The Elgin United Methodist Fall Dinner will be held this Sunday evening, October 11 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The dinner will be different this year due to the COVID-19 Pandemic it will be carry-out only. For more information, check out the ad on Page Two.
xxxxxx
The results of an internal investigation ordered by Antelope County Commissioners will soon be made public.
Meeting Tuesday morning, the commissioners voted 3-2 to make the results of an investigation conducted by Woods & Aitken LLP, costing an estimated $10,000 in taxpayer dollars, made public. Voting in favor were Tom Borer, Allan Bentley and Dean Smith while commissioners’ Charlie Henery and Eli Jacob voted against the release.
As part of the motion, Names and locations of County Roads Department employees interviewed as part of the investigation will be redacted. However, the name of the individual whom the investigation focused on will be made public.
Borer, one of two commissioners being the subject of a recall effort (the other being Allan Bentley), said he wanted the report to be made public, due in large part to answer questions raised by Elgin resident Ray Payne earlier this year. Payne questioned why taxpayer dollars were being spent on a “petty” crime after the Nebraska State Patrol had conducted an investigation.
Bentley said some members of the public have accused he and Borer of misappropriation and mismanagement of county funds when the commissioners voted unanimously to go forward with the investigation.
Henery said, had he known what the cost would be, he would have voted against the investigation.
As a necessary step to make the report public, the commissioners voted 3-2 (the same people voting yes and no) to revoke the attorney/client privilege as related solely to Woods & Aitken and this specific internal review.
A statement from the commissioners why they went forward with the investigation may be forthcoming.
In other action:
Bid accepted — A bid of $167,346. 29 was accepted from Tyson Fischer Construction of Norfolk for repairs to be done to the “Poor Farm” bridge upon review by County Engineer Brian McDonald. Work on the structure is expected to begin in September.
Comment — Former Commissioner Greg Koinzan told the commissioners they “need to be accountable to the people.” His comments were in regards to road repairs, citing a litany of issues such as ditches not being mowed, farmers farming ditches, irrigating roadways and trees being allowed to grow in ditches. He said existing laws on these matters need to be enforced. Road Superintendent Casey Dittrich said a county ordinance states ditches are required to be mowed “sometime” in July and again in September.
Work — Smith raised the issue of Henery’s part-time employment compensation with the county road department in the days following the March flood. Smith said it’s not appropriate for an elected official to be paid for work done for the county. “Your work is no more important than my work, Allan’s or Tom’s work,” Smith said.
Henery, who’s full-time job is with Central Valley Ag, said he needed to be on the clock for liability reasons when operating county equipment, a point which Dittrich agreed. Then, near the end of the discussion, a motion was made by Eli Jacob to “fire” Henery from the part-time position. The motion died for lack of a second.
Date set — Tuesday, Sept. 3, was set as the date for two public hearings for road closings. They are:
• 848th Road (one mile) between 529th and 531st Avenue
• 847th Road (1/2 mile) between 531st and 532nd Avenue
Protests heard — More than a dozen protests on property valuations were heard by the Board of Equalization. In each case, the board sided with County Assessor Kelly Mueller’s assessment.
