It was only an email and it is not a completely done deal, but Seward County Commissioner Raegan Hain shared July 21 that U.S. Rep. Mike Flood is working on a $1 million allocation for Seward County’s paving project on 420th Road.
“There are still a lot of hoops to go through,” Hain said.
She also noted that $1 million would not fully fund the project. She told commissioners one funding option for the remainder of the project’s funds would be a bond issue, which would go before voters on a ballot.
That, Hain said, is a topic commissioners should be talking about soon as the annual budget work approaches.
The paving project for 420th Road from Interstate 80 north to Highway 34 had previously had a $4 million earmark from Sen. Deb Fischer, but that was deleted in April when $8.5 million in Seward County earmarks on her Congressionally Directed Spending list were cut with those of other senators.
In all, $100 million in Nebraska earmarks were cut when the U.S. Senate adopted a stopgap funding bill to keep the government from shutting down mid-March.
The other Seward County projects on that list included water and road projects for Milford, Staplehurst and Malcolm.
The 420th Road project received $3 million in congressional appropriations in FY 2024.
Commission Chair Misty Ahmic also cautioned the board to be thinking about where the county can add to its reserve funds going forward.
“We are to the good this year because of the reserves,” Ahmic said.
Also at the July 21 meeting, the board directed Roads Superintendent Jon Regnier to prepare a study for the Johnson Dam Road in order to plan public hearings and decisions on the matter in August.
Regnier and the commissioners have been working on the issue for some time, and he said the study just needed to be packaged for the meeting.
If that is approved on July 29, the county will schedule public hearings for Aug. 6, 13 and 20, which would allow them, barring other issues, to recognize the placement of the bridge away from the section line where it originally was located at its Aug. 26 meeting.
In other action on July 21, the commissioners:
• Reviewed Seward County Assessor property valuation protests meeting as the Board of Equalization.
• Heard a report from the Well Being Initiative, which offers support groups with focuses including mental health and addiction in the Seward County jail as well as in the public sector.
• Heard a report and budget request for the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program in Seward County.
• Heard a report from Beth Ferrell of the Nebraska Association of County Officials.
• Approved 3-1-1 a conditional use permit for a temporary asphalt plant through Dec. 31 for Western Engineering, with additional conditions including making the permit nontransferable, requiring back-up alarms set at lowest allowable decibel, limiting operation to 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., and posting a truck entering/exiting roadway sign. Ahmic voted against the permit, Commissioner Darrell Zabrocki was absent.
• Approved 80 hours of catastrophic leave for an employee.
• Approved a quote from Multi Informational Programming Services for a county website re-design for $6,500 plus a $224 monthly fee.
• Approved purchase of a new truck and belly dump for $239,533, for which insurance is expected to cover $92,250 because the previous truck and trailer were totaled. That leaves $147,283 to be paid from county sources.
• Discussed Seward County Historical Society Museum funding options, which could include implementation of a levy.
• Approved use of county roads for the Gravel Worlds bike races on Aug. 24.
• Authorized Seward County Assessor Marilyn Hladky to send out Board of Equalization Change of Value notices.
