WAYNE – With the majority of the crowd attending the Wayne County Board of Commissioners being landowners or have interest in the carbon pipelines, a good portion of Tuesday’s meeting was informational.
From the Wayne County Courthouse courtroom, Jane Kleeb with BOLD Nebraska and the Nebraska Easement Action Team (NEAT), did most of the talking.
Kleeb shared concerns about the carbon pipelines and provided information to the board about what the county officials can do. With both Navigator Heartland Greenway and Summit Carbon Solutions being two of the carbon pipelines going through land acquisitions with Wayne County landowners, BOLD Nebraska is looking to protect the landowners against eminent domain.
Kleeb mentioned that county officials could require pipeline companies provide setback information, their construction process, road haul agreements, trash removal, pipeline depth emergency response and deal with abandonment of the carbon pipelines.
Shelli Meyer with the group also shared her concerns for her fellow landowner neighbors about stress levels and anxiety.
The group wanted the commissioners to at least not sign an agreement with the pipeline companies until the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) come out with regulations. BOLD Nebraska and the Nebraska Easement Action Team will plan on filling their lawsuits once eminent domain is used.
No action was taken by the board following the presentation.
A new Veterans Service Officer was introduced being Yancey Keiser following a recommendation form the Vets Service Committee. Commissioners accepted the terms and set a wage of $20.51 per hour Monday through Friday during the courthouse hours.
Wayne County Emergency Manager, Nic Kemnitz provided a list of events he has attended or plans to attend. On April 10, Kemnitz distributed ID cards to the Village of Hoskins during their board meeting, he also attended the Village of Carroll Board meeting to review their section of the Wayne County Local Emergency Operations Plan and reminded the commissioners about Tuesday evening’s free storm spotter training course put on by the National Weather Service at the Fire Hall (starting at 7 p.m.).
Along with assistance from Amanda Hawthorne, Wayne PD dispatch and Brian Kesting from the City of Wayne, the three have been working with Regroup Mass Notification as they transitioned the Wayne County system from 1.0 to the 2.0 platform. Everything is the same, with just an updated user interface that allows more options for the users. (click below).
Regroup Mass Notification 4-18-23
Upcoming events Kemnitz will be attending include the Missouri National Recreational River – Siouxland Subarea exercise in Yankton, SD from April 25 – 27 as well as an annual ID Card training and exercise in Grand Island from May 18 – 21.
During a bid opening for the replacement of retaining walls in District II (Dean Burbach), one bid was introduced and accepted from Norfolk Contracting for $124,811 pertaining to a bridge at the junction of 564th Ave. and 860th Rd. near Carroll. Work would begin on August 30 for the contractor’s portion and should only take a few weeks.
Another upcoming bid opening is scheduled for May 2 for the Wavy Bridge four miles east of Winside and just a bit north of 572nd Ave.
The agenda item featuring an ARPA fund application for a fire siren for the Village of Hoskins was tabled as the board also decided to leave the application period open.
Jill Brodersen gave an update on the courthouse window replacement project. Commissioners are looking at a total of 103 windows to be replaced. The existing windows will come out and be cleaned to the original masonry framing. Work would be completed on both the inside and outside of the courthouse while pre-construction meetings would be held ahead of time to avoid any disturbance.
A bid opening has been set for Tuesday, May 9 at 10 a.m.
Maintenance discussion continued with Pat Brentlinger for the Wayne County Courthouse grounds and building. The main topic was getting bids on what it would cost to purchase a full size generator to power both the courthouse and sheriff’s office in case of an emergency and the city generator was down. Brentlinger and Kemnitz will make some more phone calls and gather the preliminary numbers for the board.
The next regularly scheduled Wayne County Board of Commissioners meeting will be on Tuesday, May 2.
