By Morgan Cardenas
editor@wayneherald.com
At Tuesday's meeting, the Wayne County Commissioners listened to many updates from the community.
First UNL Extension Educator, Amy Topp, presented the opportunity to have a county funded University of Nebraska Extension Assistant/employee and the Connect the Dots Career Exploration Program. The county funded employee would be to fill a 4-H assistant development position to help deliver and teach educational programming on positive youth development. The current position is funded by the county. Topp said that a benefit is that the employee could get up to 15 credit hours per year through UNL annually that they could use or be transferred to a dependent. The Commissioners voted to fund the position with two yeses and one no. The Connect the Dot Career Exploration Program is held for freshmen across the county. The cost is $2,000 and has been funded in the past by the county. The motion passed to fund the program.
Tammy Paustian, Treasurer, discussed the delinquent real estate tax sale return where eight parcels were sold for a total of $28,181.62 in taxes. The county only has two parcels left now in the 2020 real estate taxes to be paid that are not in public or county tax sale. There were originally 16 parcels for sale and three of them were in county tax sale that the landowner paid. There were seven investors.
Emergency Manager Nic Kemnitz talked about a couple different topics. First he discussed the Severe Weather Awareness Week that will take place March 21 through March 25. On Wednesday around 10 a.m., the National Weather Service will be doing their mock tornado warning drill in Wayne, Winside and Carroll. COVID-19 tests have been given to Kemnitz that are available to the general public. They are accessible at each courthouse and the public health district. If someone needs a test kit, they can give a call to Kemnitz's office phone number at (402) 833-5190. They installed a mailbox so when someone calls for a test kit, they can put the kit in the mailbox for the person to pick up, that way there is no contact with each other. Kemnitz also discussed the Avian Influenza. He received information on what to do with cases and are going to try to track workers to see how it is spreading. He explained that it is spread by wild birds.
Then, Highway Superintendent, Mark Casey, talked about the County Bridge Match Program Agreement with NDOR for CBMP(6). The Commissioners moved to sign the Resolution for County Bridge Match Program Agreement.
Finally, different offices in the county gave updates and reports on what they have been doing so far. First Sheriff Jason Dwinell told them about the cruiser that was sold. They sold for an average of $5,000 per piece. One of the deputies has taken classes to become an accident reconstructionist and will be taking additional classes to become accredited, making him an expert in the field and an expert testimony. They purchased equipment for him to fully use his skills.
Next Paustian talked about how they are working on the county abstract of assessment that will be due soon. They have sent out postcard reminders for personal property to remind everyone that they are due May 1. All of their changes have to be up to date by May 20.
Pat Brentlinger with maintenance is looking at windows to install. He has been doing research on the trees that were removed outside of the building and what they can replace them with. They are going to do a drill in the courthouse with the Severe Weather Awareness Week siren test. This way everyone knows what they are supposed to do if something happened.
Dawn Duffy, Assessor, talked about how they haven't had much change so far. They are preparing for tax exemptions for next month. Then, Deb Allemann-Dannelly, Clerk of District Court, explained that they haven't heard anything more about the court updates. She said that they would like security added to the office.
Secretary Deb Finn finished the reports by telling everyone about that they scanned all of their documents from 1975 until the current date. They are working to get the index books available online.
The Wayne County Board of Commissioners will next meet in regular session on Tuesday, April 5 at 9 a.m. in the Wayne County Courthouse.
