Extension HQ proposal ignites controversy
A severe thunderstorm with damaging winds that caused power outages in Hamilton County on the night of May 23 and 24 has prompted the county board of commissioners to declare a state of emergency so that the county can apply for emergency funds from the state and federal governments. The commission took the action at its regular meeting on Monday.
In announcing the agenda item, Chairman Rich Nelson explained that the action was being taken because the state plans to ask the federal government for relief money and that Southern Public Power District estimates it sustained between $95,000 and $150,000 damage to its power distribution system due to the storm.
The declaration as read to the commission by County Clerk Jill DeMers states that the county “will execute for and on behalf of Hamilton County the expenditure of emergency funds from all available sources, the invoking of mutual aid agreements and applying to the State of Nebraska for assistance from the Governor’s Emergency Fund and any resources he deems necessary in the fulfillment of his duties.”
Nelson explained that the board was not committing any county funds in the declaration but was simply acting so that relief moneys could be applied for from other sources.
Extension building debate
The shuffle of space within the courthouse continued to be a topic of conversation and disagreement in the meeting this week. The topic of a new headquarters for the county Extension Office came up during the board’s Committee Reports section near end of the agenda when Commissioners Nicole SaBell and Francis McDonald reported on a meeting they had attended with the Hamilton County Ag Society.
SaBell said the Ag Society has proposed that a new building to house the Extension offices not be constructed at the site of the county’s weed building on the northwest side of the fairgrounds as previously proposed. She said the group is considering changing the entrance to the fairgrounds so that there is one way in and one way out to relieve traffic congestion during the fair. She said the group had proposed constructing the Extension headquarters near the entrance which would be on the northeast side of the fairgrounds along A Street and near the fair’s marquee sign.
McDonald said that would require moving water and electrical hookups but stated the utilities are close by. He said the Ag Society suggested the county could break ground on the project immediately after the fair in July.
McDonald suggested that moving the Extension out of its current location on the first floor of the courthouse would be a benefit to the commission, noting that the current meeting room between the County Clerk and Treasurer’s offices on the second floor is too small and that the commission could meet in the Extension area which has a larger board room. He said that way the room currently used on Mondays for commission meetings could be turned back over to the clerk’s office for storage and other uses.
Saying, “I’ll play devil’s advocate,” Commissioner John Thomas spoke up at that point to question the necessity of constructing a new building for the Extension service at all.
Previous discussions about space issues at the courthouse had focused on the need to move the office of County Attorney Douglas Dexter and his staff into the courthouse and that problem was partially solved when the state driver’s license testing was moved out of the first floor room it previously occupied on Tuesdays down the hall to the office used by county Veterans Service Officer Mike Irons. That allowed Dexter to begin making his move from the south side of the square to the courthouse.
However, Dexter countered Thomas’s objection to the Extension service move by stating that the original intention was for his office to take over that space. He said he still needs more room than what is available in the former driver’s license office for storage of files and office space and stated he especially needs a private office where he can meet with potential witnesses. He said the situation will be especially critical over the next several months as he has several jury trials scheduled and needs a room to sequester witnesses.
No decision was made by the board regarding the matter on Monday, however, it will no doubt continue to be a matter of discussion in the months ahead.
It was also stated at Monday’s meeting that as previously announced, the commissioners are getting new more secure .gov email addresses at the request of the state. Three of the commissioners already have their new addresses listed on the county website (HamiltonCountyNE.gov) and the others will be added as they come online.