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What Happened in Lancaster County this Month? |
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Weighlifting Competitor Participating at the 2026 Lancaster County Senior Games
Check out the latest edition of the Lancaster County Newsletter to learn what's happening in the County this month!
You can always stay up to date on public meetings, County business, events and more by visiting the Lancaster County Website.
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 Lancaster County Continues New Correctional Facility Design with Refinement, Add Alternates and Value Engineering
The Lancaster County Correctional Facility Project Team provided a presentation on the steps they've taken to identify areas to reduce cost in addition to providing analysis on potential add alternate items during the design of the facility.
When the LCCF project first entered the Schematic Design phase, the initial draft of the facility called for a footprint with over 615,000 square feet. Through refinement of the footprint, placement of pods within the layout and reductions, the project team today is proposing a design that calls for just under 400,000 square feet, resulting in an estimated savings of $225 million.
The project team also reviewed the current list of add alternates initially proposed at the beginning of the Design Development phase. These items include Additional Wellness Beds, a fully outfitted Central Booking, Programming Clusters, Work Release Unit and On-Site Maintenance Space. The Board of Commissioners will consider including these items in the base bid for the project or to reserve them for bid at a later time.
The LCCF project has been a careful, transparent and deliberate process. Since the initial draft design of the facility was presented, the project team has reviewed dozens of options within the facility to analyze ways to save cost, make the facility operationally efficient and ensure that they meet the goals of increasing public safety while reducing recidivism. The project team reviewed options they identified for the Board of Commissioners to consider excluding from the base bid as a way to reduce overall project cost. View the presentation here.
The full presentation from the meeting and full project information is available online at the LCCF project webpage.
Lancaster County Conducts Successful Primary General Election for 2026
Lancaster County conducted the 2026 General Primary on Tuesday, May 19th.
The 2026 Primary featured races for Governor and Lt. Governor, State Senators & Representatives to be selected by voters as their party's nominee for the November General Election.
Over 296,000 voters in Lancaster County were eligible to vote in the 2026 Primary, the most eligible voters for a Primary in the County's history. As Pennsylvania has closed Primary Elections, just Republican and Democrat voters were eligible to vote out of the County's nearly 363,000 voters.
The Elections Office would not be able to conduct elections without the help of volunteers. Over 1,600 volunteers took part in this election from opening and counting over 20,000 mail-in ballots to operating one of Lancaster County's 240 polling locations.
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Ahead of the 2026 Primary, the Board of Commissioners also voted to increase the fee paid to polling locations across the County for use of their facilities each election. Lancaster County's 240 polling places are located at a variety of buildings across the County including firehouses, municipal buildings, churches, businesses and more. The Board of Elections unanimously voted to increase the fee paid to these locations. The increase in the fee aligns Lancaster with other counties' fee schedules across the Commonwealth and helps to keep polling places at consistent locations election to election.
Each Election, the Board of Elections provides party and candidate poll watchers and members of the media access to view the mail-in ballot count and canvass process. In addition to this access, the Board of Elections and Elections Director conduct press conferences throughout the day to provide updates on the mail-in ballot opening process and what they're hearing from Judges of Elections out at the polls. For the first time, these press conferences were offered via livestream for any member of the public to view. The Board of Elections will offer these press conferences again for the General Election in November with links to view the livestream available on the County's website under the Agenda Center.
Primary Election results are available online and will be certified by the Board of Elections in the first week of June, one week earlier than statutorily required thanks to the tireless work of the County's Election's Office.
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Lancaster County Drug & Alcohol Commission Provides Update on Opioid Settlement Fund Usage
This month, the Lancaster County Drug & Alcohol Commission provided an update to the Board of Commissioners on the use of dollars from the National Opioid Settlements.
The first nationwide settlements were reached in 2021 against several distributors and manufacturers of opioids. Pennsylvania established the Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust to manage the settlement funds distributed to Pennsylvania, counties and municipalities to combat opioid addiction, abuse and overdose deaths.
To date, Lancaster County has received over $10 million in opioid settlement funds with more settlement dollars expected in the coming years. At the direction of the Board of Commissioners, and with feedback from community organizations, the public and law enforcement agencies, these monies have been allocated towards programs such as education and intervention in schools, Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) programming at the Lancaster County Prison, Addiction Recovery Programming and more.
The Drug & Alcohol Commission provided an update on the success of these programs and what they've been able to accomplish within the County. As a result of the work done locally, Lancaster County has reduced opioid deaths at a faster rate than either the United States or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The County has reduced the total number of overdose deaths from 146 in 2020 to 32 in 2025.
Following the presentation, the Board of Commissioners approved renewal agreements for addiction recovery programming and the Lancaster County Prison's MAT program to continue to improve upon this work.
The presentation from the meeting is available online.
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Crime Victims' Rights Week
 National Corrections Officers Week
 National
Police Week
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 Conservation District Week
 National
Bike Month
 Memorial Day Observance
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 Older Americans Month
 Mental Health Awareness Month
 Emergency Medical Services Week
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Lancaster County Reassessment 2027 Notices to Begin Arriving Soon
Lancaster County Property Owners can expect to receive their Change of Assessment Notices for the County's 2027 this June.
