December 23, 2008

The Otoe County Board of Commissioners convened in regular session at 8:30 a.m. on December 23, 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 the County Clerk’s Office and at least three other 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 Acting Chairman, Commissioner Schroder. Answering present at roll call were Commissioner Schroder and Commissioner Kreifels.

Acting Chairman Schroder 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 Kreifels to accept the agenda as posted. There being no discussion, Acting Chairman Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Schroder and Kreifels. Nay - none. Motion carried.

Commissioner Kreifels made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Schroder to accept the minutes from the previous meeting as mailed to them as each member was furnished with a copy of same. There being no discussion, Acting Chairman Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Kreifels and Schroder. Nay - none. Motion carried.

Commissioner Kreifels made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Schroder to audit and sign payroll claims and regular claims unless otherwise noted. There being no further discussion, Acting Chairman Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Schroder and Kreifels. Nay - none. Motion carried.

Last month, Former Commissioner Haverty made a verbal agreement with the Administrator of Duff’s Friendship Villa whereby the County shall pay Duffs $200 per month to provide lawn care and snow removal services to the property located next door to the Villa that is occupied by Health and Human Services. Since the County owns the building, the County is responsible for all janitorial and maintenance services. County Attorney, Dave Partsch, drew up a written agreement between Duff’s Friendship Villa and the County specifying such terms. Commissioner Kreifels made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Schroder to sign and enter into an agreement with Duff’s Friendship Villa whereby the County shall pay Duffs $200 per month in exchange for the performance of lawn care and snow removal services on property located at 1102 3^rd Ave .There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Kreifels and Schroder. Nay – none. Motion carried.

The County Clerk explained the need for the Board to set a percentage amount of the real estate and personal property taxes collected to be transferred from the General Fund to the Road Fund. During the 2008-2009 budget planning process, there was no separate levy set for the Road Fund since all the tax money will be collected through the General Fund. It was built into the budget that $1.4 million would be transferred during the course of the fiscal year, the same amount that would have been collected if a separate levy was set for the Road Fund. Ms. Bennett said setting a percentage amount for distribution every month is a common practice used by other counties. By using an average amount needed to pay monthly expenses and dividing the total amount of taxes collected by the amount budgeted for use in the road fund, she determined that 35% of the taxes collected every month should be transferred to the road fund. Commissioner Schroder made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Kreifels to direct the County Treasurer to transfer 35% of the total taxes collected each month to the road fund. There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Schroder and Kreifels. Nay –none. Motion carried.

Dave Schmitz, Zoning Administrator, reported that the Planning Commission meeting scheduled for December 18, 2008, was cancelled due to inclement weather. The public hearing regarding the vacation plat of Lot 1 Gress-Allen Subdivision as requested by Paul and Linda Allen did not occur, therefore, there is no need to conduct a public hearing of this request until the Planning Commission reschedules and acts upon it.

Schmitz said he received a letter from Rob Gray at the Nebraska City Utilities notifying him that DEQ has approved the Utilities’ request to apply sludge on a farm site located in the NE ¼ S5-T8-R13. The Utilities plan to start hauling sludge to the site this week. Schmitz said he saw no problem with the location of the site in proximity to other residents. Commissioner Kreifels made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Schroder to approve sludge application on property located in the NE ¼ 5-8-13 as requested by the NC Utilities. There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Kreifels and Schroder. Nay – none. Motion carried.

Jackie Smith, County Treasurer, requested the release of pledged securities with Arbor Bank, Nebraska City, in the aggregate amount of $2,500,000. She said there was no need for replacement at this time until a greater amount of tax money is collected and deposited. Commissioner Kreifels made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Schroder to adopt Resolution 2008-61 approving said transactions. There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Schroder and Kreifels. Nay – none. Motion carried.

Ms. Smith presented claims for the following tax refunds to: 1) Bernard Gress Trust - $475.84 for 3 prior years’ taxes paid; and 2) Rhobie Lechner and Carlene Hoyle - $59.04 for 3 years’ prior taxes paid. Both refunds were attributed to right-of-way corrections. Commissioner Schroder made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Kreifels to approve the tax refunds as presented. There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Kreifels and Schroder. Nay – none. Motion carried.

