NOTICE OF MEETING

Otoe County Courthouse

Nebraska City NE  68410

 

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Otoe County Board of Commissioners will meet in regular session at 8:30 a.m. on February 23, 2010 in the County Courtroom (108) of the Otoe County Courthouse.  The meetings will be open to the public.  An agenda for each meeting is kept continuously current, and is available for public inspection at the office of the County Clerk at the Courthouse, but the agenda may be modified at such meetings to include items of an emergency nature only.

 

AGENDA ___________________________________FEBRUARY 23, 2010

         8:30 a.m. -- Open Meeting; Call roll; Open Meetings Act posted; Accept agenda; Accept minutes

     from previous meeting; Audit and sign payroll claims; Audit and sign regular claims

        

         8:45 a.m. – Public Hearing to approve Wood-Ruhge Subdivision located in the NE ¼ SE1/4 S6-T9-R12

                              as requested by Brian & Stephanie Wood; Site located at 1539 N 38th Rd

                             Public Hearing to amend Agriculture District Conditional Use Section 501.05, #15,

                               Transitional Agriculture District Conditional Use Section 502.05, FE #6, Surface Water

                               Protection Agriculture District Section 503.03, #10 & Extensive Commercial District

                                Section 508.03, #15

         9:00 a.m. – Public Hearing to hear objections or recommendations of proposed One & Six Year Road

                                Plan for Otoe County 2010 – 2016; Discussion and/or action to approve proposed One &

                                Six Year Plan for submittal to the NDOR

 

         Other Road and bridge matters:

1)      Pending road and bridge projects

2)      Pending FEMA request for snow removal cost reimbursement

3)      Miscellaneous

 

 

Other business matters to address when time allows:

      

                       Commissioner Crook: Census 2010 Report

                       Commissioner Crook: Discussion and/or action to declare items as surplus and disposal thereof

                        Miscellaneous Correspondence and other matters that may come before the Board

                       

 

 

Janene Bennett

                                                                                                                                                Otoe County Clerk

 

 

 

Upon adjournment Board Members will visit the Nebraska City Road Shop. No action will be taken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The County Board reserves the right to go into executive session when and if they deem it necessary.

Individuals requiring physical or sensory accommodations, including interpreter service, Braille, large print or recorded materials, please contact Janene Bennett, County Clerk, Otoe County Courthouse, P O Box 249, Nebraska City, NE 68410, (402) 873-9505), no later than 12:00 noon the day before the meeting.        

 

 

February 23, 2010

 

The Otoe County Board of Commissioners convened in regular session at 8:30 a.m. on February 23, 2010 to audit and sign payroll claims and regular claims and to take care of such other matters as are on the agenda for this meeting. Advance notice of this meeting was published in the Nebraska City News Press and Syracuse Journal Democrat, announced on KNCY Radio Station and posted in at least three public places. This meeting was open to the Public, and the agenda was kept current, and is on file for public inspection at the office of the Otoe County Clerk during regular business hours.

 

The meeting was called to order by Chairman of the Board, Timothy Nelsen. Answering present at roll call were Commissioner Nelsen, Commissioner Lade, Commissioner Crook, Commissioner Kreifels and Commissioner Freshman.

 

Chairman Nelsen informed the public in attendance that a current copy of the Open Meetings Act is posted on the south wall of the Courtroom. Additional copies are available upon request. He asked that all attendees turn off their cell phones or set them to vibrate while present in the meeting room.

 

Commissioner Crook made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Freshman to accept the agenda as posted. There being no further discussion, Chairman Nelsen called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Nelsen, Lade, Crook, Kreifels and Freshman. Nay – none. Motion carried.

 

Commissioner Kreifels made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Lade to accept the minutes from the previous meeting and not have them read as each member was furnished with a copy of same. There being no further discussion, Chairman Nelsen called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Lade, Crook, Kreifels, Freshman and Nelsen. Nay – none. Motion carried.  

 

Commissioner Freshman made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Crook to audit and sign payroll claims. There being no further discussion, Chairman Nelsen called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Crook, Kreifels, Freshman, Nelsen and Lade. Nay – none. Motion carried.

 

Having reviewed the regular claims in advance of this meeting, Commissioner Lade made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Freshman to approve payment of the regular claims. There being no further discussion, Chairman Nelsen called for a vote.  Voting aye were Commissioners Crook, Kreifels, Freshman, and Lade; Commissioner Nelsen approved payment of all claims except those claims submitted by the Public Defender’s Office to which he abstained. Nay – none. Motion carried.

 

At 8:40 a.m. the Chairman called for a five minute recess. The meeting resumed at 8:45 a.m. with all members being duly noted as present.

 

At 8:45 a.m. Chairman Nelsen opened the public hearing to hear support or objections to the approval of the plat for Wood-Ruhge Subdivision located in the NE ¼ of the SE ¼ S6-T9-R12 with an address of 1539 N 38th Rd. There being no public comment, Chairman Nelsen closed the public hearing. It was noted that the current taxes have not yet been paid. Therefore, Commissioner Lade made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Freshman to authorize the Chairman to sign the plat for Wood-Ruhge Subdivision as requested by Brian and Stephanie Wood; however, the plat shall not be signed until the taxes have been paid. There being no further discussion, Chairman Nelsen called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Freshman, Nelsen, Lade, Crook and Kreifels. Nay – none. Motion carried.

