NOTICE OF MEETING

 

Otoe County Courthouse

Nebraska City NE  68410

 

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Regular meeting of the Otoe County Commissioners of Otoe County, Nebraska, will be held at 8:30 A.M. on June 12, 2007, in the County Courtroom (108) of the Otoe County Courthouse at Nebraska City.  The meeting will be open to the public.  An agenda for such 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 OF THE NEXT MEETING                                       June 12, 2007

 

 8:30 a.m. -- Open Meeting, Call roll, Accept agenda, Accept minutes from previous  

                                meeting, Audit and Sign payroll and regular claims

 

9:00 a.m. – Discussion and/or action RE: Road and Bridge matters

a)      Discussion and/or action RE: NDOR withdrawal of Hwy 67 relinquishment offer

b)      Discussion and/or action RE: 

c)      Discussion and/or action RE: Miscellaneous

 

10:00 a.m. – Sue Warner, BCBS Agent: Discussion and/or action RE: County Health Insurance Policy

 

10:30 a.m. –Joe Miller: Discussion and/or action RE: Workers Compensation Payroll audit report

 

11:00 a.m. – Public Hearing: Sale of county owned right-of-way in the N ½ of the SE ¼ S18-T8-R14

 

11:30 a.m. – Jon Day, Exec Director for Blue Valley Mental Health Center: Discussion and/or action RE:

                       Request for financial assistance to continue Methamphetamine Treatment Program

 

11:45 a.m. – Discussion and/or action RE: Water release issues from dam site located 4 ½ mi west of Paul

 

            Other business matters to address when time allows:

               Jackie Smith, Treasurer: Pledged securities and

                                          Discussion and/or action to stricken taxes on abandoned mobile home

               Discussion and/or action RE: Region V System’s proposal for processing EPC invoices

               Discussion and/or action RE: Renewal contract with Region V Systems for EPC services

               Discussion and/or action RE: Lease addendum for office space occupied by DHHS

               Andrea Walters: Tax list correction and discussion and/or action RE: Request to retain temporary

                                           Part-time employee for at least two more months

               Marv Pesek: Discussion and/or action RE: GA applications/cases

   Miscellaneous Correspondence and other matters that may come before the Board

 

                                                                                                            Janene Bennett, Otoe County Clerk  

 

 

 

The County Board reserves the right to go into executive session when 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.

 

 

JUNE 12, 2007

 

The Otoe County Board of Commissioners convened in regular session at 8:30 a.m. on June 12, 2007 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.  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 the Chairman of the Board Joy W Schroder. Answering present at roll call were Commissioner Schroder, Commissioner Thummel and Commissioner Haverty.

 

Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Thummel to accept the agenda as posted. Voting -- Commissioners Schroder, aye; Thummel, aye; Haverty, aye. Motion carried.

 

Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Thummel to accept the minutes from the previous regular and intervening meetings as mailed to them and not have them read. Voting – Commissioners Thummel, aye; Haverty, aye; Schroder, aye. Motion carried.

 

Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Thummel to audit and sign payroll claims and regular claims as presented, unless otherwise noted. Voting – Commissioners Haverty, aye; Schroder, aye; Thummel, aye. Motion carried.

 

Chairman Schroder informed the pubic 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 while present in the meeting room.

 

Andrea Walters, County Assessor, presented one tax list correction for approval for Veda Bennett: An error was determined by the Dept of Revenue regarding her application for Homestead Exemption - Add $1182.22. Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Thummel Voting -- Commissioners Schroder, aye; Thummel, aye; Haverty, aye. Motion carried.

 

Last January, Ms. Walters hired a temporary employee to enter information into the County’s GIS data base. She said there is still work to do and asked that she be allowed to keep this employee for at least three more months. The County spent $62,000 to get the GIS program set up. Ms. Walters said that if the program is not maintained and the information is not kept current, the initial cost will have been wasted. Commissioner Haverty said he feels it is a benefit to the County and its taxpayers to keep information on the website up to date. Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Thummel to allow Ms. Walters to extend the temporary clerk’s employment through September 30, 2007. Voting – Commissioners Thummel, aye; Haverty, aye; Schroder, aye. Motion carried.

 

The County Clerk received a notice from the Nebraska Department of Roads that it is withdrawing its offer to relinquish a segment of Hwy 67 to Otoe County. In October of 2005, the NDOR offered a sum of $985,944.02 to the County to accept the relinquishment of approximately 8 miles of Nebraska State Highway 67 north of Dunbar. The letter stated that due to its current financial position, the NDOR had to withdraw its offer but hoped to pursue the matter in the future if its financial outlook improved.

