Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Sorted by date Results 401 - 425 of 425
Antelope County Commissioners adopted a new snow removal policy when they met last Tuesday at the courthouse in Neligh. Casey Dittrich, road superintendent, presented the policy that he and road foreman Aaron Boggs have been drafting over the past few weeks, with input from Tim Baxter from the Nebraska Intergovernmental Risk Management Agency, the county’s liability-insurance carrier. Input also came from road crew members and, according to Dittrich, has the “blessing” of county attorney Joe Abler. The policy establishes protocol for the order...
The Antelope County Road Department is responsible for providing snow removal for approximately 1,300 miles of gravel and asphalt county roads. The department attempts to maintain adequate traction for vehicles properly equipped for winter driving conditions. Planning for a winter storm is difficult. The differences in rate of snowfall, moisture content, temperature, time of day and wind velocity make each storm unique. However, it is the intent of this program to establish general policies and...
With a full board seated at the table, the Antelope County commissioners addressed dust issues on a county road for the second week in a row. Commissioners Carolyn Pedersen and Regina Krebs, who were appointed to fill vacancies the week prior, were sworn into office by Linda Mitchell, Antelope County court magistrate, prior to the nearly six-hour meeting at the courthouse in Neligh last Tuesday, Nov. 12. Tension appeared as issues arose regarding timing of agenda disbursement to commissioners,...
Two rural Clearwater women have been appointed to fill vacancies on the Antelope County Board of Commissioners. Regina Krebs and Carolyn Pedersen fill board vacancies created by the Oct. 15 recall of commissioners Tom Borer and Allen Bentley, who were elected to the board last November. Pedersen will represent District Five and Krebs, District Three. A panel of Antelope County officials, clerk Lisa Payne, attorney Joe Abler and treasurer Deb Branstiter, interviewed seven potential commissioners...
Dean Smith of Brunswick presided over his first meeting as chairman of the Antelope County commissioners last Tuesday, moving to the position from vice chairman after the former chair was removed from office. Two new commissioners had not yet been appointed, leaving Smith, Charlie Henery and Eli Jacob as seated board members to take care of business. The board addressed issues related to a road included in the Thunderhead wind farm road-use agreement. Listed on the agenda under the road...
The condition of an Antelope County road that connects U.S. Highway 275 and U.S. Highway 20 - a road that will see an increase in traffic if Tuesday's Summerland school bond is approved - was a discussion point during recent informational community meetings. It's a topic that has also been discussed at the school board level and during subcommittee meetings throughout the process, according to Dale Martin, superintendent of Nebraska Unified District #1. "Roads haven't been ignored. The focus...
Two new Antelope County Commissioners will be sworn in when the group meets in regular session, Tuesday, Nov. 12. Regina Krebs and Carolyn Pedersen will fill vacancies following the Oct. 15 recall of commissioners Tom Borer and Allen Bentley. Pedersen will represent District Five, while Krebs will assume duties in District Three. Antelope County Clerk Lisa Payne, county attorney Joe Abler and county treasurer Deb Branstiter met with potential candidates Thursday, in public session, at the...
Two Antelope County residents have submitted applications to fill the seats of recently recalled county commissioners Allan Bentley and Tom Borer. As of press time Tuesday afternoon, Antelope County Clerk Lisa Payne had received two applications, one for each involved district. Applications may still be submitted for the positions. Candidates must be registered voters in, and residents of, their respective commissioner districts, either District 3 or District 5. District 3 includes the north half of Neligh Township, all of Blaine and Ellsworth...
An Antelope County commissioner will face a jury of his peers in the county courtroom in January, more than a year after the alleged theft of county property. Eli Jacob, 66, of Clearwater, who is accused of taking a furnace from the Orchard county barn last January, faced the Honorable Donna Taylor last Wednesday for a pretrial hearing in the case. Madison County Attorney Joseph Smith, as special prosecutor for Antelope County, told Taylor he anticipates a two-day trial, possibly three days,...
Ballots for the proposed Summerland school building project were expected to be mailed Wednesday, Oct. 23. That's a change from information presented during an informational meeting, Oct. 20, in Orchard. During the meeting, an estimated mailing date of Oct. 28 was mentioned. Tobin Buchanan, financial analyst for First National Capital Markets, said after visiting with election commissioners in Antelope and Holt counties, Oct. 21, they agreed to mailing ballots Wednesday, due to turn-around...
Voters in two Antelope County commissioner districts spoke, ousting District 3 Commissioner Allan Bentley, of Neligh, and District 5 Commissioner Tom Borer, of Elgin. Unofficial results show 307 votes to recall Bentley, with 174 votes favoring his retention. In District 5, 337 votes were cast to recall Borer, while 187 no votes were returned. The canvassing board was scheduled to meet Wednesday, Oct. 16, to verify results. Pending verification, the two officials will receive notification of the...
The Antelope County Commissioners worked through their agenda in short order Oct. 8, at the Neligh courthouse, authorizing claims and payroll before hearing Casey Dittrich's road report and a complaint that had been posted on social media. "We had some complaints about south of Clearwater, grinding up the road," Dittrich said. "I reached out to some of the people who started a post on Facebook that's gained a lot of attraction," he said. The road in question is 846 Road, from the bridge...
