From the Supervisor’s Desk

By Don Schuller 1/8/24 Committee MeetingHighway Superintendent Mark Kuhnke told the board that he had a discussion with Township Organization Chairman Alan Wiese about townships bidding their own rock. The county can get a better bid because it gets a larger amount compared to the townships.Topics to be discussed at the annual township meeting include rock size requests by townships and thoughts on combining some townships for motor grader and operator sharing purposes only. Research of state statutes will be needed to determine what is allowed.A dust control policy for the county and townships has been under review but will not reach a conclusion before the annual township meeting. This is in reference to requests for the application of dust reducing products to gravel roads. I received a letter of explanation from County Attorney Roger Harris which I will share with my email list and post on my Facebook page.I informed the board that I have received phone calls with concerns because banisters have not been replaced on East Plum Road on Kinney Hill after shouldering was completed. I expressed this concern at a previous meeting. No change of position on this from Kuhnke or Tiemann. Reflectors will be installed with no banisters.1/10/24 Regular meetingElection of officers:Supervisor Erich Tiemann was nominated for chairman and was unanimously re-elected.I nominated Gary Lytle for vice chair. Supervisor Eddie Dorn nominated Emily Haxby. Haxby was re-elected by a 5 to 2 vote. Other new year reorganization votes were conducted.Upon request, the designation of an official county newspaper was removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda. Previously three newspapers had the designation: The Voice News, Hickman, The Wymore Arbor State, and the Beatrice Daily Sun (BDS). Discussion centered on the Arbor State no longer being in business. I said the Fairbury Journal News (FJN), took over covering southern Gage County. I stated my belief that FJN is more widely read in southern Gage than BDS. I also said The Voice is widely read in northern Gage County. Both of these papers do a great job.Lytle moved to designate the Beatrice Daily Sun as the official newspaper. Motion seconded by Haxby. Lytle said it doesn’t lock the board into only using BDS as the sole official paper. Motion was approved 6 to 1 with my vote being nay. I think we should have continued with the three newspapers. It was stated that we will revisit this next year leaving open the possibility of going back to three papers.Public comment:Steve Knocke, Virginia, spoke to the board about the three miles of 162nd Rd from Virginia south. He asked the board to pursue grants for funds to hard surface those three miles. Approximately a half dozen people from the Virginia/Liberty area were present. Supervisor Haxby continues to work on grant applications for bridges and roads.The annual Township meeting will be Feb. 8th, Vet’s Club, Beatrice, starting at 6:00 or 7:00 p.m., exact time has not been determined. It will serve as an outreach meeting to gather survey information from the public. Therefore the public is invited to attend. I requested that the Virginia road (162nd) three miles hard surfacing project be added to the survey or another survey be created. Chairman Tiemann said it is too late to add it. He said the board will continue to search for grants for this project but no survey will be conducted at this time.Sheriff Millard Gustafson told the board the department has been covering Wymore for law enforcement when the Wymore police chief is off duty. Wymore has only one officer. Since last August to the end of last December the sheriff’s department has answered 244 calls. The Wymore department has answered 202 calls during that same time frame.Gage County Tourism Coordinator Dakota Hurley and Barneston Community Center board member, Betsy Frerichs, presented a grant request of $23,000 in county funds to build new bathrooms on the community center. They are badly needed. The old restrooms are located in the basement and are not ADA compliant. The stairs are narrow and steep. Safety on the stairs is a concern. They have had many issues with the old plumbing. The building is used for many activities, such as youth /adult sports and community activities, throughout the year and will be used more with improved bathroom facilities. The designs they have are estimated to cost between $100,000 and $110,000. Frerichs said they have collected and saved money and that, together with a $23,000 grant, will provide half the funding needed. They will seek other grants for the remainder.Supervisors Lytle, Jurgens, Tiemann and I spoke highly of the project and the community center itself. I am pleased to see people take an interest, volunteer to be on the board, and thereby keep the center a viable asset to the community. Lytle moved to approve $23,000 from the Visitor Improvement Fund grant program. Motion seconded by Dorn. And carried unanimously. The money for the grant is obtained from the lodging tax and is designated for visitor improvements.Sheriff Gustafson told the board that Deputy Hagar completed training at the National Association of School Resource officers. The course allowed him to have the qualification to start as a School Resource officer. He will be working with all public schools in the county, with the exception of Beatrice Public Schools. BPS currently has two resource officers.This highlights the portions of the county meetings I feel are most relevant to my constituents.Use the link below to view the actual minutes and hear audio of the board meeting, when posted.https://gagecountynebraska.us/board_meetings/enhanced_minutes.aspxSee this on Facebook: Don Schuller – Public Servant.

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