 

Road and Bridge Foremen, Wally Pohlman, Rich Kuenning and Lynn Denniston came before the Board to discuss road and bridge matters. Highway Supt Steffensmeier is attending a NACO workshop for highway superintendents this week. However, he prepared a list of items for Pohlman to present to the Board for their information.

 

1) Road Project C-66(405) located between County Roads 14 and 16 on J Rd: Steffensmeier will be soliciting quotes for the purchase of a tube to replace the old timber bridge.

2) New shop in the Village of Otoe: The specifications have been written and he is ready to advertise for bids. It appears the 32 x 48 building will cost less than $20,000.

3) New addition to the NC Shop: Steffensmeier is still working with the Sheriff and Emergency Management Director in trying to determine the specifications for constructing a building in the Nebraska City Shop yard that would be utilized for manufacturing bridge decks as well as providing storage space for other county departments.

4) Road Project C-66(380) located ½ mile north of intersection H-54: Will start removing the old bridge and replacing it with a pair of corrugated tubes.

5) The nine road projects that have been approved by the NDOR as eligible for the Soft Match Program have been turned over to Mainelli Wagner for engineering.

6) After examining the Woodland Hills Road, Steffensmeier thinks it will need an overlay rather than armor coating. It is 14 years old and has had no maintenance. In the near future, he would like to initiate a paved road program by doing some work on paved roads every year on a rotating basis. He noted that many counties budget $5000 to $8000 per mile of hard surfaced roads each year for their maintenance.

7) Last week Midwest Striping Company began painting stripes on some of the hard surfaced roads in Otoe County.

8) Steffensmeier would like to purchase a 6-8 foot seeder that would be used for seeding down roadsides after completing grading projects.

9) On June 14th, Steffensmeier will attend a meeting with FEMA representatives who will explain the procedures for obtaining disaster relief. Otoe County has been declared eligible for relief assistance and will need to keep up with the paperwork in order to receive the funding. He will work with Mark Mainelli to establish estimates for repairing damaged bridges and culverts.

 

There was some discussion regarding budgetary matters. Foreman Kuenning said he would like to have a trailer for hauling tubes. Since the Bridge Crew is working out of the Nebraska City Shop, they no longer have access to a trailer. Commissioner Schroder felt it would be better for the County to buy the materials; then have the crew build a trailer as time permits, such as on rain days.

 

Another idea discussed was to hire a full-time sign man who would be responsible for installing and maintaining signs throughout the county. His duties could include keeping an inventory of signs, replacing stolen or mutilated signs, maintaining the area surrounding the signs so that they are always visible for public safety; measure and assign 911 addresses and install the “house number” signs. Another option mentioned was to assign these additional responsibilities to the weed superintendent.

 

Foreman Denniston reminded the Board of his request for another bridge crew member. The current crew consists of 2 men and himself. When he needs help one of the road maintenance guys will step in, but then the road crew is short handed.  Denniston also asked the Board to consider giving the foremen a 90 cent per hour raise which will bring them back to a $2.30 difference between their wages and the other road employees.

 

Other miscellaneous business matters were addressed.

 

Agreement for Emergency Protective Custody Services: By entering into said agreement, the County agrees to pay Region V Systems at the rate of $110 per day to assume the safekeeping, care and sustenance of acutely mentally ill individuals who have been referred by the County’s lawful authority. There were no changes made to the Agreement since last fiscal year. The duration of the agreement shall be from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008. Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Thummel to sign the Agreement for Emergency Protective Custody Services with Region V Systems accepting the terms as set forth above.  Voting – Commissioners, Thummel aye; Haverty, aye; Schroder, aye. Motion carried.

 

Pledged Securities: The County Treasurer, Jackie Smith, requested the release of the following pledged securities: three with American National, Nebraska City in the aggregate amount of $1,002,510.81 and three with Otoe County Bank, Nebraska City, in the aggregate amount of $1,345,000. Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Thummel to sign Resolutions 2007-09 and 2007-10 approving said transactions. Voting – Commissioners Haverty, aye; Schroder, aye; Thummel, aye. Motion carried.

 

Lease Addendum for office space at DHHS: Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Thummel to renew the lease addendum with the State of Nebraska whereby Otoe County provides office space for the Department of Health and Human Services for an annual fee of $5,950. Voting – Commissioners Schroder, aye; Thummel, aye; Haverty, aye.  Motion carried. Term of the lease extends from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008.