Gregg Goebel, Emergency Management Director, appeared before the Board to explain the need to amend the Interlcoal Agreement for Cooperative Public Safety. On March 25, 2008, an agreement was adopted to form an inter-jurisdictional emergency management region among the Counties of Cass, Gage, Fillmore, Jefferson, Johnson, Lancaster, Nemaha, Otoe, Pawnee, Richardson, Saline, Seward, Thayer and York. Its purpose is to ensure planning, exercise, training, communications, mutual aid arrangements, and grant fund administration among the counties. Lancaster County was appointed as the grant administrator for the Southeast Region. The Lancaster County Attorney, who drew up the original agreement for the counties in the Region, has changed language on how equipment purchased with Homeland Security Grant funds will be disbursed and better defines the responsibility of each county for maintaining and keeping inventory of said equipment. Goebel said the Otoe County Attorney has reviewed the agreement with no objections. This document must be signed and approved by all counties involved. Commissioner Schroder made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Kreifels to accept the amended agreement which will replace the previous agreement adopted in March of 2008. There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Schroder and Kreifels. Nay – none. Motion carried.

Janis Riege, Clerk of District Court, said it has come to her attention that the old tri-fold case files (dating as far back as 1860) cannot be destroyed; by statute they must be stored or microfilmed. Since the paper is very delicate, the files cannot be run through a document feeder, but must be taken apart and scanned in page by page. She took one of the files to a vendor to make sure the file was legible after it was microfilmed. The vendor said it would cost approximately $15,000 to microfilm the documents. Ms. Riege said Otoe County has received over $70,000 in the past five years from the federal government which is to be used for enhancement of Child Support Enforcement. The cost for microfilming these old records would be considered an eligible expense for use of this money, and only about $14,000 has been spent. An alternative option would be to find offsite storage space for the files; however, she felt that would only be a temporary fix because as new files are created, more space will be needed. The files are currently being stored in the jury room and the Judge would like to have them removed. Commissioner Schroder was concerned about approving payment for an unknown amount; he would like a firm quote and not an estimate. Ms. Riege said it’s hard for the vendor to give an exact figure without pulling every file apart. Since the files are delicate to handle, it will be a very time consuming process. She said she has worked with this vendor before and does not believe he would overcharge the County. She said the State Archives will keep the original microfilmed copies and the County is required to keep a duplicate set. Glen Steffensmeier said that he was told the life span of microfilmed documents is only 15 years. Jackie Smith asked if the County could save money by having county employees prepare the documents for microfilming. The Board asked Ms. Riege to try to get a firm quote from this vendor and possibly another quote from a second vendor.

There was some discussion regarding the question of whether to close the Courthouse on December 26^th. Dave Partsch, County Attorney, said the federal and state governments have declared the 26^th as a paid holiday. Many of the other counties in Nebraska plan to follow suit and close that day. County Court and the Probation Office will be closed since they are staffed by state employees. The County Attorney’s Office, the Veterans Service Office, Surveyor’s Office and District Court have already announced they will be closed. It has been past practice to follow the State & Federal declaration, although this situation does not occur very often. Commissioner Kreifels said it would be a good idea to add a clause to the Personnel Policy stating that if the State and Federal Governments declare a holiday, the County will declare the same. County Treasurer, Jackie Smith, said she was concerned that there is not much time for the County to notify the public of the closing. The manager of KNCY said they would be able to announce the closing several times on the radio; the County Clerk will notify the cable company of its revised holiday schedule. It could be posted on the County’s website as well as the news media’s websites. Commissioner Schroder made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Kreifels to close the Courthouse on Friday, December 26th. Someone in the audience asked if the Courthouse was going to be closed on Friday January 2^nd. The reply was no. There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Kreifels and Schroder. Nay – none. Motion carried.

Glen Steffensmeier, County Highway Superintendent, and Wally Pohlman and Rich Kuenning, Road Foremen, came before the Board to discuss road and bridge matters.

At the November 25, 2008, meeting, the County Board approved the vacation of a portion of S 72^nd Road located between Roads P and R. Since then, the County Surveyor was asked to write a legal description of the road being vacated and to incorporate the legal description into a resolution. Commissioner Kreifels made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Schroder to sign and adopt Resolution 2008-68 resolving to vacate a portion of S 72^nd Road located in Sections 30 and 19, Township 7, Range 15 with title of the vacated right-of-way reverting to the adjacent landowners. There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Schroder and Kreifels. Nay – none. Motion carried.

Project S-75-2 (1040) involves the construction of an overpass at the intersection Highways 75 and 2 south of Nebraska City. Steffensmeier said the County will inherit a rocked road and a portion of paved roadway after the project is complete. By signing the contract the County agrees to the State’s plan for the reconstruction of the interchange and to take responsibility for the new roads that will be constructed outside the corporate limits of Nebraska City. The NDOR will oversee the design and construction of the project and there will be no cost to the County. Commissioner Schroder asked if the State was going to retain controlled access from the relinquished roads. Steffensmeier said if federal funds are used in this project, then the NDOR will have controlled access. The City of Nebraska City has already signed a similar agreement with the NDOR. Steffensmeier said that the project start date has been pushed back due to a lack of funding; construction probably won’t begin before 2012. Steffensmeier said the Board must adopt a resolution to authorize the Chairman to sign the agreement. Commissioner Kreifels made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Schroder to sign Resolution 2008-69 directing the Board Chairman to execute the Construction Agreement with NDOR regarding Project S-75-2 (1040) Control No. 10800B. There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Kreifels and Schroder. Nay – none. Motion carried.

