Seward County Highway Superintendent Jon Regnier is exploring a couple of mysteries.
Regnier told Seward County Commissioners on April 22 about a potential oil spill near 182nd and Sunrise roads that was reported to the state and a small area where vegetation has died and an unknown liquid has pooled at the highway department’s shops on Missile Base Road, where the military once stored missiles in silos.
Regnier said the discoloration on Sunrise Road had a chemical smell and he submitted photos to determine what, if any, corrective action may be needed.
But the spot at the shops is “weird.”
He said the area is next to a fence line away from the county’s buildings.
He contacted the Department of Environment and Energy, the University of Nebraska Extension office and a lab in Kearney, but has now been directed to a lab in South Dakota that may be able to test the liquid.
Commission Chair Misty Ahmic suggested he contact some of the people who have been interested in the old missile site because they may have ideas on what may have been located in that area.
In other road-related business, the commissioners again approved the use of a hiring bonus to recruit a heavy equipment operator and added an emergency agenda item to allow approval of a grant inquiry.
Ahmic said she and Commissioner Raegan Hain had met with staff from Rep. Mike Flood’s office and learned of a deadline – which was April 22 – for a new funding application that might replace the federal funds they had hoped to receive to pave 420th Road from Interstate 80 to Highway 34.
The previously expected $4 million in funding – along with earmarks for other projects here and across the country – was cut in the Senate’s budgeting process last fall. The county received an appropriation of $3 million for the 420th Road project the previous fiscal year.
The commissioners approved the emergency item on the agenda and endorsed the letter of application being sent to Flood and Sen. Deb Fischer’s offices.
The extension of a hiring bonus for recruiting a heavy equipment operator is to fill the third vacancy in the county department since early March, and Regnier said competition with private company pay and the proximity of another job to a driver’s home have been factors in those departures.
The proposed hiring bonus, which was used for the last person hired, offers a $500 bonus after 90 days on the job, $1,000 after six months, another $1,000 after a year, and $2,500 after two years. But the last person hired worked only seven days before another opportunity came up. He did not collect any of the hiring bonus, which comes out of the department’s budget.
The board voted 4-1 to again use the bonus in recruiting. Commissioner Darrell Zabrocki voted against the plan, saying the bonuses are not effective in hiring.
In other action, the board:
• Met in executive session to discuss personnel for two hours and 47 minutes.
• Approved final acceptance of the Beaver Crossing South bridge project and ownership of the bridge.
• Meeting as the Seward County Board of Equalization conducted a public hearing on tax exemption requests for Sunrise Country Manor, Seward County Historical Society and Mercy City Church, for which a decision will be made at its next meeting.
