Leaked Letter About Gage County Livestock Regulations Creates Uproar

By Gordon HopkinsGage County Supervisors faced a full house Wednesday morning, August 6, when they met to discuss reviewing livestock regulations.Many of the people in attendance were livestock producers who are concerned about proposed changes outlined in a draft of a letter to be sent to Gage County’s Planning and Zoning Committee.Some supervisors were surprised by the crowd as the letter had not yet been released to the public. Indeed, some supervisors reported they had not received their copies until that morning.In 2023, a letter was sent from the Board of Supervisors to P&Z, asking them to review zoning regulations. P&Z reviewed and recommended no changes be made at that time as they wanted to have community outreach on all regulations as they were reviewed. A board subcommittee was formed consisting of board members Emily Haxby, Eddie Dorn and Dave Swavely, who gathered public input and drafted a letter with suggested changes from the information they received. Supervisor Haxby said the subcommittee got input from phone calls and public comments at board meetings, took the suggestions and made a draft letter. They then utilized legal guidance from the Gage County Attorney Roger Harris’ office.Supervisor Erich Tiemann explained it was that revised letter that was up for consideration by the board. The county attorney emphasized that the agenda for supervisors was just to approve or disapprove sending the draft letter to P&Z and that no changes to regulations were being made at the meeting.Supervisor Rex Adams expressed concern that they had only just received the revised letter that day and were already expected to vote on it.Harris insisted that the reason for the short timing was simply a scheduling situation, not an attempt to hide anything.A number of livestock producers had copies of the draft letter but it was unclear which version. The draft letter had only recently been revised.It was also not made clear in the meeting how those producers obtained the letter. Braden Dvorak with the county attorney’s office stated that the original version of the letter had been sent out by P&Z administrator Lisa Wiegand to the P&Z Commission members, but doesn’t know if any of those members passed it on to others. Supervisor Rex Adams said to those who had received a copy of the letter, “My biggest concern over this whole thing, you guys obviously know more than I do, because today I was the first day I got the draft. That troubles me, that round up the army before anything’s even taking place, as far as we’re concerned.”

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