Dave Partsch, County Attorney, said he received an email from Kevin Brown, Local 251 Union President, stating that he was contacted by Foreman Wally Pohlman who wanted to donate some of his accumulated sick leave to another county employee. Since donation of sick leave is not included in the current contract, he said the Union would be willing to negotiate an exception that would allow the donation of sick leave. Partsh said if the Board desires to allow this donation of sick leave, he would draft a Memorandum of Understanding. Commissioner Schroder stated that this same request came up a few months ago involving a different person and it was denied. John Bebout said this situation involves an employee whose wife has cancer. He will be running out of vacation and sick time soon and would like to take time off to care for his wife. Commissioner Schroder said the Union did not want to negotiate a few months ago. He felt it would be discriminatory to allow someone to donate sick leave to this employee when the same request was made a few months ago involving a different employee who belongs to the same union. The Union could have reopened the contract for that person, but did not. Bebout said he has nothing against the other employee’s previous request, but doesn’t feel this is discrimination. Commissioner Schroder said he was not opposed to negotiating a donation of sick leave into the new contract, but doesn’t want to make any changes now. The old contract will expire June 30, 2009, so it will soon be time to start developing ideas for negotiation. Attorney Partsch said it probably would be a good idea to establish a pool of donated time where anyone can tap into it when needed.

James Cook asked Steffensmeier if he has completed the survey for NACO which is due December 31, 2008. Steffensmeier replied that NACO is conducting the survey to see how many projects there are statewide that would qualify for the stimulus package. The federal money will go to the State; then the State will divide it up among the counties. Steffensmeier said he will submit a list of federal aid road/bridge projects that have already been programmed before the survey deadline.

Jackie Schmitz, appeared before the Board to give a brief overview of the Otoe County Three Year Comprehensive Juvenile Services Plan for January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2011. The Partners for Otoe County Healthy Youth Committee began working on the plan in September. An assessment survey was conducted to identify gaps in the current juvenile justice system. They included early intervention services, substance abuse and mental health treatment that is affordable, parenting resources, after school programs, elementary guidance counseling, etc. The Top Four Community Problems listed were: 1) Underage drinking is at an unacceptable rate 2) Children are being exposed to and engaging in high risk behaviors at younger ages when compared to previous years. 3) Youth are often unsupervised when not in school. 4) Adequate financial and human resources for sustaining existing services are not available locally. Their primary goal for the next three years is to reduce youth involvement in risky behaviors by setting four objectives: 1) Reduce underage alcohol use. 2) Provide early intervention. 3) Increase youth involvement in constructive, supervised activities in and out of school. 4) Develop human and financial resources for sustaining a juvenile system in Otoe County. Among the proposed solutions were: Making sure liquor license holders are checked annually; implementing an “800” Party Tip Line for reporting underage drinking parties; focus on the prosecution of adults who are procuring liquor for minors; making counseling, child abuse training and other family resources more available; expanding after school programs; and implementing CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in Otoe County. Ms. Schmitz said PUFF will be applying for a juvenile service grant to get this project up and going. Today, she needs board approval so that the plan can be forwarded to the Crime Commission by the December 31^st deadline. Commissioner Schroder made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Kreifels to authorize Commissioner Schroder to sign and approve the proposed Juvenile Services Plan for Otoe County as presented by Ms. Schmitz. There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Schroder and Kreifels. Nay – none. Motion carried. As a side note, County Attorney Partsch said a Juvenile Court Judge from Sarpy County will be handling the juvenile cases in Otoe County beginning in January of 2009.

County Attorney Partsch said he drafted an RFP (Request for Proposal) soliciting for a keno operator that will be responsible for operating any keno-type lotteries in Otoe County pursuant to the Nebraska City and County Lottery Act. He said three entities - Bellevue Keno, Big Red Keno, and George Payne - have expressed interest in serving as the County’s operator. The County may advertise for more interested operators, although there is no requirement to advertise. He said, by using an RFP, operators will have to bid on what percentage of gross proceeds they will work for, but within the limits set by statute. He said the Board needs to decide whether they want to advertise for an RFP, send an RFP to all of the lottery operators listed with the State of Nebraska, or just send an RFP to the three who have already expressed interest. Commissioner Schroder made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Kreifels to advertise in the local newspaper for two consecutive weeks soliciting an RFP from keno operators and to send an RFP to the three parties who have already indicated an interest; all RFPs shall be returned to the County Clerk by 4:30 p.m. on January 23, 2009. There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Kreifels and Schroder. Nay – none. Motion carried.