The County Property Reassessment Office has spent the last 2 years compiling data and ensuring its accuracy to conduct the first Countywide Reassessment since 2017.
The Property Assessment Office is staffed with certified assessors who take into account sales validation, GIS data, permitting records, sales analysis and more to assure similar property types and neighborhoods are assessed fairly and uniformly across the County.
The purpose of reassessment is not to increase tax revenue. All taxing bodies must adjust their millage rates to remain revenue neutral after reassessment. Thus, a taxing body (County, Borough, Township, or School District) will not bring in any more revenue than they did before reassessment. Changes to tax bills for individual taxpayers depend on how much their property assessments change compared to other properties. Normally, following a reassessment, about 1/3 go up, 1/3 go down, and 1/3 stay the same.
When they receive their Change of Assessment Notice, property owners will also receive information on the appeals process. If any property owner wishes to file an appeal, they will have 40 days from the distribution of the notice.
The Property Assessment Office reminds property owners that before filing an appeal, the first step is to determine would they be able to sell their property on the open market for the new assessed value. If the answer is yes, then no further action is needed.
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Lancaster County Prison Recognizes Officers, Presents Lock & Key Award During National Corrections Week
During National Corrections Week each year, the Lancaster County Prison recognizes the outstanding officers, treatment and administrative staff, vendors and volunteers who truly make a difference both within the facility and their community. Award recipients are selected by Prison Leadership for shifts, operations, treatment and more.
Among the awards distributed is the Prison's Annual Lock & Key Award. Selected by the Warden, the Lock & Key Award is presented to one individual that has truly made a difference for the facility. This year's winner was Officer Bruce Martin. In addition to being selected for the 4PM - 12AM Shift Commander's Award, Officer Martin was awarded the Lock & Key Award for his ability to identify solutions, supporting his fellow officers and his contributions to strengthen the training for new and existing officers. He has sought opportunities to volunteer his time and experience as an instructor to implement the Prison's Strategic Inmate Management System (SIMS) and has served as a mentor in training new officers. Office Martin has worked at the Lancaster County Prison since September of 2022.
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Lancaster County Prison Awards:
Officers of the Year
Zachery Freet
Matthew Bosley
Austin Jones
Shift Commander's Award
Elyse Nauman
John Nicklas
Bruce Martin
Operations Employee of the Year
William Manotti IV
Supervisor of the Year
Jason Curtis
Instructor of the Year
John Nicklas II
County Emergency Response Team Operator of the Year
John Viera
Firefighter of the Year
William Manotti V
Marksman of the Year
Dzung Luong
Treatment Services of the Year
Erin Duganitz
Volunteers of the Year
Gerri Shober - Alcoholics Anonymous
Rick Sauder - Alcoholics Anonymous
Vendor of the Year
Sal Duprey - Aramark
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Officers, Park Rangers and Telecommunicators Recognized for Life Saving Efforts
Lancaster County Park Rangers, Department of Public Safety Dispatchers and Local Police Officers from West Hempfield Township, Susquehanna Regional and Columbia Borough were recognized by the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners and West Hempfield Township Board of Supervisors for their response to an armed individual who had reported to be contemplating taking their own life in Breezyview Park.
Thanks to the collaboration of law enforcement and dispatchers, officers on scene were able to save a life. These individuals were recognized for their swift action and courage in an intense situation. They were able to speak with the individual, extract the firearm and remove the individual from the vehicle to receive care.
Lancaster County's Law Enforcement Community and Dispatchers train for these specific scenarios. The confidence in that training allowed such a response that the individual is still alive today.
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Lancaster County Office of Aging Hosts 36th Annual Senior Games
As they have done for the last 36 years, the Lancaster County Office of Aging Hosted the Senior Games to kick off the month of May.
There were a total of 776 participants including 240 participants from Lancaster County's retirement communities and 159 participants from the County's Senior Centers. Over 325 volunteers assisted in conducting this years games.
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Lancaster County Seniors competed across over 40 events. 32 participants this year were aged 90 or older, including 6 aged 95 and up.
The 2026 Games' oldest competitor was 98-year-old Ethel from Landis Homes. Not only did Ethel compete in 15 events such as Javelin Throw, Axe Throwing and Bench Press but also medaled in every event she competed in.
The Lancaster County Office of Aging works to assist seniors, their families and caregivers. To learn more about all the services the provide, visit the Office of Aging webpage.
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Lancaster County BH/DS Hosts First Ever Abilities Fair in Partnership with The Arc of Lancaster Lebanon
Lancaster County Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (BH/DS), Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Program (IDD) and The Arc of Lancaster Lebanon hosted the County's first ever Abilities Fair.
The first-of-its-kind fair offered individuals and family members of individuals who live with an intellectual, developmental or physical disability the ability to connect with the tools and resources locally to aid them.
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The fair brought together Office of Developmental Program providers to share programming information, services, and resources directly with attendees. In addition to connecting with local service providers, the abilities fair featured a variety of keynote speakers with lived experience of dealing with a physical or intellectual disability and speakers who work directly with those who live with a disability. The fair also offered several workshops for individuals, caregivers and family members and much more.
BH/DS will look to build upon the success of this first abilities fair as they begin planning for 2027. For a full list of services offered by Lancaster County's BH/DS and IDD visit their webpage.
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