 

The public hearing to hear comments regarding proposed amendments to the Agriculture District Conditional Use Section 501.05 (15), Transitional Agriculture District Conditions Use Section 502.05 (FE6), Surface Water Protection Agriculture District Section 503.03 (10) and Extensive Commercial Dist5rict Section 508.03 (15) was cancelled since the Planning Commission voted to revise some of the verbiage and have it reviewed by the County Attorney before taking action.

 

Other business matters were addressed:

 

Two weeks ago, Commissioner Crook attended a session on the 2010 Census at the NACO workshop held in Kearney. As a result, she is encouraging county residents to complete and return the census form when it is received in the mail. There will only be ten questions which should take approximately ten minutes to answer. Every census form not returned could result in a loss of $1000 in grant money that could have been received by the county or state. In 2000, Otoe County was recorded as having a 76% response rate, so she hopes the response will be greater this year. She advised that the census includes non citizens as well as citizens. April 1st has been designated as Census Day.

 

After conducting a storage study a few weeks ago, Commissioners Crook and Kreifels recommended that all items be removed from the two rented storage units in an effort to save money. Paper files that are not referred to very often or must be retained as a permanent record will be transferred to a locked room at the Nebraska City Road Shop. Office furniture or equipment that is no longer needed should be sold, donated or discarded. Therefore, Commissioner Kreifels made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Crook to declare the stored items as surplus if they are no longer useful or needed, including an enclosed trailer parked at the Nebraska City Road Shop. There being no further discussion, Chairman Nelsen called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Nelsen, Lade, Crook, Kreifels and Freshman. Nay – none. Motion carried. The trailer will be taken to the Farmers Auction on Saturday, February 27, 2010, in Syracuse. All other surplus items from Storage Units 10 and 69 shall be removed by April 1st.

 

Lynn Denniston, Lead Supervisor, Jon Brinkman and Chad Watkins, Crew Supervisors, came before the Board to discuss road and bridge matters.

 

Pending road/bridge projects: Denniston presented a list of 10 maintenance projects that he recommended for completion this year. Chairman Nelsen encouraged Denniston to try to keep on schedule in accordance with the prioritized list. If he wants to deviate, then he should come before the Board to discuss the matter. Project deadlines may vary, depending on weather and road conditions.

 

Pending FEMA request: Chairman Nelsen reported that the Governor and FEMA Officials have signed off for disaster relief in Otoe County; the paperwork has now been forwarded to the President for federal approval. Otoe County hopes to receive 40% to 50% reimbursement to cover the additional cost of snow removal this year.

 

Supervisor reports: Supervisors Watkins and Brinkman reported they are finally getting caught up and back to routine maintenance. Due to the snow last Friday, Denniston said he had to open a few roads over the weekend, but limited the work to emergency calls only. Commissioner Crook said school bus drivers complimented the road crew for their efforts to keep the roads open during the blowing snow on Friday.

 

Request to purchase new rock truck: Chairman Nelsen told the Supervisors that he did not see any chance for equipment purchases in the next year in light of all the money that was spent for snow removal and FEMA’s anticipated reimbursement which will be short of what was spent. Brinkman said he counted the number of rock miles in his area and figured the cost of custom hauling versus the County doing it. Commissioner Freshman questioned the possibility of setting up a lease purchase agreement so that monthly payments could be made rather than a one time cash outlay. The County Clerk was asked to check into proper procedures.

 

At 9:00 a.m. Chairman Nelsen opened a public hearing to hear objections to or recommendations for the proposed One and Six Year Road Plan for Otoe County. There being no public comment, Chairman Nelsen closed the public hearing. Commissioner Lade made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Freshman to sign the resolution approving the One and Six Year Road Plan as presented and to submit it to the Nebraska Department of Roads. Jeff Wagner, Engineer for Mainelli Wagner & Associates who compiled the document, asked that someone complete the “priority” column before submission. There being no further discussion, Chairman Nelsen called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Lade, Crook, Kreifels, Freshman and Nelsen. Nay – none. Motion carried.

 

Chairman Nelsen announced that Board Members will be visiting the Nebraska City Road Shop for the next hour or so to examine the work place and determine what tools and/or equipment are needed in order to make it a more efficient and safer working environment.

 

There being no further business to come before the Board at this time, and since all items on the agenda have been disposed of, Chairman Nelsen declared this meeting adjourned at 9:06 a.m. The next regular meeting will be held on March 9, 2010.  

 

I, Janene Bennett, County Clerk of Otoe County, do hereby certify that the above minutes were taken by me, and are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, and I therefore set my hand and affix the county seal this 23rd day of February 2010.

 

 

Janene Bennett

Otoe County Clerk