NACO director makes trip to address commissioners

Jon Cannon, executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials, visited with Chase County Commissioners Kurt Bernhardt and Jacci Brown at their June 27 meeting.
Cannon updated the commissioners on NACO’s plans for an office in Ogallala.
With the main office located in Lincoln, NACO would like to have more of a presence in the western portion of the state.
The Nebraska Attorney General has expressed interest in renting space for an office, Cannon said, adding he expects the new office to be staffed by four or five NACO employees.
Geographic information systems, mass appraisals, websites and cyber security are all on NACO’s radar, he continued.
Cannon walked through the most recent Unicameral session with the commissioners.
The session was like nothing anyone had ever seen before, he said, with only 52 bills passed.
The widely publicized filibuster kept a lot of bad legislation at bay, Cannon said, and it was a successful session for NACO.
Among the bills Cannon highlighted were LB 243, a property tax bill that has to do with the Tax Equalization and Review Commission and takes community colleges off tax rolls; LB 727 changing provisions relating to revenue and taxation; LB 514 concerning voter ID; and LB 77 covering concealed carry which has left sheriff’s offices with a lot of questions.
Bernhardt and Brown approved providing family insurance to sheriff’s deputies after talking to Sheriff Kevin Mueller at the meeting.
Mueller said he wants his office to retain quality people. Offering to waive the $500 per month his deputies pay to have their families covered under the county’s insurance plan would help, he said.
County Clerk Wendy Moe questioned if the county is able to offer that policy to only one of the county’s offices.
Mueller said hiring law enforcement is different than the other offices, and requires different training and hours.
The commissioners approved the change and it will go into effect in October.
Prairie States Communications presented the only bid for a new 911 dispatch console for the sheriff’s office. The commissioners accepted the PCS bid of $89,262.
Scott Bussell told the commissioner of road problems in the northwest corner of the county.
Bussell said the county’s policy of having landowners mow ditches is going to result in a lot of landowners ruining mowers because of the berms on the side of the road and places where run off has eroded the sides of the road.
Those same problems leave no room for semis and farmers moving equipment when meeting each other on the roads.
Bernhardt and Brown said landowners won’t be in trouble for not mowing ditches this year and said they’d look into cleaning up the edges of the roads.
There were no visitors or comments during a public hearing for a new Nutrien Ag facility in Lamar to replace the building that burned in January. The county’s zoning board approved the $3.8 million project.
The commissioners have an informal bid of $17,710 to replace the steps and retaining walls at the front of the courthouse. Brown and Bernhardt will look for two more informal bids.
Chase County Treasurer Rebecca Bernard, Attorney Joel Burke and Moe will be holding interviews Thursday this week to fill the commissioner’s opening in District 1 following Duane Dinnel’s May 31 resignation.
The new District 1 commissioner is expected to be announced that day, as well.
The next meeting of the commissioners will be July 11 at 8 a.m.