 

Stricken Amount from Tax Roll: County Treasurer, Jackie Smith, explained that a mobile home was abandoned at Park E-Z Trailer Court. The mobile home was transferred to Rick Shallenberger, the owner of the trailer court, by obtaining an abandoned title through the Sheriff’s Office. At the time he assumed ownership, he paid the 2005 and 2006 back taxes, however; he did not feel it was his responsibility to pay the 2004 back taxes. Therefore, per State Statute 77-1738, the taxes can be stricken from the tax roll by action of the County Board.  Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Schroder to stricken real estate taxes in the amount of $341.42 from the 2004 tax roll. Voting -- Commissioners Schroder; Thummel, aye; Haverty, aye. Motion carried. Ms Smith noted that these taxes are still collectible if the opportunity arises.

 

Region V proposed invoice processing guidelines: In April, the Executive Director for Region V Systems, Mr. C J Johnson, said that he would like to help counties who are being billed for emergency protective care from hospitals. Otoe County, as well as 15 other counties in Southeast Nebraska, is contracted with Region V Systems to administer the care for individuals who have threatened to cause harm to themselves or others. Law enforcement personnel are instructed to transport these individuals to the Crisis Center or Cornhusker Place in Lincoln, but if these facilities are full, the patients are taken to a hospital. The hospitals have been billing the counties directly; however, Mr. Johnson feels it should be Region V’s responsibility to handle the billing process. Therefore, he drew up an Administrative Policy setting forth invoice processing guidelines for EPC patients. When the County receives a medical bill, it should be forwarded to Region V who will work with the hospital to negotiate a reduced fee at the Medicaid rate. The bill will then be returned to the county for payment to the hospital. In the past, the County Attorney had to negotiate a fee with the provider. Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Thummel to approve the provisions of the policy as outlined above and to authorize Chairman Schroder to sign the policy noting said approval. Voting – Commissioners Thummel, aye; Haverty, aye; Schroder, aye. Motion carried.

 

Marv Pesek, General Assistance Administrator, said he had no General Assistance cases or applications for discussion.   

 

Sue Warner, Blue Cross/Blue Shield representative, came before the Board to give a brief overview of the NACO health insurance plan that becomes effective July 1, 2007. She said the premium rates are increasing 8.46% for health insurance and 4.32 % for dental. She noted the rates originally started out with a 17.1% increase, but due to NACO’s reserve and a few minor changes in benefits they were able to buy it down. Part of the buy down included doing away with the $250 deductible option and adding a $750 deductible. The out-of-pocket maximum was increased from $2000 to $3000 for single coverage and from $4000 to $6000 for family. There were no changes to the prescription drug program or to the dental benefits.

 

Joe Miller, Property and Liability Insurance Agent for the County, came before the Board to review an audit report of the Workers Compensation Payrolls covering the policy period of 4-17-06 to 4-17-07. Projected premiums are based on the gross salary of the employees. The actual wages of 2006 exceeded the estimated wages by nearly $400,000, resulting in an additional premium due of $13,463. The estimated payroll for 2007 shows less than the actual payroll of 2006. Miller questioned whether the estimate should be increased in anticipation that it will more closely reflect the actual payroll. The County Clerk said in 2006, the County was ordered to issue retroactive pay to the road employees as a result of the union negotiation being settled by the Court of Industrial Relations. This would explain why the actual payroll was much greater than the estimated payroll. However, in 2007, we should only have to allow for increased salaries due to a cost of living raise and any overtime pay. Miller said he will relay this information to the insurance carrier and then make a recommendation to the Board at a later date.   

 

At 11:00 a.m. a public hearing was held for the purpose of hearing support or objection to the sale of county owned right of way; an approximately 4 acre tract located in the N ½ of the SE ¼ of S18-T8-R14. There being no objections, Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Thummel       to offer for sale an approximately 4 acre tract of land located in the N ½ of the SE ¼ of S18-T8-R14 (legal description attached); to publish an advertisement that said property is for sale; and to accept sealed bids for said property until 10:00 a.m. on August 14th, 2007, at which time the bids will be opened.  Voting – Commissioners Thummel, aye; Haverty, aye; Schroder, aye. Motion carried.

