Holt County committee to review road department effeciency

Three Holt County Supervisors agreed, when the leaders met at the courthouse in O’Neill last Thursday, to serve on a committee to look for ways to improve efficiency within the road department.

Road superintendent Gary Connot described several recent issues he attributed to lack of training, oversight and accountability.

“I personally think we have got to get more oversight, more practical training and more instructions to our motorgrader operators,” he said. “We had a guy this last summer – we had the best set of roads in the county – in a period of about six, eight, 10 months, that best set of roads deteriorated tremendously. And that was our lack of oversight and our lack of training for those motorgrader operators. That’s just one of the many examples that we need to change to improve.”

Supervisor Steve Boshart agreed. He said the county employs an experienced grader operator who should be training inexperienced operators, but who is also tasked with grading roads, which take him away from training activity.

“It’s not the guys, it’s the training - or the lack thereof,” he said. “This theory of throwing a guy in a grader and saying it’s going to take him three or four years to get to be a grader, then in three or four years go back and see what he’s doing is wrong - it needs to be daily.”

Chairman Bill Tielke opined the county has lost many good grader operators because they weren’t properly trained.

“They get, either disappointed in themselves, or the public gets to them,” Tielke said.

Connot had arranged for a three-day session with a professional trainer in December, but it was cut to one day when a snowstorm impacted the county. He said 10 days of training is preferable.

“The motorgraders are the most reflection on all of us… an area of great concern,” Connot said.

Another issue Connot reported is equipment maintenance. He said the transmission had recently failed in a motorgrader and he determined that an analysis “two or three years ago” during routine maintenance had indicated iron in the transmission oil, with “action required.”

“What did we do? We didn’t do a damn thing. The right people did not see that, the right people didn’t react to that,” he said. “It was under warranty, we could have told John Deere, ‘you guys fix this.’ We didn’t do that…we’re not following the maintenance manuals very well. We’ve got to somehow change things up. It should have been taken care of on warranty, not out of pocket…It’s a simple process, and it’s not getting done.”

He proposed the committee take a closer look into job descriptions and problems that have been noted and try to implement available technology. Boshart, Darrin Paxton and Doug Frahm agreed to serve on the committee, meeting with Connot and the three road foremen.

“We give (the foremen) a lot of responsibility and they can kind of see the areas that need help. There is a little bit of a disconnect there (between foremen) that’s kind of added to the difficulty,” he said. “I’ve (also) got a long list of things that we said we were going to do in the past several years and we just need to figure out how to utilize our men and machines. If we incorporate some more people into this, maybe as the winter goes on, assign some additional duties to our foremen to share the workload a little better.”

Sheriff Ben Machett reported on drone activity in the county. He said 12 drones were sighted north of Stuart on Monday night the previous week (Jan. 6).

“They were there for about 45 minutes. Both of our deputies went out there, they drove those county roads trying to see if they could find a vehicle that was being used to control those - didn’t find any,” he said. “Tuesday night, they were over the Grand Prairie wind farm.”

Boshart said he had seen one over his place as well.

Matchett’s request for a 50-cent raise for jail staff and deputies was given unanimous approval and Boshart commended Matchett for purchasing jail groceries from stores across the entire county.

Connot was directed by the supervisors to obtain an engineering proposal for a drainage study to address issues near O’Neill.

Janene Peterson, who along with her husband Steve Peterson, owns property northwest of O’Neill’s city limits, spoke. She described drainage problems on the couple’s property, asking if the county had a plan to mediate the issue before spring snowmelt. She said culverts in the area need to be much larger.

“I think they are more worried about down by the country club,” Peterson said. “You can’t stop the water at our place, you’ve got to let it go the way it wants to go. Everybody is afraid of the next guy. Am I not important? If it goes down on the next guy let him worry about it? And the next guy, until it gets to the river. But, we are getting it all at our place, big time.”

A lengthy dialog ensued, while the leaders viewed the area on a graphic information system map. They reviewed flow directions, elevations, culvert placement and size, and discussed the potential for water being directed to other property, including several residences.

“(A study) is the right thing to do, rather than just throwing culverts in,” Tielke said. “We need to have it done right.”

Butterfield also voiced support for conducting the drainage survey, commenting on the number of homes impacted.

“I’m content as long as I know someone is trying,” Peterson said. “Hire a professional to come up with a plan to get the water to the river.”

Connot reported on another study he is conducting in the vicinity, related to the proposed closing of Chance Road just west of the O’Neill city limits. He suggested assistance from Cody Boettcher with McCarthy Abstract to help sort out public access in the area, saying two lots may have no public access if the road is closed.

“Another thing we are going to figure out is if the county has title to that strip of land. Usually we just have easements, but in this particular case, the way it was platted and dedicated, we’re not sure how the title was developed,” he said. “If the county does have title, we will have to go through the auction process.”

