The Custer County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Tuesday, January 14th in the top floor of the courthouse.
Elise Taylor with the county assessor’s office appeared before the Board to discuss Board of Equalization matters. Taylor handed the Supervisors a list of property tax corrections, which were necessitated due to a software error discovered after the original tax statements had been mailed. Chip Blowers, nominated chairman of the Board earlier in the meeting, read aloud all of the tax credit corrections that were made. The Board then approved the corrections.
Taylor also presented a request from the Broken Bow school district, which is asking for a tax exemption on a purchased property. The district has purchased four properties in close proximity to the middle and high school, some of which are rented to employees of the school. Properties owned by the school have been made tax exempt before. The Board tabled a decision on the matter and asked Taylor to seek guidance from a state liaison regarding the properties being rented by the school.
In other agenda items Tuesday, the Board received and reviewed a quarterly report from Custer County attorney Steven Bowers. They also reorganized committees and nominated Chip Blowers to be the permanent chair and Barry Fox as Vice Chairman of the Board.
Numerous resolutions were approved by the Board. Sheri Bryant, Custer County treasurer, appeared before the board to read a resolution allowing her office to invest Custer County funds and time deposits. The Board also approved a state mandate increase in county mileage rates from 67 cents to 70 cents a mile, with the lone exception being the Sheriff’s office serving papers. The mileage reimbursement in those cases is now 73 cents per mile.
Other resolutions approved Tuesday include a substitution of securities for Pinnacle Bank of Arnold. The bank has been asked to give the county an additional $30,000 security pledge. Resolution four allows the county to post road weight limit restrictions, with school busses being exempt from the limit. Resolution five allows the county to grant permits to semitrucks, which enables them to exceed the load limit on county roads providing they use the most direct route to their destination.
Public hearings were held to hear requests for conditional use permits for accessory dwellings. Members of the Conroy and Myers families made their requests in front of the board, and both requests were quickly approved.
Zoning administrator Darci Tibbs appeared before the board to request the reappointment of Greg Kissell and Mike Harvey to the board of adjustments, and the reappointment of Butch McGinn, Neil Ostrand and Tom Hoff to the planning commission board. Both reappointments were approved by the board.
County Weed Superintendent Tim Conover presented a concise year end report to the board. The Weed Department did 116 inspections covering over 76,000 acres in Custer County. 2,632 acres were found to have some variety of noxious weeds. Conover said they closed all of their open files by the end of 2024 and will continue to make all weed complaints a priority. The board approved the year end report.
Extension agent Troy Walz nominated Amy Schauda to the extension board in District IV. Schauda replaces Kirk Foster, who served two 3-year terms.
The board also approved ACH to handle direct deposits for Vendor checks, and Surface Sealers Inc was approved to finish the courthouse east stair project with a $24,880 price tag.
Finally, Highway Superintendent Chris Jacobsen briefed the board on Custer County’s procedures and process for salting roads during ice and snow storms. Jacobsen pointed out that there are more than 500 miles of county roads to take care of with 17 pieces of equipment for snow removal and four trucks for salting.
“Ice storms are an Achilles heel to us because even our trucks have a problem where we’re putting chains on, and we didn’t put chains on these last storms. We go out and try to attack the more aggressive locations which are intersections, certain hills that give problems, curves, and we will travel those routes to hit those and then work our way down on an ice storm. I’ll take six inches of snow over 1/8” of ice,” Jacobsen explained.
During the latest storm December 31st and January 1st, district 1 supervisor Anne Gibbons received several complaints from people in her area of untreated roads. Jacobsen reiterated that his crew gets to all the county roads as soon as they are able to.
After the agenda was finished, the board asked for public comment and none were offered.
The board then adjourned at 11:45am.
The next Board of Supervisors meeting is Tuesday January 28th at 9am in the top floor of the Courthouse.
