Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS HOLT COUNTY, NEBRASKA Sealed proposals for the construction of one bridge superstructure replacement. The bridge superstructure replacement is a two-span superstructure replacement 20’-4” wide by 51’-10 ½” long on 499 Avenue over the Cache Creek – Bridge No. C004507505 – Project C45 (566). The sealed proposals shall include removal of the twin span superstructure at 857 Road and construction of the new superstructure including materials, labor, equipment, tools, along with appurtenances and accessories for Holt County, Neb...
A section of 510 Avenue, between 869th and 870th Road, will be the subject of a road study following action by Holt County supervisors, Feb. 5. The board accepted a petition to close/vacate the road and ordered county highway superintendent Gary Connot to conduct the study. The motion was unanimously approved, with the exception of supervisor Scott Keyes, who was absent. Supervisors also approved a lease for a skid steer, with NMC CAT, for $8,500 for one year or 250 hours. In other business,...
Leadership in Holt County will remain the same. Supervisors elected Bill Tielke, of Atkinson, to serve as chairman for 2024. The vote was taken Friday when the group met for an organizational meeting at the courthouse in O'Neill. Doug Frahm, of Amelia, will lead the board of equalization. In addition to designating committee assignments for the year, supervisors set salaries and/or hourly wages for county employees. Sheriff Ben Matchett said a three-year plan for deputies' wages, with a $2...
Holt County Supervisors learned about multiple building updates and concerns when they met in regular session, July 17. Courthouse custodian Rick Slaymaker presented estimates for three styles of windows available through Carhart Lumber. Supervisors approved the purchase a wood core, double-hung Anderson windows, which will be installed. The cost was unavailable at press time. Slaymaker said Holt County Deputy Ed Nordby requested a speckled garage floor paint, covered with a top coat, be used...
A list of 28 new road and bridge construction projects was presented to Holt County Supervisors last month during the one- and six-year road plan hearing. Holt County Road Superintendent Gary Connot said, “Typically those projects are engineered, designed and (awarded) through bid-letting.” Road department personnel and elected officials drive all roads in their district and propose upcoming projects. The county is divided into four quadrants and projects within each are identified. In the sou...
Bill Tielke will serve as chairman of Holt County Supervisors, who elected him to the position for 2023 during a statutory session, Jan. 5, at the Holt County Courthouse. Doug Frahm will chair the county's board of equalization. Supervisors approved board of representatives and delegates, as well as committee assignments for 2023, including: • Bonds: Darrin Paxton, Frahm, Tielke; • Bridge: Frahm, Paxton and Scott Keyes; • Claims: Frahm (chair) and the entire board; Courthouse: Frahm, Dusti...
Outgoing Holt County Supervisor Don Butterfield and planning and zoning administrator Mike Durre were guests of honor at a reception, held Friday, at the Holt County Courthouse. Butterfield served 16 years as a supervisor and Durre has overseen the county's planning and zoning efforts for nearly 19 years....
Holt County Supervisors tackled several topics during a regular meeting, May 31, in the supervisors’ room at the Holt County Courthouse in O’Neill. A quick discussion was held about watering of roads. Chairman Bill Tielke mentioned that people are watering their roads with sprinklers. He instructed county clerk, Cathy Pavel, to send a notice out to inform the public that it is against the law to saturate any road: including the use of all sprinklers; it is not limited to just irrigation end gun...
Holt County Supervisors will hold a public hearing, regarding a perpetual conservation easement will be held, Feb. 28, at 1:30 p.m., at the courthouse in O'Neill. Chairman Bill Tielke set the date during the board's Jan. 31 meeting after Les Graham, of Graham Crowe Ranch, LLC, told supervisors he would like a public hearing scheduled as soon as possible. "It's been going on for awhile. It's been a month since you've had a chance to look at the easement," Graham said. Supervisor Doug Frahm said...
Longtime Holt County Supervisor Bill Tielke will continue to preside over the board after he was elected to serve as chairman for 2022, on a 5-0-1-1 vote, when the board met Jan. 6 to reorganize. Supervisor Scott Keyes was absent from the meeting and Tielke abstained. Doug Frahm, of Amelia, was elected to chair the county's board of equalization. After approving board of representatives, delegates and committee assignments for the upcoming year, supervisors approved the reappointments of and...
Concerns from landowners about the speed of traffic, traveling on a three-mile stretch of 868 Road, north of Page, were brought to the attention of Holt County supervisors during Monday's meeting in O'Neill. Dan Hanlon, of Page, said people"fly by" at high rates of speed between 501 and 504 avenues. At least three residents along the stretch, who have children and grandchildren, have posted yellow caution signs noting children are in the area. One of the signs, posted by a residence near the int...
A potential resolution denouncing President Biden's Executive Order 14008, dubbed the 30 x 30 land grab, will have to wait, after Holt County Supervisors tabled the item during Monday's meeting in O'Neill. The executive order, titled "Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad," directed the secretary of the interior, secretary of agriculture and other senior officials to devise and submit a plan, by April 27, to conserve 30% of lands and waterways in the United States by 2030. According to...
Holt County emergency manager, Deb Hilker, provided supervisors with an update about the vaccination process during the board's Jan. 29 meeting at the Holt Count Courthouse. Vaccines developed by Moderna are being distributed in the area. Hilker said the North Central District Health Department requested use of the county's emergency response trailer "to push out the vaccine to the district," beginning the week of Feb. 7. According to Hilker, the vaccine must be kept at a temperature of minus...
