Commissioners uphold, amend resolution for engine brakes prohibited signs

Antelope County has put a stop to an issue involving "Engine Brakes Prohibited" signs near Orchard.

The board of commissioners on Tuesday, Nov. 10, in Neligh, unanimously approved an updated resolution regarding engine braking on a roughly one-mile stretch of 513 Avenue, which also is known as the Orchard Road.

The segment of 513 Avenue covered by the resolution runs by the property of Terry and Patricia Hemenway, who live about a mile south of Orchard near 862 Road.

The resolution stems back to the commissioners' discussion of a letter on Sept. 1 from the Galyen Boettcher Baier PC law firm – which has offices in Norfolk and O'Neill – on behalf of the Hemenways.

According to the letter, dated Aug. 21 and filed Aug. 25 with the county clerk's office, "It has come to our attention that the Antelope County Road Superintendent is threatening the removal of an 'Engine Braking Prohibited' sign located on 513th Avenue, near the Hemenways' real estate."

The letter detailed that in the past, the Hemenways' cattle have experienced multiple injuries after trucks traveling on 513 Avenue "employed their engine breaks and spooked the herd."

According to the letter, Terry Hemenway approached the county about five years ago about the situation, "and the sign in question was installed to help alleviate the issue."

"However, after several recent instances of the sign being knocked down, the road superintendent has apparently suggested the sign will no longer be maintained," according to the letter.

"Should there be an unauthorized removal of this sign, my clients are prepared to take whatever action necessary to protect their property."

The letter, signed by attorney Ashley Boettcher, ended with, "Please govern yourselves accordingly."

County road superintendent Aaron Boggs was not pleased by the Hemenways' letter because it referred to him by his job title, even though his name was never mentioned in it.

"This letter kind of ticks me off because I never had a conversation with Terry or his wife about this," he told the commissioners on Sept. 1.

Boggs noted the sign that had been knocked down was reinstalled the morning of Aug. 13 and the Hemenways' letter was dated Aug. 21.

"I asked around to make sure it was legal," Boggs said of the signs. "As far as our county engineer is concerned, it was.

"To be quite honest with you, I had no problem maintaining the sign until we received this letter," he said.

However, the county has resolved the issue thanks to research done by Boggs and county clerk Lisa Payne, who dove deep into meeting minutes dating back nearly a decade.

The information they were looking for was from more than five years ago and the original engine braking resolution contained the word "breaking" instead of "braking."

They found that in 2012, the county – which had a board of supervisors at the time – heard concerns and held a public hearing regarding engine braking on 513 Avenue in the vicinity of its intersection with 862 Road.

During the commissioners' meeting on Nov. 3 in Neligh, board member Dean Smith asked whether county engineer and highway superintendent Brian McDonald gave his blessing to the original resolution in 2012.

"He told me that he had a resolution done, but he didn't know if the board went with it," Boggs said.

Board chair Charlie Henery could not recall the original resolution being passed, but noted it must have been.

"I don't remember ever having it go through, but that's in 2012," Henery said. "That's eight years ago."

The commissioners laughed as they noted no one in 2012 caught the wrong spelling of "braking" in the original resolution.

"You can tell that's Brian's resolution," Payne said. "I just cut and paste them all the time.

"But then again, one of the resolutions we passed last month said Wheeler County," she said. "I didn't catch it."

The commissioners voted to uphold and amend the original resolution, which was passed on March 6, 2012, and had grammatical errors that needed to be corrected.

According to the updated resolution, "the Antelope County Board of Commissioners are aware that said engine braking may have adverse effects on livestock and want to amend said resolution to change the verbiage to reflect 'braking,' not 'breaking.'"

The passage of the updated resolution means a roughly one-mile segment of 513 Avenue at the intersection with 862 Road is closed to engine braking and is marked by two black-and-white "Engine Brakes Prohibited" signs.