Commissioners Asked To Work Together, Leave Agendas At Home

Dean Smith pulls ice chunks out of a cooler during the commissioners discussion on ice sling from wind towers.

A crowd of 130 people packed the Neligh American Legion on Tuesday morning to attend the Antelope County Commissioners meeting. The meeting was moved to the Legion due to the large crowd expected.

All five commissioners were present for the three and a half hour meeting: Tom Borer, Charlie Henery, Eli Jacob, Dean Smith and Allan Bentley.

Following the heated discussion at last month’s meeting, Antelope County Clerk Lisa Payne said she reflected on it, and decided she wanted to address the new commissioners—Borer, Smith and Bentley.

In her statement Tuesday, she said the new commissioners stated multiple times during the Jan. 8 meeting that they were “elected to do this or do that.” Payne said several other county officials were also elected at that same time, some of them for their “second, third or more terms.”

“We were elected to work for the public, with each other and follow the statutes,” she said. “All of us take that seriously and to heart.”

Payne said all of the officials felt as if they were “on trial” during the January meeting.

“Your actions, tones and lack of respect was unwanted and uncalled for,” she said. “Multiple times during the meeting in January, you were asked to come talk to the officials, talk to the offices, etc. To this day, I have not had one of you in to ask the question, see how things are done and why we do them that way. Time and again, for the past three weeks, I received an email after—only after—you contacted someone else, be it NACO, NIRMA, your private attorney or any combination of people. These actions show distrust and a lack of willingness to work with the officials.”

Payne encouraged the new commissioners to “get to know the officials and their offices.”  

“All private agendas need to stay at home,” she said. “Your actions affect Antelope County residents, officials, employees and our families. We don’t get to choose which residents we represent, we have to act for the good of the entire county and I truly believe, working together, we can do great things. My mother always said, ‘You have two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk.’”

Payne challenged them “to work for the good of the people and the good of Antelope County.”

Following her statement, the large crowd erupted into applause.

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Bethany Miller of Elgin spoke next, offering “a letter of intent” to the new commissioners, in support of the other elected county officials.

“Our county has been audited by the State of Nebraska over the last five years,” Miller said. “To the best of our knowledge, the documents available to the public show not one dime missing.”

She said supporters hope the board will “move forward in a spirit of continuity to bring all offices together.”

“A critical spirit will only cause division, separation and the lack of productivity,” Miller said. “Our hope and prayer is that all future board meetings will not be a repeat of your very first board meeting. You guys have the power to either divide or unite if you so choose. Please choose to unite.”

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​In other matters, the board: 

​•Tabled a decision on signing the contract with Applied Technologies for IT services, changing email addresses to a more secure platform and adding technology to the commissioners meeting room;

•Discussed the liability of ice sling falling from wind turbines onto the county roads. A company spokesman said their “winter ice operation mode” shuts down turbines in hazardous weather situations in which the wind reaches 25-30 mph. The commissioners decided to come up with a list of questions for Invenergy and report back;

•Heard from two companies regarding the possibility of the county becoming self-insured—Hammer Insurance and Heritage Financial;

•Approved changing Casey Dittrich’s title from Road Boss to Road Superintendent;

•Requested that Invenergy present a plan at the next meeting to repair the Royal and Pierce roads;

•Approved purchasing a reflectometer off the state bid for $8,958;

•Decided to get more information from the State of Nebraska about a Highway 275 project that may impact 851 Road;

•Asked the county attorney to research an easement issue with Elkhorn Rural Public Power District;

•Decided not to purchase cell phones for county officials;

•Discussed GPS tracking equipment for county road vehicles;

•Discussed directing the county attorney to draft a resolution allowing members of the finance committee to have access to financial institutions as requested by Bentley. He said it was requested “to fully understand the budget.” The assessor and treasurer both said there are already monthly budget reports completed. “I just don’t see the point in this,” Deb Branstiter said. Sheriff Bob Moore said Bentley had already sent an email requesting to see the front and back of all of his credit cards. When he asked if Smith was aware of the email, Smith avoided answering the question at first and later responded, “I can’t remember.” Moore said a receipt is attached to every claim and it’s then presented to the board. “The bottom line is follow the paperwork,” he said. Jennifer Blackburn-Nielsen told the commissioners that credit card statements are public information. “Please do your due diligence and look for the information you are requesting before you start slinging accusations and causing more trouble than what it’s worth,” she told the commissioners. The matter was tabled, pending a meeting between the county attorney and the finance committee; 

•Approved a $300 promotional fund grants for the Neligh Chamber of Commerce BRAN event and the Ag and Home Expo;

•Approved a $1,500 improvement grant for the New Moon Community Theater;

•Borer discussed the HHS office needing attention due to the cold. Marlene Schindler said a power outage temporarily knocked out power for the heater’s motor, but “it’s working fine now.” Payne told the board “again, if you would’ve asked, we would’ve told you that it was fixed and it wouldn’t have had to be an agenda item;” and

•Borer requested monthly budget reports from county officials. The assessor informed him that “it’s already done monthly.” Payne reiterated, “Again, if you would’ve asked, it wouldn’t have had to been an agenda item.”