Commissioners hire help for veterans service office

The Kimball County Commissioners approved the hiring of additional help for the veterans service office at Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting.

The commissioners agreed to hire a part-time administrative assistant for the veterans service office for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in June. Veterans Service Officer Shaun Evertson has already advertised for the position and interviewed candidates. He hopes to make a hire by the end of the week and hopes the person can begin work next week.

The probationary position would be for 20 hours a week to help veterans obtain services. If the position works out, the commissioners hope to continue it into the new fiscal year, which begins in July.

Evertson also reported that the Veterans Administration is not complying with the new veterans choice law, which allows veterans to get health care locally if they cannot schedule an appointment with the VA. He said the VA has made procedures difficult for local providers and veterans.

“This has created a great hardship here locally,” Evertson said.

He gave an example that he has not been able to schedule a regular appointment with the VA since November 2012.

He recently met with Roger Lempke, the director of military affairs for Sen. Deb Fischer, to discuss issues with the VA and said there is a process underway that will hopefully provide a solution.

Evertson said the Panhandle Public Health District has been a big help with alternative solutions and programs for veterans health care. He hopes the new administrative assistant will be able to further expand avenues for finding help for veterans.

The commissioners discussed storage spacing needs with Glynn Felkins of the Plains Historical Society. The commissioners are looking at a potential agreement with the historical society to store some items in the old high school, which the historical society owns.

Felkins said the vault and an old shower room could be closed off and locked if the commissioners want to store records there. He also mentioned the old wrestling room, but that room has an outside window. The commissioners would prefer storage areas without an outside window.

Commissioner Larry Engstrom said the county offices would need to get together and figure out how much space would be needed before an agreement could be made with the historical society. After that, the county would contact Felkins to discuss spacing specifics and negotiate how much to pay in rent.

Commissioner Tim Nolting also said a log would need to be kept of who entered the building. Felkins said the county would be able to lock its area separately for security reasons.

The commissioners unanimously approved an agreement with Berggren Architects of Lincoln for a master plan for the county courthouse.

The agreement will cost the county $9,750, but that fee will be taken off the first project that is to be done after the master plan is formulated.

Jerry Berggren made a presentation to the commissioners at the April 7 meeting about potential improvements to the courthouse. The improvements included space utilization, energy saving measures and various other repairs. The commissioners will have to approve the projects after the master plan is drawn up. Berggren is expected to have the master plan completed around July 1.

The commissioners also:

- Reappointed Laura Bateman and Wayne Elliott and appointed John Verser to the Local Emergency Planning Committee.

- Viewed a more than hour-long presentation by Doug Tonnemacher, district manager of Pictometry, on that company’s imaging system. The cost to the county would be more than $30,000 per year. The commissioners took no action after the presentation.