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Scott County officials outline a 'safety by design' approach to reduce crashes, nuisances and hazards
Summary
County department leaders told commissioners they are embedding prevention into planning, operations and community partnerships — citing building codes, roadway design, public-health interventions and a revitalized Safe Roads Coalition as primary tools.
Jennifer Schultz, Scott County’s library director, told the Board of Commissioners the briefing was framed around "safety by design," asking how departments balance preventative planning with unpredictable human behavior and natural events. The assembled panel — including building, transportation, emergency management and public-health staff — described routine prevention activities and gaps that limit impact.
The county’s building official, Jeremy Schustler, said the state-adopted code is intended "to help prevent total destruction of a house and protect life safety," while acknowledging it cannot stop every extreme event. Traffic staff highlighted routine maintenance — signing, pavement markings and signal timing — and noted that public reports often reveal local hazards staff can then address. Emergency management emphasized a recurring planning gap: developments built in flood-prone locations often create repeated response burdens that better planning and earlier coordination with cities could have avoided.
Public health directors stressed early intervention and community resilience. Lisa Bradsky, public health director, described the department’s work to contain exposures (she cited a recent local Hantavirus response) and to reduce the downstream harms of flooding and nuisances. Natalie Halverson, public health supervisor, summarized the county’s 2024 community health assessment and the three priorities it produced for a five-year plan: substance use and mental health, chronic-disease prevention, and access to health care, housing and transportation.
Panelists pointed to practical examples of cross-department work: the COVID vaccination response led by emergency management and public health (more than 50,000 vaccine doses administered with broad nonprofit and volunteer support), SHIP mini-grants that seeded community food programs, and a renewed Scott County Safe Roads Coalition that will conduct motor-vehicle fatality reviews to identify prevention opportunities.
County staff identified staffing turnover, seasonal workloads and time spent implementing new online reporting systems as temporary factors that have reduced inspection counts in some environmental programs and contributed to an uptick in significant violations; they said training and backfilling positions are in progress. The briefing closed with board members urging coordinated communications, continued partnership work and follow-up briefings (including a November focus on highway safety).
Next steps identified by staff include continued work to link planning and zoning decisions with emergency management, revitalizing the Safe Roads Coalition and pursuing targeted outreach and training to make preventive behaviors easier for residents.