Holt County supervisors selected who will fill leadership positions during the board's Jan. 7 meeting. Bill Tielke was re-elected to serve as chairman and Doug Frahm will oversee the board of equalization. Per board policy, when a chairman is absent, the other chairman will preside. Four individuals were reappointed to positions they currently hold, including Gary Connot, road superintendent; Mike Durre, planning and zoning administrator; Deb Hilker, emergency manager and Ken Stenka, veterans...
Holt County Supervisors approved fixing a drainage issue on the corner of 496 Avenue and 871 road, approximately two miles east of O'Neill. Whether Grattan Township will assist with costs for the upgrade wasn't immediately clear during the board's Oct. 15 meeting at the Holt County Courthouse meeting room. Road superintendent, Gary Connot, said concerns surfaced approximately one and one-half years ago, when homes in the area were impacted by surface and subsurface water. County road department...
Holt County Supervisors faced a Shakespearean-like conundrum during the group’s Aug. 31 meeting at the Holt County Courthouse. To include $2.5 million, monies promised by TC Energy for a road-use agreement, or not to include that amount in the upcoming road and bridge budget, dominated more than an hour of discussion. Without payment in hand, the proposed levy would cost taxpayers an additional eight pennies, jumping to 36.25 cents, a 31% increase. In the end, supervisors agreed to pursue a $...
Holt County Supervisors spent nearly one hour discussing force spraying, conducted by the Holt County Weed Department, during the board's July 16 meeting. Superintendent Bill Babutzke told the supervisors more than 120 inspections have been completed across the county. One property, consisting of approximatley 900 acres, will require a force spraying for leafy spurge and musk thistles. The price tag could tally between $20,000 and $30,000. "There's not a plane out there that will do it. Not a...
The Holt County supervisors finalized seating of a board of adjustment when they met at the courthouse in O’Neill last Tuesday, June 30. Vice chair Steve Boshart presided, due to the potential for board of adjustment action related to TC Energy matters, with which chairman Bill Tielke has a declared conflict of interest. Clayton Goeke of Atkinson was selected, by written ballot from a pool of three interested citizens, to serve as the alternate board member. Goeke garnered three votes, Cheri Frisch of Atkinson, two, and Tom Schaaf of Lynch, non...
The Holt County supervisors approved a road-use agreement for duration of potential construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, despite the county leaders’ denial of a construction permit in February. Consideration of the road-haul agreement was on the agenda when the supervisors met in the courthouse for an in-person meeting April 30. The agreement had been drafted by Omaha attorney David Domina, with Brent Kelley, Holt County attorney, proceeding, at the request of the supervisors, to negotiate terms with TCE officials. Kelly was present in t...
Holt County supervisors are considering the engagement of a human resources firm to help navigate employment issues. A telephone conference was held with Chad Thies from Zelle Human Resource Solutions in Lincoln during the March 16 meeting at the courthouse in O'Neill. After hearing what the firm offered in services, chairman Bill Tielke asked Thies to submit a proposal. Supervisor Steve Boshart estimated an annual cost of $36,000 to $40,000. "It will be high," Tielke said. "But the thing is, if...
Holt County citizens filled the county supervisors’ meeting room in the courthouse last Friday morning as the county leaders took care of business. Bryan Steskal of Steskal read a letter penned by his wife, Diana Steskal, who was unable to attend the meeting. In the letter, Steskal wrote the Holt County zoning board members denied TransCanada’s conditional use permit until two conditions are met, including one that requires obtaining easements. Many, she said will most likely be appealed. She also cited three federal court cases filed aga...
Three Holt County supervisors agreed, when the leaders met at the courthouse in O’Neill last Thursday, to serve on a committee to look for ways to improve efficiency within the road department. Road superintendent Gary Connot described several recent issues he attributed to lack of training, oversight and accountability. “I personally think we have got to get more oversight, more practical training and more instructions to our motorgrader operators,” he said. “We had a guy this last summer – we had the best set of roads in the county – in a per...
An old problem returned to the Antelope County commissioners’ table when the leaders gathered for the first 2020 meeting at the courthouse in Neligh last week. Judy Wilcox, accompanied by her husband, Dave Wilcox, was there to discuss wind turbine “ice sling policy.” County zoning administrator Liz Doerr also addressed the leaders regarding a Christmas Day icing event. Doerr described procedures followed, after she received notice from Commission chair Dean Smith and Wilcox. She referenced a text message from Smith, indicating numerous turbi...
Bill Tielke and Steve Boshart will retain their leadership positions on the Holt County Board of Supervisors. Tielke was re-elected by his peers as chairman of the supervisors, while Boshart was re-elected to chair the board of equalization. Pursuant to traditional policy, the two leaders will serve as vice chair for each other. County clerk Cathy Pavel presided over the election process until a chairman was elected, then turned the gavel over to Tielke for the balance of the annual organization meeting Jan. 9, at the Holt County Courthouse. Pa...
The Holt County supervisors addressed cyber security at their final 2019 meeting. The leaders met Dec. 31 at the courthouse in O'Neill. Steve Anson with Anson Insurance Services was invited, by chairman Bill Tielke, to present information about insuring the county against "hacking" of county computers. Tielke indicated cyber security concerns were raised at a recent convention he had attended. "I don't think it's a matter that we can keep beating around the bush and not doing something about,"...