The supervisors briefly revisited the subject of time sheets. Frahm said he checked with the Nebraska Department of Labor.

“It is fictitious, and it is illegal,” he said, referring to a current requirement for employees to sign time sheets listing work that has not yet been completed.

Clerk Cathy Pavel again defended the practice, saying she had also worked with the state labor department. She said the time sheets have a disclaimer on the bottom, in bold print, indicating hours listed after the 20th of the month are “estimates.”

Tielke proposed changing pay periods to end on the 20th of each month. His proposal would not short employees 10 days of pay for the first month it is implemented, an issue Pavel wanted to spread over several months. Instead, employees would be asked to sign a “simple document” acknowledging a one-time payment for the extra days, which would be deducted from their final paycheck.

Snyder was concerned about the potential for employees quitting after payroll was completed, and not repaying the county.

“It seems like a big risk to me,” he said.

Pavel said there is no “simple document,” but she agreed to draft one that is as simple as possible. She said the county has 100 employees on the payroll, but 35 road department employees are currently on a pay period that aligns with payroll timing. Fifteen elected officials are not affected.

Weed superintendent Bill Babutzke presented his department’s quarterly report, as well as a proposal for an “updated co-op agreement” between the county weed board and the supervisors.

“(The old agreement) was really so out of date to what I was actually doing,” he said. “The old one had me doing signs and all that stuff in it.”

Babutzke was questioned by supervisors about the document and about his activities. He said he had shredded trees during the fall and treated the trees with chemicals, with plans to treat again in the spring before crops are planted.

“You better read that pretty close,” Snyder told the other leaders. “I want to know what Bill is supposed to do if he (isn’t) pushing snow, it says weed superintendent will no longer install or maintain or inventory signs. I want to know what he is going to be doing.”

Babutzke was asked if he brought a copy of the existing agreement. He replied he had one at his office but did not have a copy with him. He was asked to point out changes in the agreement. He explained inventorying signs was changed to shredding trees. He also explained he had recently shredded trees in spots where there was no snow in ditches.

Snyder explained his concern, “Everybody getting a check should be doing something, instead of just driving around doing nothing,” he said. “He is supposed to work with the road department for whatever months there’s no spraying, with the exception of his meetings…the shredder can’t be the only work he can be doing during the winter months, he’s got to be put on something else.”

Boshart agreed with Snyder, but said the supervisors have no authority over weed department work. However, he said the supervisors didn’t have to approve the revised agreement presented by Babutzke, which would keep the previous version in effect.

The matter, which was allowed 15 minutes, according to the agenda, ended without a vote on the agreement. Tielke directed his peers to review the document, which will be on the agenda for the next meeting.

When the supervisors returned from a lunch break, Snyder announced the weed board had authorized a $2,750 raise for the weed superintendent. According to Pavel, the annual salary is now $46,646. In addition, a part-time clerical assistant, who works about 10 hours per week for the weed department, was given a $15 per month increase.

In additional road department business, the supervisors:

*Heard report of road department activities from Connot;

*Made no commitment to a proposal for engaging a private contractor to cover a snow route, Connot will continue to make a case-by-case call;

*Reviewed a list of road department vehicles presented by Connot as requested by Snyder;

*Heard an injured employee had returned to work;

*Heard the road superintendent would investigate proper motorgrader seatbelt replacement procedure;

*Heard that Connot had conferred with Jeff Wagner from the engineering firm, Mainelli Wagner & Associates, regarding about a dozen potential projects for the upcoming season, including a Page area overlay and grading project, where the asphalt roadway will be widened and some sections raised, with a potential need for surveying to determine need for additional right-of-way easements;

*Set the one- and six-year road improvement plan hearing for 11:15 a.m. Feb. 14;

*Received updated road policy draft prepared by Connot;

*Received final tally from Big Iron auction items of $6,654; and

*Heard a presentation from culvert supplier, Tom Bokenkamp with ACE/Eaton Metals from Kearney and Tina Braitwait with BS Enterprises.

In other county business, the supervisors:

*Heard from treasurer Connie Krotter that December tax collections went well, but receipts will be slow until April as far as cash flow;

*Approved the treasurer’s semiannual report;

*Gave nod to move forward with security alert system for courthouse offices, presented by assessor Tim Wallinger on behalf of the Safety Committee;

*Approved voiding a $1,677 check, due to recipient objecting to receiving 2019-dated check in 2020;

*Approved $10,201 refund from Inheritance Fund of over-estimated payment;

*Held public hearing and adopted resolution to continue practice of electing the county surveyor;

*Heard from Pavel that TC Energy had filed documents outlining activity planned in Nebraska, and heard brief report from Robert Latimer that the company is moving forward;

*Postponed quarterly jail inspection and selecting county depositories until Jan. 31 meeting, and

*While convened as a board of equalization, approved a tax roll correction and set a public hearing and consideration of permissive tax exemptions for 9:30 a.m. Feb. 14.