 

Jon Day, Executive Director of Blue Valley Mental Health Center, appeared before the Board to request financial assistance that would be used to subsidize the Methamphetamine Treatment Program in Otoe County. The program was instituted two years ago when a grant was received through the Sheriff’s Office. Last year, the Program was funded through residual grant funds and by support from Otoe, Nemaha and Richardson counties. Now, there is no more grant money available, but there still is a need for substance abuse services. Currently, the Center is providing a substance abuse counselor two days a week in the Nebraska City office. He would like to increase the service to three days a week and is asking the County to allocate $9000 toward this cause. People who are unable to get treatment are not the only ones affected; this affects their families and the entire community. He offered a letter of support from Linda Unger, Senior Probation Officer, who stated that the Courts normally require an evaluation before sentencing an offender. The Court system is getting backlogged due to delays in getting evaluations for the offenders. Currently, they are short of counselors and it takes over a month to get an appointment. Blue Valley operates on a sliding fee scale, so they need financial assistance. By having a counselor available one more day a week, he estimated that 75 additional people can receive the services they need. Meth treatment is longer and more intense than alcohol or marijuana addiction. The Board agreed this is a valuable program, but was concerned that some of the patients may not be Otoe County residents. Mr. Day said he would try to apply Otoe County money toward the care of Otoe County patients.

 

Since February of 2007, County Attorney Jeff Funke has been researching the law and gathering information in an attempt to settle the dispute of water rights between Duane Teten and Bernard Kreifels and Howard Bebout. Mr. Funke contacted the Nebraska Natural Resource Commission to see if they would they would accept the water storage rights permit but they declined. The NRC is willing to provide guidelines for determining how much and when to release the water, but the County must retain the authority to release it. Funke said the NRD is responsible for maintaining the structure and he is working on an agreement clarifying their responsibilities. But the County needs to adopt its own policy setting forth guidelines for controlling the release of the water. He said he intends to draft a policy and present it for adoption within the next 30 days. Kreifels said the County and the NRD have never lived up to the terms stated on the Easement. Kreifels said he should have the rights to the water and the permit should be his. Funke said the NRC has no objection to the County giving the water permit to Kreifels; however, he feels the County should keep it as the third party who is impartial. Funke said there will be disagreements, but he is willing to work them out with the NRD and the landowners and their attorneys. Funke will provide a copy of the working documents to the Commissioners and the affected landowners. Commissioner Schroder commented that the County seems to be the scapegoat in this situation. Teten said there should be a simple solution. The dam is a good deal and most of the time there is ample water.  All he is asking is to have water released in the winter when water is less plentiful. Commissioner Haverty apologized for dragging this matter out since February.  Now that the NRC has refused to take over the water rights, the Board’s only alternative is to establish procedures that all must abide by. Funke said he will soon have a maintenance agreement finalized with the NRD and he will have proposed guidelines for a water release policy ready for review within the next two weeks. 

 

There being no further business to come before the Board at this time, and since all items on the agenda have been disposed of, Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Thummel to declare this meeting adjourned, until the next one, which will be on June 26, 2007. Voting – Commissioners Haverty, aye; Schroder, aye; Thummel, aye. Motion carried.

 

I, Janene Bennett, County Clerk for 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 my seal this 12th day of June 2007.

 

 

 

Janene Bennett

Otoe County Clerk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATTACHMENT

                       

 

                        A tract of land located in part of the North ½ of the S.E. ¼ of Section 18, Township 8 North, Range 14 East of the 6th P.M., Otoe County, Nebraska, being more particularly described as follows: Considering the North line of the N.E. ¼ of the S.E. ¼ of Section 18 as bearing N90º00’00”W and with all bearings contained herein relative thereto: Commencing at the East ¼ corner of said Section 18, thence westerly along said North line N90º00’00”W 254.26 feet to a point, said point being the True Point of Beginning; thence southwesterly along a curve to the right on a radius of 539.95 feet, whose long chord bears S68º17’41”W 284.52 feet to a point, thence continuing southwesterly S81º17’09”W 573 feet to a point; thence southwesterly along a curve to the left on a radius of 1178.92 feet, whose long chord bears S72º46’45”W 377.91 feet to a point; thence northwesterly N19º12’42”W 91.9 feet to the centerline of an abandoned county road; thence northeasterly along said road N39º07’E 203.76 feet to a point; thence continuing northeasterly N58º10’31”E 71.2 feet to a point; thence northeasterly N72º50’11”E 72.93 feet to a point on the North line of the North ½ of the S.E. ¼; thence easterly along said North line N90º00’00”E 963.23 feet to the True Point of Beginning. The above described tract contains 4.00 acres which is subject to all easements or rights-of-way now on record or indicated on this survey plat together with all buildings and improvements thereon.