Hottell finds road solution

Dave Hottell on Tuesday told Kimball County Commissioners that a solution has been found on the overuse problem on County Road 17.

Hottell, the county’s highway supervisor, said he spoke with the owner of a trucking firm from Wyoming regarding the use of CR 17, and the owner agreed to send his trucks a different route. Hottell said the trucks traveled from Wyoming into Kimball County and then down into Colorado, where they were hauling resources used by oilfield companies. He said the heavy traffic on CR 17 south of Bushnell had been thrashing the road. He said since speaking to the trucking firm owner, that traffic on the road has slowed and the road conditions have improved.

Hottell said he spoke to the trucking firm’s owner since the county or state does not see any benefit from the heavy use of the road. The heavy use, however, did cause many problems to the road.

The commissioners once again discussed hiring a part-time administrative assistant for the county’s veterans service office.

Shaun Evertson, county veterans service officer, recently brought up the idea to the commissioners. The commissioners and Evertson discussed hiring someone for 20 to 30 hours a week so that the office could be manned every day to provide a greater help to the county’s veterans. Evertson’s current office hours are 10 a.m. through 2 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday.

Evertson said there is enough funds in the salary portion of his budget to hire someone part-time for the remainder of this budget year, which runs through the end of June.

Going forward into a new budget year, Evertson said a 20-hour per week employee would cost approximately $10,500 per year and a 30-hour per week employee would cost $15,824.

The commissioners and Evertson agreed that it would be good to have the office open every day, and hope to find a way to do that. The commissioners discussed several options and instructed the veterans service committee to put together a list of qualifications for an advertisement for a probationary part-time position, to be approved by the commissioners.

The commissioners also:

- Approved one and six year road improvement plans.

- Approved remodeling work in the county assessor’s office to improve employee safety at a cost of $1,600. The improvement includes a half-swinging small “door” that could limit the public’s access to the employees’ work area, similar to that in the probation office.

- Approved a required Title VI nondiscrimination plan for the county shuttle. The plan gives those who ride the shuttle procedures to follow if they feel they have been discriminated against.

- Approved a resolution to change the pay dates for county employees. They will now be paid the 15th and 30th of each month. They will be paid earlier if those dates fall on a weekend or holiday.

- Approved a proposal from the Kimball/Banner/Cheyenne Counties Extension Office to combine the position of office manager and 4-H Extension Agent for Kimball and Banner counties.

- Viewed a presentation by David Goebel of Ameresco, which is an energy service company that “helps organizations meet energy saving and energy management challenges with an integrated comprehensive approach to energy efficiency and renewable energy,” according to its website. Regionally, the company has offices in Grand Island and Aurora, Colo. The commissioners did not take any action after the presentation.