Welcome to the latest issue of The Districts, where we chronicle the people, issues and activities impacting special districts across the U.S.

Welcome to year five of the Special Districts Program. We’re planning a full slate of activities to connect and inform you and your peers as the nation continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and charts a course for the future.

For 2021, we’ll present a series of virtual events and written briefs covering mission-critical topics for districts like yours, guided by our 18-member advisory board and broader discussions with special district leaders nationwide. As always, these activities are being designed by special districts for special districts.

We’ll host a live webcast to kickoff this year’s program on March 9. Register now to attend this interactive virtual conversation where we’ll dig into the issues you need to plan for in 2021. You’ll also get a preview of Special District Program activities and learn how to engage with other special district leaders to share insights and best practices throughout the year. Plus we’ll analyze potential future federal funding opportunities under the new administration. You won’t want to miss this important event.

Meet WSSC Water

Throughout 2020 we published focus briefs that profiled how special districts in key program areas responded to the pandemic -- and how they are modernizing their technologies and policies for the future. The final brief in the series features WSSC Water, one of the nation’s largest water and wastewater utilities. Our interview with Yvonne Carney, Director of the Strategic Performance Office at WSSC Water, covers the commission’s rapid adoption of paperless work processes and its increasing use of data to understand changing conditions. Read the whole story here.

Still want more? You can find the complete archive of Special Districts Focus Briefs online, featuring in-depth conversations with leaders from libraries, airport authorities, water and sewer districts, housing authorities, energy districts, and transit authorities.

District Spotlight: Making the Case for Video Analytics

The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) in Southern California recently released an upgraded mobile app that provides users with neighborhood-level air quality readings. The app provides hyperlocal air quality index (AQI) levels by gathering data from government monitoring stations and low-cost, crowdsourced sensors.

The district says readings obtained from these sources are more accurate than traditional methods for determining AQI levels.

“More accurate and higher resolution AQI data means the information we present is better tailored to where people live, work and play,” said Wayne Nastri, the district’s executive officer, in a prepared statement. “These cutting-edge improvements to our app better help residents minimize their exposure to poor air quality at the neighborhood level.”

Read the full story.

More Articles Worth a Read

Here are more stories from special districts around the country. Share your own news with us for inclusion in the next newsletter.

Randy Iwasaki, long-time executive director of the Contra Costa County Transportation Authority and a Special Districts Program advisory board member, retired in late December. Iwasaki championed the development of autonomous vehicle technology at the authority’s GoMentum Station, the largest dedicated AV testing site in the country.

A consortium of public- and private-sector cybersecurity officials has launched StateRAMP, a new organization that will vet the cybersecurity of third-party vendors doing business with state and local government organizations. The initiative takes cues from FedRAMP, the federal government’s security verification program for IT contractors.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) has launched an ambitious on-demand transit service. The service, currently available in two Los Angeles neighborhoods for $1 a ride, will be the largest public micro-transit service in the U.S. when fully operational, LA Metro says.