lakes;
• Under-regulation of soil-mining operations that produce unmonitored sediment runoff that carry pollutants into Lincoln’s creeks and streams.
 
BAIER’S SOLUTION:   Engage the entire Lancaster County community in developing a Clean Water Act Plan such as the City of Lincoln developed over 20 years ago.  The Plan would create public education to reduce dumping of chemicals, cleaning agents and more into our County’s rural streams and lakes; develop regulations and enforcement measures to end illegal dumping in our streams and lakes; develop regulations and enforcement measures to monitor sediment runoff and other issues related to soil mining operations; investigate causes of drinking water contamination; and update development regulations to improve availability of safe water. 

 
ACCOUNTABILITY
Returning fiscal responsibility and public accountability to County government.
New County Jail: 

• The Lancaster County Board of Commissioners has based building a new County Jail on dated cost estimates, and has not seriously investigated the additional transportation and personnel costs entailed in building a jail four miles away from the Sheriff’s Office, the Police Department, and the Hall of Justice. This will added to our heavy property tax burden.  
 
BAIER’S SOLUTION: Place more emphasis on alternatives to incarceration (electronic monitoring, house arrest and community service), as well as increase the accessibility to mental health services for the chronically mentally ill that comprise 30 to 40% of our County Jail population.  These measures would reduce overcrowding in the County Jail, and eliminate the need for a new jail. 

 
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
Meeting the evolving needs of our most vulnerable residents.
The Lancaster County Board of Commissioners needs to:

• Enhance accessibility to substance and alcohol abuse treatment services to reduce recidivism at the County Jail.
• Renew our community’s commitment to provide services for older adults, developmentally disabled individuals, and veterans. 
 
BAIER’S SOLUTION: Secure funding from the State of Nebraska to expand substance and alcohol abuse treatment, particularly addressing those individuals who also have mental health issues along with substance abuse issues.

Improve the financial stability of Lancaster Manor by instituting modern accounting techniques and efficiently securing Medicare payments.  Explore additional funding opportunities at the Federal level to improve and expand services to the developmentally disabled and veterans.