Steve Zimmers, Extension Educator, presented the Board with a list of the following names for nomination as members to the Otoe County Extension Board: Lacey Teten Johnson, Carla Jensen, and Mary Powers as district representatives for a 3 year term; Cheryl Hobbie as 4-H Council President for a 1 year term; and Jan Malloy as the FCE President for a 1 year term. Commissioner Schroder made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Kreifels to appoint Lacey Teten Johnson, Carla Jensen, Mary Powers, Cheryl Hobbie and Jan Malloy to serve on the Otoe County Extension Board for the specified terms as stated above. There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Kreifels and Schroder. Nay – none. Motion carried.

Zimmers said the Extension Board is planning to propose changes in the bylaws. One of them will be to meet 6 times a year rather than 10 times. Another one is to change the method of appointing board members. The Extension Office recently sponsored an informational forum on wind turbines which was well attended.

County Attorney Dave Partsh led the discussion for adopting a resolution to set the Commissioner District boundary lines now that the majority of electors in Otoe County voted to expand the County Board’s membership from three to five. According to statute, it is the duty of the County Board to adopt new boundary lines. Partsch said that he and the County Clerk have spent many hours redrawing the lines to comply with statutory requirements that the districts be compact, contiguous and as nearly equal in population as possible using the 2000 Federal Census data. He showed several maps that were drawn using different combinations of precincts trying to meet the population and contiguous criteria. Since Nebraska City is located within Four Mile Precinct, it was a challenge to meet the contiguous requirement. However, since the northern end of 1^st Ward touches Wyoming precinct, that part of Nebraska City was combined with the rural area north of town. By combing 4^th Ward C and 4^th Ward A with Four Mile precinct and other surrounding rural areas, they created a second precinct involving rural and urban constituents; leaving only one precinct that is all inclusive in Nebraska City. With a 2000 census population of 15,396 the average population for each district was 3079. However, statute allows a differential of no more than 10% between the largest and smallest district. Therefore, the following districts were recommended: District 1 - to include 1^st Ward, and most of 2^nd Ward within Nebraska City, the rural precincts of Wyoming and Berlin plus that portion of the Village of Otoe that lies within North Branch precinct – population 3,230. District 2 - to include 3^rd Ward A, 3^rd Ward B and 4^th Ward B all within the corporate limits of Nebraska City – population 2,956. District 3 - to include 4^th Ward C, 4^th Ward A, and a small part of 2^nd Ward within Nebraska City and the rural precincts of Belmont, Four Mile, Rock Creek and Otoe – population 2,994. District 4 - to include the rural precincts of Syracuse, Delaware, Osage and McWilliams – population 3,236. District 5 - to include the rural precincts of North Palmyra, North Russell and North Branch except the area lying within the corporate limits of the Village of Otoe, South Palmyra, South Russell, Hendricks and South Branch – population 2,980.

A question arose from the audience regarding the districts for appointed Commissioner Kreifels and Commissioner elect Steve Lade. Partsch replied that since all five districts have new boundary lines current commissioners will serve in the district that they reside. Therefore, Commissioner Kreifels will still represent District 1 since that is where she resides and Steve Lade will be reassigned to District 5 where he resides. The Appointing Committee will now advertise and accept letters of interest and a resume’ from qualified applicants to fill the vacancies for Districts 2, 3 and 4. Larry Boardman was concerned that with the new boundary lines and the change in commissioner districts, he is now ineligible to apply for a Commissioner’s position. Partsch reminded the public that the three appointments will be for a short time; their terms will expire in January of 2011. There will be four commissioner races in 2010, those being races to represent Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4. The Commissioner from District 5 will not be up for re-election until 2012. In accordance with State Statute 32-528 (4), filings will be accepted for terms of two years and for terms of four years so that two commissioners will be elected to four-year terms at one election and three commissioners will be elected to four-year terms at the next election. Therefore, candidates for Districts 1, 2 and 3 will file for a four year term and candidates for District 4 will file for a two year term. Commissioner Schroder made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Kreifels to adopt Resolution 2008-70 defining the boundary lines for five commissioner districts as described above. There being no further discussion, Commissioner Schroder called for a vote. Voting aye were Commissioners Schroder and Kreifels. Nay – none. 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 adjourned the meeting at 11:12 a.m. but said that he and Commissioner Kreifels were going to meet later with the County Highway Superintendent to discuss bridge issues. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held January 13, 2009.

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 23^rd day of December 2008.

Janene Bennett

Otoe County Clerk