This post was originally published on this site

The St. Charles County Department of Public Health is hosting several CPR/AED and First Aid classes in 2023. Upon completion of the class, participants will earn an American Red Cross training certificate valid for two years from the date of completion.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

With the enactment of new voting laws, current Missouri residents now have more flexibility to update their address and register to vote.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

The St. Charles County Recorder of Deeds office is one of two offices in the state beta testing a new system that enables the processing of electronic marriage license applications without the need for either applicant to appear at the office in person.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

Save time (and a stamp!) by filing your 2023 personal property assessment online. Assessment forms must be completed and returned to the Assessor by March 1.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

Throughout the month of February, follow along on County social media as we highlight and show appreciation for different County departments and services.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

If you’ve driven on I-70 in the St. Charles area in the last several months, I’m sure you’ve noticed the ongoing construction at and leading up to the Zumbehl and Cave Springs roads exits. While the frustrations of driving through construction traffic are likely your first thought when passing through these areas, I hope to encourage you about the improvements this construction will bring once the projects are complete!
The bridges at Cave Springs and Zumbehl are just pieces of the bigger picture: Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT)’s I-70 Cave Springs to Fairgrounds Design-Build Project [https://i70csfg.com/] aims to enhance connectivity, improve safety, and provide much needed updates to this corridor. These interchanges have a higher than average crash rate, at two crashes per day on average between 2013 and 2017. Traffic jams flowing from outer roads and the interstate cause congestion, especially during rush hours. The existing infrastructure has been quickly outgrown by the number of businesses and residential areas located in this corridor, and the stretch of Cave Springs to Fairgrounds roads needs to meet the success of that.
MoDOT is expected to complete the first half of both these bridges in the spring, with traffic switching over to the new bridges this summer. The old bridges will then be demolished, making room for the second half of each to be built. You can track ongoing progress on the project website [https://i70csfg.com/] , and follow MoDOT on social media [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064415246709] for construction updates impacting travel.
A lot of our residents and businesses have wondered what the traffic flow at these bridges will look like. These are designed to be Single Point Urban Interchanges (SPUI), similar to what you see at I-70 and First Capitol/Route 94. MoDOT is targeting the new interchanges to be in place by the beginning of 2024, with full completion of the project by June 2024.
Please take extra care while driving through these construction zones and be alert for lane closures and changes to traffic flow. I hope you enjoy viewing the progress as we get closer to project completion!

This post was originally published on this site

In the coming months, the St. Charles County Police Department Criminalistics Laboratory will add another resource to its toolkit in solving crimes in the area, specifically enhancing the reliability and validity of complex DNA samples.
A new DNA analysis software, called ArmedXpert™, will allow the Crime Lab to more efficiently and effectively identify DNA profiles that involve multiple contributors. While the Lab’s accredited DNA analysis staff can do this now, the software assesses the DNA components much faster and even more accurately than by human review. I talked with Crime Lab Director Bryan Hampton to understand what this means for our police department and for St. Charles County as a whole.
He told me the software conducts a deconvolution process; it takes information from complex DNA mixtures and parses it out to organize the sample into identifiable profiles at a much higher speed than we can currently. It allows us to extract more information from the data, and garner more usable profiles from complex samples that have multiple contributors, or subjects.
Bryan says this technology will play an important role in cases such as burglaries, stolen vehicles and even homicides.
When there is a mixture of DNA in a sample, Bryan said it is a tedious process to analyze and accurately glean a usable profile to identify which DNA belongs to which individual. The Crime Lab has the capability to do that already, but the complexity and length of time of the process is greatly reduced with this software—from hours down to minutes.
Why does this matter for a St. Charles County resident? This means our Crime Lab can process more forensic evidence, more efficiently. With a workload of more than 2,500 cases each year, there is no shortage of evidence to examine and analyze. Any link from evidence to existing data, or addition of new data, helps cut down the time it takes to charge and prosecute suspects, and fairly and expeditiously aid the judicial process.
Regionally, DNA profiles, fingerprints and ballistic evidence uploaded by the department to investigative databases have provided links between cases. In 2022 alone, 162 DNA profiles uploaded by the Lab to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database “hit” to prior offenders, arrestees, and crime scene samples from across the country. This valuable information has an impact on current cases, but also has helped solve cold cases, such as the 1993 kidnapping and murder of Angie Housman [https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/photos-convicted-child-predator-charged-with-1993-murder-of-angie-housman/collection_a2ffdf69-e439-57f5-bfeb-0f5604c3f8cb.html#1] , the 1984 murder of Eleonora Knoernschild [https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/one-of-two-brothers-found-guilty-in-1984-st-charles-murder/63-594818048] , and the 1990-1991 “package killer” murders of five women [https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2022-09-23/how-gary-muehlberg-was-revealed-as-st-louis-package-killer] .
Bryan says this new software will potentially allow the Lab to upload more DNA profiles into CODIS that otherwise may not be eligible. With that, there could be more database hits and the department could make more contributions to solving crime regionally as well as nationally.
While we take pride in keeping our county safe, it’s no secret that crime has impacted our region, and criminals hold no regard for jurisdictional boundaries when committing a criminal act or attempting to flee. We should all be proud of the work of our Crime Lab and how valuable it is in assisting in fighting crime. It is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) National Accreditation Board (ANAB) and has been continuously since 2007. The Lab is staffed by six full-time scientists, a part-time firearm examiner and a part-time evidence clerk with nearly 120 years of combined forensic science experience.

This post was originally published on this site

During flu season, the Department of Public Health tracks cases of influenza in St. Charles County.

Total cases reported to-date for 2022-2023 season – 7,321
Total cases reported for period ending 1/27/23 – 53

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

When the weather outside gets frightful, we know to bring ourselves inside for shelter and warmth. However, it is also up to owners to protect their pets from cold temperatures and dangerous winter storms.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click the title at the top of this post or click on the post link above.

