County may vacate portion of rural road

Questions went unanswered at the March 23 commissioners’ meeting.
Josh Shiach with Engineering International reviewed several upcoming projects with commissioners Jacci Brown, Duane Dinnel and Dennis Kunnemann.
Some of the discussion included the possibility of vacating part of Road 343, north of Old Highway 6 between Avenues 736 and 738.
At Avenue 736 the road becomes minimum maintenance and, after crossing a cattle guard, drops off into pasture canyons.
The commissioners reviewed the county’s original plat maps but found discrepancies that they wanted taken care of before making a decision.
In another area, Shiach showed the board pictures of the Champion bridge used to get the Champion Mill Lake.
One leg of the bridge is warping and settling. Shiach said Engineering International will do a water study to be sure putting culverts in won’t dam up the Frenchman River. Dinnel suggested looking into a low water crossing.
Striping on several county roads will begin after temperatures reach 55 degrees consistently, including Old Highway 6 and the milling on Avenue 331, south of Imperial.
ShelCo, which laid the concrete to Imperial Beef last fall, has been working on grinding the high spots on the road to the feedlot at no cost to the county. Shiach said most high spots would be ground down .25 to .5 inch, adding that it’s mostly taking off extra thickness where the concrete is a little deep. A roughness index will determine a speed limit for the road.
Exploratory work on the Wauneta dam will take place April 7-8. State dam inspector Tim Gokey and dam expert Jim Hicks will be on hand as fissures in the dam are excavated. Shiach said it’s possible a trench is dug along the side of the dam and filled with water. Where the water comes out will help determine the type of cracks in the dam.
Shiach estimates the project may cost up to $8,000 and one lane of the road will be closed.
The commissioners asked Shiach to see if a core sample of the Champion road could be taken. Shiach said it would be better in the long run if the road was milled or ground down before the county put on an overlay.
The commissioners would like to ask for bids for the Champion project around the time the state bids its road work in the hope that a company would be in the area to take on the county’s project.
Concern for veterans memorial
Bob Thomas and Eric Gonzales with the veterans memorial committee presented a bid to remove trees around the memorial on the courthouse lawn.
Thomas said all proposals to get rid of the buzzards have been band-aids. Thomas also said he’s concerned about branches falling on the memorial.
Wayne’s Tree Service inspected the trees for the veterans committee and said limbs are dying and the trees have hollow spots. Their submitted bid of $5,200, which the veterans would cover, was for removing the trees and grinding the stumps.
Thomas and Gonzales suggested replacing the hackberry trees with non-fruit producing plum trees.
The commissioners had concerns about starting over with smaller trees and asked that the veterans look into larger replacement trees.
With many trees estimated at 50 years old, Brown said the county should start considering replacing trees around the courthouse.
The commissioners did not give permission for any work at this time.
Board of Equalization meets
The commissioners met as the Board of Equalization to review the Chase County Assessor’s abstract.
Assessor Dotty Bartels discussed the assessment of real property and 2021 agland values.
Before becoming commissioner, Dinnel had concerns about Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) values and he brought the subject up once more.
With no CREP sales, Bartels put the values the same as irrigated land. With only one Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) sale, its value  didn’t change.
Dinnel suggested using other methods besides sales to determine value of the land.
Rural residential and farm site values did not change.
Feedlot and some ag land values did change.
Other business
The commissioners were prepared to approve a conditional use permit extension for a new Stromberger feedlot, but all the easements hadn’t been filed by the meeting, so the extension was tabled until the next commissioners’ meeting.
The board unanimously approved a resolution in support of the Second Amendment. Sheriff Kevin Mueller said supporting the resolution takes the stance that the county supports the constitution.
Brown agreed and said the county needs to pass the resolution and move it on to the state level, so it can pass it on the federal level.
Tiffany Reeves and Lesley Nordhausen were reappointed to six-year terms on the Chase County Community Hospital Board.
Karen Baker with Southwest Nebraska Juvenile Services continues to work on a grant application. The new comprehensive community plan, which will take effect in July, has been submitted to the Nebraska Crime Commission.
Chase County Fair Board member Scott Way discussed equipment needed around the fairgrounds. The fair board had considered buying equipment, but doesn’t consider it feasible at this time. The commissioners gave permission for the fair board to borrow county equipment to maintain the fairgrounds.
Discussion was held about opposing President Joe Biden’s 30x30 plan to conserve at least 30% of the nation’s land and waters by 2030. No action was taken.
The Department of the Interior says approximately 60% of land in the continental U.S. is in a natural state, but the U.S. Geological Survey says only 12% of lands are permanently protected. Landscope.org reports that less than 3% of Nebraska is in public or conservation ownership.
The next meeting of the commissioners will be April 13 at 8 a.m. in the Chase County Courthouse.