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Commissioners OK bridge study, new guidelines
McCOOK, Neb. -- Red Willow County commissioners agreed on a bridge study, new guidelines for hazardous materials waste charges and sick days for jailers Monday morning, during their first meeting of 2016.
Board members will officially reorganize their positions and responsibilities for 2016 during their meeting Monday, Jan. 11.
Commissioners authorized county surveyor Gary Dicenta to conduct a hydraulic study on bridge No. 14020P, across the Beaver Creek between Lebanon and the Furnas County line in southeast Red Willow County, near the Butch Jolly and Dick Martin farmsteads.
Dicenta said the existing bridge is a timber structure. The study will determine the type of structure (bridge or possibly a culvert) needed to meet 100-year flood requirements and flood plain requirements.
The bridge as it is now is not unsafe to cross, said commissioner Earl McNutt. "It's not going to fall down today." Dicenta said it's wise to determine how to replace the aging structure, to be proactive, to take care of the bridge before it becomes a concern and, of course, when it is less expensive to replace.
Dicenta broke down into four tasks the process required to replace the 14020P Bridge and another one just to the west, No.05305. Commissioners prioritized the 14020P bridge.
"Task 1" of the study will include a preliminary site inspection and a preliminary survey; determine design flows of the creek; create a model of the existing bridge and a model(s) of an acceptable replacement structure(s); and provide preliminary cost estimates. Task 1 will cost the county $4,500.
McNutt said that a replacement structure would be paid for by selling bonds, the repayments of which would be made with federal buy-back funds designated for bridges.
With the recommendation and approval of county auditor Donald Wilson, changes will be made in the billing processes of the county's household hazardous waste collection department.
Wilson identified "internal control weakness" in the billing/payment processes of Bill Elliott's HHW department :
-- Not remitting payment of services in a timely manner to the county treasurer, citing two payments totaling $27,968 that were not remitted to the county treasurer for two to three months following receipt of their payment.
-- Unpaid invoices for services which were not followed up on to ensure collection, including six invoices totaling $51,962, two of which for $5,110 that are eight months old or older. This practice also leads to the appearance that the department exceeds its adopted budget, McNutt said. Elliott told commissioners that the organizations and city/county governments for which his department conducts household hazardous waste collections are often paid/reimbursed by the State of Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality on a quarterly basis, therefore making payment to Red Willow County at the end of a quarter.
"These are all reputable people," Elliott said. "They're governmental entities too, just like us." He admitted that some of the weaknesses pointed out by Wilson are the result of his (Elliott's) own office and bookwork inefficiencies, but he pointed out that these entities must also most times work within the payment timeframes of their own counties and/or the state.
Elliott said that he and Wilson agreed that Elliott will continue to send out invoices to those entities for which he collects waste, but the invoices will direct that payments be remitted directly to the county treasurer. Elliott will make copies of invoices for Garcia, and Garcia will make copies of receipts of payment for Elliott.
Wilson said this process will ensure that the treasurer's office is monitoring when and whether HHW invoices are paid.
McNutt asked Elliott to rewrite the contracts he enters into with the entities to outline timely payment of the bills. It is already on the invoices, Elliott said.
Commissioners will respond to Wilson's concerns about internal control weaknesses in writing, outlining the corrective actions they agreed upon.
As of Jan.4, the county employee handbook will specify explicitly how many hours make a sick day, defining an eight-hour sick day for 40-hour-a-week employees and a seven-hour sick day for 35-hour-a-week employees. The question of what constitutes a sick "day" came about because the sheriff's department jailers work 12-hour shifts and wondered if they get 12 hours off for a "sick day."
County clerk Tami Teel told commissioners that over the length of a year, a jailer works on average a 40-hour work week. Commissioners determined that they then would qualify for a sick "day" of eight hours, like other 40-hour-a-week county employees.
Crystal Vette, a diversion officer with the Lutheran Family Services office in McCook, presented for signature by county board chairman Vesta Dack LFS' request for $88,044 for a Nebraska Crime Commission Community-Based Juvenile Services Grant for 2016. The grant is matched with $5,280 in in-kind labor and services.
LFS provides juvenile services for the six-county area of Southwest Nebraska.
New members of the County Visitors Board will be Jim Zader and Ryan Fuller, replacing Doug Vap and Laura Ford. Zader's term will expire Dec. 31, 2017; Fuller's will expire Dec. 31, 2019.
Commissioners also reappointed Perry Strombeck to the visitors board; his term will also expire at the end of 2019.