Submitted by

Mary Kay Schultejans

County Clerk

The Board of Nemaha County Commissioners met in regular session on Monday, Nov. 6, in the Commissioner’s Room of the Nemaha County Courthouse. The meeting was called to order with Chairman Jason Koch leading the flag salute. Present also were Commissioners Ben Glace and Dylan Keim, County Administrator Mike Miller, and County Clerk Mary Kay Schultejans recording the minutes.

Pastor Kale Lang led those present in an opening prayer to begin the meeting this morning.

No one came before the board to speak during today’s open public forum. The board agreed to amend the agenda and end public forum early and move on to the Road and Bridge/Solid Waste Report.

Department Reports

Road and Bridge/Solid Waste Supervisor Adam Kuckelman, along with Office Manager Kathy Haverkamp, advised the board that:

• The guys will finish hauling chips this week.

• The guys will be blade patching in a few places this week as well.

• The bridge guys continue to work on Bridge R-38.

• Bridge N-31 near Mike Heinen’s residence is off of the county’s inventory.

• Hall Brothers will have millings available next season from the local area at a cost of $9 per ton delivered. Kuckelman asked the commissioners if they thought the county should purchase any of these millings. The commissioners advised Kuckelman to try to purchase 10,000 tons if possible.

Emergency Preparedness Director Eddie Aldrine advised the board that:

• He had the drone out over the weekend searching for somebody who was involved in a roll-over accident near the Old Nemaha Lake.

• Nemaha County did not qualify for FEMA public assistance money following the June 29 wind storm that occurred.

• Aldrine received bids for the repair of the tailgate on the Emergency Preparedness truck. The board asked County Administrator Miller to speak to SBS Insurance Services about this issue.

• Nemaha County’s Local Emergency Operations Plan is in final review with the State at this time.

• Aldrine has submitted the grant application for the purchase of a tornado siren for the Old Sabetha Lake.

• Aldrine was at nuclear radiation incident training last week in Nevada. He stated that the cost of this training was completely covered by the federal government. Aldrine shared with the commissioners some of what was covered during this training.

County Administrator Miller discussed with the board and Aldrine having a cyber audit done at Nemaha County.

Miller let the commissioners know that he spoke with the CEO from Ag Partners Cooperative who stressed the need for a county plan to leverage grant funding at the State level for high-speed internet access and child care in Nemaha County. Miller also let the board know that he spoke with representatives from the Nemaha County Step Foundation who informed him that they don’t feel that they have the funding necessary to increase mid-range housing in Nemaha County. Miller also let the commissioners know that he spoke with the Harvey County Administrator, who informed him that they use Computer Information Concepts and Time Clock Plus to do payroll like Nemaha County does, and that he thought that we could automate more processes in the payroll system than we do now.

Senior Services/Public Transit Director Tammy Epple came before the board to have the commissioners sign a commitment letter for the Transportation Grant for 2025. The board signed the letter as presented.

Sheriff Rich Vernon left paperwork that showed that he has moved Dayton Quint from Deputy Level 1 to Deputy Level 2, effective Oct. 21. He also has hired Shailea Cox as a Communications Officer to begin work for the county on Nov. 6 at a rate of pay of $18.74 per hour.

Also at the meeting:

The board reviewed and approved the minutes from the Oct. 30 meeting.

Koch nominated Keim to be the voting delegate at the KWORCC annual meeting to be held during the upcoming Kansas Association of Counties meeting in Wichita. Glace seconded the motion. The motion carried with Koch and Glace voting aye and Keim voting nay. Chairman Jason Koch signed the Certification of Voting Delegate form as presented.

Chairman Koch left the meeting at 10:30 a.m.

The commissioners approved the purchase and installation of two Power Over Ethernet switches from Bachelor Controls for use at the Nemaha County Courthouse.

The board reviewed vouchers submitted by the different departments to be paid on Nov. 7. The commissioners approved the warrants to be paid on Nov. 7 as presented.

The board held a 15-minute executive session to discuss the pay and performance of non-elected personnel. Present for the executive session was the Board of Commissioners and County Administrator Miller. The commissioners requested to extend the executive session for an additional 10 minutes. The meeting returned to open session with no action taken by the board following the executive session.

Chairman Koch returned to the meeting at 11:35 a.m.

With no further county business coming before the board, the meeting adjourned at 12 p.m. The next regularly scheduled meeting was held on Monday, Nov. 13. These minutes were not available at The Herald’s press time.