Drama unfolded once again and the county attorney was called in for advice at a meeting of the Antelope County commissioners at the Neligh courthouse last Tuesday, Oct. 1. The final item on the agenda, taxpayer concerns/general comment/Regina Krebs, was moved up. Krebs assists various county officials and subdivisions with budget preparation and, in her capacity as a certified public accountant, has conducted audits of public entities, including Antelope County in years past. She introduced...
A special mail-in election, underway in Antelope County, will close next Tuesday, Oct. 15. County Clerk Lisa Payne has hired a receiving/counting board to help process ballots that day. County voters in two of the county's five commissioner districts received ballots through the United States Postal Service last week. The ballots ask voters if elected officials, Allan Bentley and Tom Borer, should be removed from their positions as county commissioners. "When a ballot is returned, it is logged...
Antelope County commissioners, after hearing comments from several constituents and county officials at a pair of public hearings Sept. 17, adopted the budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. The $19,155,429 budget includes asking for $6,114,213 from taxpayers next year through a county levy of .246195. In order to balance all components of the budget, the levy computed by County Clerk Lisa Payne is about one-fourth cent more than the 2.5-cent increase proposed by commissioners in early...
Antelope County's annual audit report was released by the Nebraska auditor of public accounts office in August with fewer issues of concern to auditors than found in the previous audit of county financials. The single countywide issue prompted repeated advice for segregation of duties in offices. The NPA recommended officials weigh the cost to hire additional personnel against the benefit of segregating duties. County Attorney Joe Abler responded, "As noted and discussed during the previous...
Attendees at the Sept. 10 Antelope County Commissioners' meeting at Neligh's courthouse found new accommodations for hearing county business. A new sound system, including microphones in front of each commissioner, County Clerk Lisa Payne and at the witness table, had been installed. Commissioner Dean Smith acknowledged Invenergy officials for the donation. "I think it is much needed, I have always felt that it was. I appreciated you doing that for the county," he said. "I think it will be a...
County leaders spent about an hour mulling six “options” for managing Antelope County’s finances in the coming year, when they met last week at the courthouse in Neligh. Lisa Payne, county clerk, presented the commissioners with six scenarios for the annual budget, ranging from what she called the “golden egg” with its seven-cent levy increase, to one that called for no change in the county’s slice of a taxpayer’s pie. She cautioned that the figures were “very preliminary,” intended to give the commissioners a picture to work from. The high en...
The atmosphere in the supervisors’ room at the Antelope County courthouse in Neligh became a bit explosive for a while last Thursday morning. A special Aug. 22 meeting of the county commissioners had been set, exclusively, for budget discussion. However, an item for setting the date of a special recall election was added to the agenda by Lisa Payne, county clerk. As the meeting began, Tom Borer, commission chairman, asked for a motion to remove the item from the agenda. Dean Smith complied, offering the motion. “I think we should wait for the c...
Two residents of the Royal community faced the Antelope County commissioners at their Aug. 13 meeting, asking the county leaders to intercede in the case of a dog running at large. Marlowe Jensen and Justin Jensen came to the meeting armed with copies of state statutes dealing with dangerous dogs, claiming the documents required the county sheriff to bring charges against the dog’s owner. “I was harassed by a dog,” Marlowe Jensen said, adding “It chased a deputy into Justin’s house.” “It’s the only dog in town that’s running loose,” his son s...
Antelope County Attorney Joe Abler contacted local media outlets, Aug. 19, issuing the following statement about the upcoming recall election of Antelope County Commissioners Tom Borer and Allan Bentley. Abler sent the statement to the Summerland Advocate-Messenger, The Elgin Review and Antelope County News, at 2:21 p.m., asking that the statement is published in its entirety if publishers choose to print it. Dear Antelope County Residents and Registered Voters: As I am sure you have all heard...
The Antelope County commissioners approved preliminary levy allocation requests from political subdivisions, when they met at the courthouse in Neligh on Aug. 6. Regina Krebs addressed the commissioners regarding annual levy allocations for the subdivisions, including rural fire districts, the Antelope County Ag Society and the Antelope County Airport Authority. In past years, the board had sometimes denied the subdivision levy requests, in order to allow the county general budget to levy the...
Two Antelope County Commissioners will face a recall election after petition circulators submitted notarized forms to the Antelope County clerk Tuesday morning. Bethany Miller, of Elgin, and Jack Allemang, of Clearwater, presented petitions for the recall of district five commissioner Tom Borer, of rural Clearwater, and district three commissioner Allan Bentley, of Neligh, respectively. Petition circulators needed to collect 135 signatures to recall Bentley, while 203 needed to be gathered to...
Antelope County Attorney Joe Abler contacted local media outlets, Aug. 19, issuing the following statement about the upcoming recall election of Antelope County Commissioners Tom Borer and Allan Bentley. Abler sent the statement to the Summerland Advocate-Messenger, The Elgin Review and Antelope County News, at 2:21 p.m., asking that the statement is published in its entirety if publishers choose to print it. Dear Antelope County Residents and Registered Voters: As I am sure you have all heard...
Findings by a private law firm, engaged by the Antelope County commissioners to investigate one of their own, was made public recently, after the investigation itself became the focus in efforts to recall two commissioners. Woods & Aitken LLP, a firm with offices in Lincoln and Omaha, was hired to conduct an independent investigation of Eli Jacob, Antelope County commissioner and former road department worker, after he was accused of the theft of a heater and other items, according a memorandum...
