The Wayne County Commissioners voted to appoint Commissioner Dean Burbach to serve as a representative to the Wayne Community Development Housing Board of Directors.
Among other items, the board also reviewed more chapters of the County Personnel Policy and tabled action for the Northeast Nebraska Public Health Department.
They also removed an agenda item, hearing updates from Julie Schulz about the UNL Extension office. Schulz could not attend the meeting and will give updates in the future.
Luke Virgil, executive director of Wayne Area Economic Development, attended the meeting to hear the boards decision on the nomination of a county representative. He plans to present the information of Burbach's appointment to the board of directors.
The Northeast Nebraska Public Health Department requested ARPA funds from the county in the amount of $125,000. This, to help fund their future construction of $900,000. The new building will act as an extension of the current office and provide necessary space for the growing operation and will potentially be located near Family 1st Dental.
The Commissioners decided to table the decision until the first meeting in November. Sandra Hanson, disaster recovery specialist for the county, advised the board to wait until the NNPHD has the opportunity to receive three bids. If they receive no bids, then they could accept the $900,000 bid.
County Treasurer Lisa Lindsay presented the annual report on delinquent taxes. No delinquent taxes exist from 2021. Also from 2021, there are nine personal property taxes undeclared and in 2022, 48. In late September, the county sent those 48 people and businesses a 20 day notice.
Out of 2022, 98.91% of taxes have been collected, with $310,000 remaining.
Steve Muir, a representative from Agri-City Insurance, offered information on the United Healthcare Premium Rebate Check. In 2023, this amounted to $27,638.20, $3,000 more than 2021.
Every five years, the Commissioners need to revote on the Local Emergency Operations Plan. Nic Kemnitz, emergency manager, has worked on updates for several months to best serve our county, he said. The board passed the adoption of this new plan unanimously.
Kemnitz also gave office updates in which he discussed investigating a natural gas leak in Wayne last Thursday and will attend the Integrated Preparedness Planning Workshop in Lincoln on Oct. 16.
Mark Casey approached the Commissioners with a letter from Fastwyre Broadband. The company wishes to put in fiber optic cables within the county, but have gone back and forth with Commissioners about the depth to bury these cables.
Fastwyre proposed to dig four feet under ditches, four feet under culverts under 36 inches, eight feet under culverts over 36 inches and 15 feet under bridges.
The Commissioners, because of the amount of maintenance done in ditches in the area, said they will stand by the requirement of eight feet under ditches.
Board members and County Attorney Amy Miller ended the meeting with an executive session on personnel matters.
The next meeting of the Wayne County Commissioners will be held on Oct. 16 at 9 a.m.
