Commissioners reaffirm boards, appointments

At the first Cheyenne County Board of Commissioners meeting of the year on Monday, appointments and committee memberships were reaffirmed.

By unanimous votes, Darrell Johnson will remain chairman of the board of commissioners and Philip Sanders will continue his tenure as vice chair. Steve Olson is the third commissioner.

The commissioners' roles as county representatives on boards of various regional governmental agencies were also reaffirmed.

Johnson serves as a board member for Region 21 Emergency Management, Mental Health, Region One Office of Human Development, Panhandle Disability Service, Inc., Waste Management – Landfill and E911 agencies. Sanders is a member of the Regional Land Board, Commission on Aging, Panhandle Area Development District, Visitor Committee and Panhandle Resource Conservation and Development. Olson serves on the Water Quality, Panhandle Community Service and Panhandle Public Health District boards.

Commissioners also approved memberships on the visitors committee, fair board and planning and zoning committee.

Kelly Reimers, Hal Enevoldsen, Judy Harris, Amber Talich, Gina Hawkins, Danielle DeKruif and Tammy Sherman compose the visitors committee; Philip Narjes, Pat Dorwart, Bill Sydow, Walter Narjews, Nan McMillen, Ron Flohr and Valerie Nienhueser the planning and zoning committee; and Marvin Filsinger, Gerald Frerichs, Sarah Deaver, Kendall Gonzales, Brad Zalesky, Jana Franzen and Jason Juracek the fair board. Both the planning and zoning committee and the fair board have two vacancies.

Additionally, commissioners approved other annual housekeeping items.

The Sidney Sun-Telegraph was designated the official county newspaper, KSID the official radio station and the county website the official website.

All meeting notices and minutes are posted to the website, which is accessible at http://cheyennecountyne.net, Cheyenne County Clerk Beth Fiegenschuh said.

Mileage reimbursement for county employees was set at 54 cents per mile – which is down 3.5 cents from last year. By statute, sheriff's deputies will receive an additional 3 cents per mile when serving papers.

Also at the meeting:

• Marty McMillen provided an update on construction of the new livestock exhibit barn at the fairgrounds. He said work had slowed in the past month due to the cold temperatures but preparations are ongoing.

The fund for the new building sits at $380,000, and McMillen said the last large fundraising effort is for a dry sprinkler system a state fire marshal recently said needs to be installed. The sprinkler system will cost $50,000.

• Paul Schaub, Cheyenne County attorney, presented an agreement with the military for snow removal and road maintenance on county roads accessing missile sites.

The agreement, which is new, is similar to past contracts between the two entities, Schaub said.

In exchange for conducting snow clearing and emergency repairs on county roads that lead to missile sites, the county will be reimbursed $62,000 this year. Next year, the amount climbs to $64,000.

• Commissioner Darrell Johnson asked County Road Superintendent Doug Hart about signage on county roads that lead to dead ends or are not maintained.

Hart said most dead end county roads should have signs warning motorists, but that he would investigate the specific area – southwest of Sidney – to which Johnson was referring.

• The next Cheyenne County Board of Commissioners meeting is scheduled for 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19, in the Commissioners' Room at the Cheyenne County Courthouse. The meeting will be held on a Tuesday because county offices will be closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 17.