This post was originally published on this site

For the complete story from St. Charles County click the title at the top of this post or click on the post link above.

This post was originally published on this site

During flu season, the Department of Public Health tracks cases of influenza in St. Charles County.

Total cases reported to-date for 2022-2023 season – 7,263
Total cases reported for period ending 1/20/23 – 87

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

The St. Charles County Recorder of Deeds office now is one of two offices in the State of Missouri beta testing a new system that enables the processing of electronic marriage license applications

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

Missouri has joined the ranks of many states by passing a constitutional amendment to provide victims of crime several rights.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click the title at the top of this post or click on the post link above.

This post was originally published on this site

St. Charles County offers free and convenient vaccinations to eligible individuals for all authorized COVID-19 vaccines. Appointments are preferred, but walk-ins are welcome in some cases. Call 636-949-1899 to schedule appointments or for more info.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

During flu season, the Department of Public Health tracks cases of influenza in St. Charles County.

Total cases reported to-date for 2022-2023 season – 7,176
Total cases reported for period ending 1/13/23 – 102

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

The St. Charles County Assessor will mail approximately 181,000 personal property assessment forms for 2023 by Jan. 26. Completed assessment forms are due to the Assessor by March 1.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

St. Charles County offers free and convenient vaccinations to eligible individuals for all authorized COVID-19 vaccines. Appointments are preferred, but walk-ins are welcome in some cases. Call 636-949-1899 to schedule appointments or for more info.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

During flu season, the Department of Public Health tracks cases of influenza in St. Charles County.

Total cases reported to-date for 2022-2023 season – 7,060
Total cases reported for period ending 1/6/23 – 359

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

The Assessor’s Office will mail 2023 personal property assessment forms later this month.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

When winter weather temperatures fall below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, the Emergency Weather Response program activates to aid those in need of a warm place to spend the night in St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren counties.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

With a new year comes a new budget for St. Charles County Government, and with the 2023 budget came a renewed dedication to making County employees’ salaries competitive with others in the market.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

The St. Charles County Council recently approved the 2023-2025 Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP), which includes projects focused on reducing congestion and increasing safety on roadways throughout the county.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

Family and friends gathered Dec. 29 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of St. Charles County’s newly elected and re-elected officials.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

View the County’s Annual Budget for 2023.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

Crime continues to be a concern for many of us in St. Charles County. St. Charles County and our municipalities continue to step up operations to combat crime coming to our county. I'm concerned that St. Charles County will not have the resources to meet the needs of our citizens in the near future.
The County police department is the largest part of the County budget. Since the County budget relies only on sales tax for employee salaries and benefits, something needs to be done. The best solution would be a Proposition "P" that would solely help support the police department. This proposition would be a small new property tax rather than an increase in sales tax. I'm on a fixed income and don't like any tax increases, but Proposition "P" is the only choice that I see that would insure funding for a police department capable of fighting crime in our county. If we have a bad sales tax year, the County will be laying off employees rather than hiring additional police officers. The County is currently short of police officers as it is.
I would like to hear from you if you would support a Proposition "P" to support our police department. Please email me at dhammond@sccmo.org [mailto:dhammond@sccmo.org] . If you disapprove please tell me why or if you have a better idea I would like to hear from you.

This post was originally published on this site

As the new year begins, County government is completing a project that allows first responders to reach their destinations in less time while improving safety for them and everyone on our roads. You may have heard of the program – Emergency Vehicle Preemption (EVP) – but what you may not know is that St. Charles County is one of the leaders in the use of this technology. The program is the largest cloud preemption deployment in Missouri and the central United States.
EVP provides “green light priority” to approaching emergency vehicles. The system reduces emergency vehicle travel times during those critical moments when every second counts. The project includes upgrades to 351 signals throughout the county, 65 fire and rescue trucks, 60 ambulances and 75 County police vehicles. Prior to this project, municipalities and fire districts were deploying various types of pre-emption equipment. Often, this equipment wasn’t compatible and didn’t work for agencies that provided countywide services or for agencies responding to emergencies outside of their service area. Without the tremendous collaboration between agencies from public safety, public works, St. Charles County, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) and our vendor, Global Traffic Technology, this project would not have been possible. Working closely with our partners, the intersections could be configured in a fully remote environment. Historically, on-site installations can be done at a rate of two intersections per day, but with this advanced technology deployment, they were configured at a rate of 30 per day (15 times faster). This quick turnaround resulted in a labor cost savings of approximately 75 percent.
The cost of the project was $809,000, including three years of monitoring and maintenance. Eighty percent was funded with Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality dollars. The remaining 20 percent was funded by St. Charles County’s voter-approved, ½-cent Transportation Sales Tax, which is administered by the St. Charles County Road Board.
My thanks to everyone who worked to make this project possible. This is definitely money well-spent to save lives.

This post was originally published on this site

Looking for a way to keep that new year’s resolution local? St. Charles County is here to help.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

Biography and contact information for the District 7 St. Charles County Councilmember.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click the title at the top of this post or click on the post link above.

This post was originally published on this site

Tax bills for 2022 are due to the St. Charles County Collector of Revenue Saturday, Dec. 31. Taxpayers are encouraged to make payments online, by mail, or by phone, or to make use of the drop box located at Monroe and N. Second Street.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click on the title at the top or click on the post link above

This post was originally published on this site

Joe Cronin

For the complete story from St. Charles County click the title at the top of this post or click on the post link above.

This post was originally published on this site

Biography and contact information for the District 1St. Charles County Councilmember.

For the complete story from St. Charles County click the title at the top of this post or click on the post link above.