CUSTER COUNTY— Don’t expect funding to come in quickly. That was the message the Custer County Board of Supervisors gave to villages and townships at the regular meeting on Tuesday, March 26. While flood waters have begun to recede, and the weather begins to improve, fixing the issues of roads and bridges are now at the forefront for Custer County.
In the afternoon, township and village boards in Custer County attended the meeting where they were given updates on the process to take for funding the projects going forward. Mark Rempe, Custer County Emergency Manager, told the group that Custer County is involved in a federal declaration that would help pay for debris removal and emergency work.
As noted before at a previous meeting, the funding would not be paying each community, but instead would be a reimbursement for work completed that would fall under the declaration guidelines.
To qualify under this declaration, Custer County would need to show that there is at least $41,000 worth of damage before the federal funding would kick in. Another problem that the county board heard from was where these towns were supposed to get the money to fix these projects. Unfortunately, the answer is going to remain on taking out loans even if that is taking a loan from the county.
Darci Tibbs, Zoning Administrator, also talked about how if there was to be any construction in the flood plains, that organization would need to apply for a permit. Normally those permits require a $25 fee, but due to the situation, Tibbs did ask the board to waive the $25 fee which the board completed unanimously.
The board also opened bids for asphalt, culverts, grader and drag blades, and gravel. The details on each bid were relayed to the board and also to Highway Superintendent Chris Jacobsen. No recommendations were made by the board or Jacobsen on the direction to go for each bid, but instead were passed to the Highway Department and Jacobsen for a review and decision.
Custer County has been participating in the Nebraska Intergovermental Risk Management Association (NIRMA) since the mid 90’s which helps cover liability and workers compensation. The board voted 4-1, Tuesday to notify NIRMA that they would now take possible insurance bids to look at possible insurance saving options. The board was very clear that they were not necessarily looking to leave NIRMA, but instead looking for other options before submitting their payments.
Sallie Adkins made an appearance for the office of Adrian Smith to briefly discuss with the board the situation throughout the state. Adkins did say that the state was in one of the worst situations that could be remembered, but the collaboration between departments at all levels was encouraging to see. Examples of that collaboration was already being seen through actions such as waiving penalties and restrictions on those trying to help those in need throughout the state.
With Nebraska being one of the few national emergencies, FEMA has focused their efforts on Nebraska which will have around 60 FEMA workers in the state located in six centers. It was estimated, according to Adkins, that Nebraska has suffered around $1.5 billion in losses thus far with that number to possibly increase.
The next Custer County Board of Supervisors meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 9 at 9AM.
