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 July 8, 2008, 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 July 8, 2008

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: Other Road and Bridge matters

a) Bob Webb: Discussion and/or action RE: Overrun days for Bridge Project 7066(25)

b) Discussion and/or action RE: City of Syracuse paving project

c) Discussion and/or action RE: Otoe County’s request for FEMA disaster relief

d) Discussion and/or action RE: Condition of I Rd between Roads 22 & 24

10:00 a.m. – Retha Small: Discussion and/or action RE: Request for extending the deadline to accept

her application for Homestead Exemption

Other business matters to address when time allows:

Discussion and/or action RE: FY09 Agreement with Region V Systems for EPC Services

Discussion and/or action RE: Procedures for filling vacancy of First District Commissioner

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.

July 8, 2008

The Otoe County Board of Commissioners convened in regular session at 8:30 a.m. on July 8, 2008 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 the local radio station KNCY 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 the Chairman of the Board, Dale Haverty. Answering present at roll call were Commissioner Haverty and Commissioner Schroder.

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

Commissioner Schroder made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Haverty to accept the minutes from the previous meeting as mailed to them as each member was furnished with a copy of same. Voting – Commissioners Schroder, aye; Haverty, aye. Motion carried.

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

Other business matters were addressed at this time.

It is the County’s responsibility to provide care and safekeeping to certain acutely mentally ill individuals who are under the County’s lawful authority pursuant to Nebraska State Statutes. Region V Systems has provided such care for the past several years, but the contract must be renewed annually. Commissioner Schroder made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Haverty to sign and renew the Agreement for EPC (Emergency Protective Custody) Services between Region V Systems and Otoe County. Voting – Commissioners Schroder, aye; Haverty, aye. Motion carried. The duration of this agreement is effective July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009.

Chairman Haverty briefly reviewed the procedures for filling the vacancy of First District Commissioner Zoe Thummel who recently passed away. By statute, the County Clerk, County Treasurer and County Attorney are responsible for appointing someone to fulfill the term to January of 2011. The County Clerk reported that a notice will be published in the Friday edition of the News Press. They will take resumes through July 21, 2008, 4:30 p.m.

Glen Steffensmeier, Highway Superintendent, Wally Pohlman, Road Foreman, and Lynn Denniston, Bridge Foreman came before the Board to discuss road and bridge matters.

Bob Webb, with LJ Webb Contractor Inc, came before the Board to ask them to reconsider their decision to penalize him for 8 days overrun. His company completed construction of a new bridge southeast of Palmyra this spring. The job took longer than anyone anticipated, mostly due to weather – a long cold winter and excessive rain in the spring. He said he was not charged working days during the bad weather, but doesn’t think he was treated fairly for restitution. He admitted he had trouble with some of the subcontractors when trying to coordinate their work. When he bid the job he was denied winter work specs for this project. However, he had two other jobs going this winter that had winter work specs provisions. Out of the 28 working days calculated the County forgave 20 days. By penalizing him 8 days he was shorted about $3800. Contractors are hurting now; there is not enough work and many are going out of business. He said his company has built many bridges and culverts for Otoe County by submitting good low bids. Commissioner Haverty said the Board based their decision to charge a penalty because it was reported that workers were leaving the job site early in the afternoon. If they were behind schedule, they should have worked until dark. Webb said he tries to keep to a 50 hour work week because he has found that men tend to become careless if they work longer hours, creating a safety issue. Webb said he was told by the engineer not to worry about working days. Commissioner Haverty replied that he thought the County did him a favor by only charging 8 days penalty rather than the 20 days. Supt Steffensmeier added that there were a lot of change orders; Webb did some extra work and the price of fuel increased during the job. Webb then reduced his request to 4 days, but the Commissioners chose not to reverse their decision.

Steffensmeier said the City of Syracuse is planning to apply an overlay on 1st Street. Normally, this would be a cost share project because property on the south side is outside the corporate limits of Syracuse and property on the north is inside the city limits. However, the engineer told Steffensmeier that the city plans to bear the entire cost because they intend to annex the land on the south side in the near future. Steffensmeier said the law dictates that when property is annexed into the city limits, the city must take responsibility for maintaining the entire road. He said according to the current engineering specs, the asphalt road would not meet county road standards; he did not think it would uphold to heavy trucks and equipment. Steffensmeier said he has not contacted Syracuse City Officials to confirm the engineer’s report. There is also a short piece of a county road on the east side of the area that the city wants to build up with asphalt millings. They agree to do this at their expense. If this road is not constructed to county standards, the County will not be responsible for maintaining it. The Commissioners indicated that an MOU between the City of Syracuse and Otoe County needs to be in place before work starts on these projects.

Otoe County was declared a disaster area due to damages incurred by heavy rains since May 22, 2008, qualifying the County for FEMA financial relief. Steffensmeier said he will be meeting with FEMA officials on Wednesday. He and Foreman Denniston started assessing damages to the County roads and bridges on Monday. Denniston is driving all the roads working from east to west and Steffensmeier will examine the roadways from west to east. They will designate the damaged areas on a map and determine a plan of action prioritizing the roads and bridges that need to be repaired or replaced first. The time spent assessing damages must be documented as well as the cost of repairs and/or replacements including labor, materials, the use of county machines, fuel costs etc. Steffensmeier said the information that he and Denniston collect must be compiled into a report. Each project must be numbered and documented separately to submit to FEMA for reimbursement. He asked permission to hire someone on a temporary basis to handle the extra data entry and paperwork. The wages for this person would be reimbursable. The Board agreed that he may proceed in hiring someone.

Steffensmeier gave each Commissioner a color coded map indicating minimum maintenance roads, dead end roads, etc. He said he could get more maps copied for about $5 each. The Board thought it would be a good idea to provide a map to emergency personnel such as rural fire departments and rescue squads.

Someone reported a tube washout on a road located 1 mile south and 1 mile east of Unadilla. Steffensmeier said local residents told him a former county surveyor surveyed the road in the mid 1980’s and the County made it passable for farmers to get to their fields. However, the State does not classify it as a road and there is nothing in the County’s Official Road Book to indicate that it is in county right of way. He was told there was an old town there at one time. He said if the road is considered an access road provided by the County, then it should be eligible for FEMA funds. He will try to pinpoint the year this road was worked on, then research Commissioners’ minutes to determine the road’s status.

According to State Statute 77-3512, a home owner who fails to apply for Homestead Exemption by the June 30^th deadline may make a request to the County Board to extend the deadline to July 20^th provided that an extension was on granted the previous year. Retha Small came before the Board to make such a request and ensured the Board she has never requested an extension before. Commissioner Haverty made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Schroder to grant an extension to Retha Small allowing her to submit a Homestead Application to the Otoe County Assessor on or before July 20, 2008. Voting – Commissioners Haverty, aye; Schroder, aye. Motion carried.

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 Schroder made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Haverty to adjourn the meeting, until the next one, which will be on July 22, 2008.

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 8th day of July 2008.

Janene Bennett

Otoe County Clerk