New Home For City, County Law Officers?

Discussion of making the Kimball County Annex building into a local Law Enforcement Center was one of the newest topics at the Kimball County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday. A motion was made to engage the city in discussions about the idea.

The Extension Office is housed in the annex, but Commissioner Carl Stander spoke with Shane Hays, who said he has considered renting his building to house the Extension Office for $3,000 a month. Talks will be arranged with the sheriff, chief of police, mayor, City Council members, and a Kimball County commissioner. County Clerk Cathy Sibal will set up the meeting with the designated parties.

In other business, department heads met with and updated the commissioners, including roads, transit, weed, and tourism departments.

Natasha McFaul, interim county tourism director, reported that the Visitors Center is open, and the number of visitors has increased. She said they had had a "good start" to the season, with 33 people visiting the center on Monday. The center is open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Both Weed Superintendent Rick Wrangler and Road Department director Randy Bymer met with the commissioners, and they said both of their departments are working and preparing for the summer months.

Bymer said they are grading and hauling gravel to spots north of Dix and will get gravel to other bad spots, including south of Bushnell. Requests for chip seal and trucking bids have been sent out, and the county is waiting on return bids. A new road department employee has been hired and started this week on the north Dix route.

Wrangler said he is ready for the start of the spaying season, which appears to be about two weeks off. He has completed his 20 hours to remain compliant and purchased all the necessary chemicals.

Next, KCTS Administrator Christy Warner announced that Transit Week was completed, and 477,800 miles were recorded during the week. She said this equals a trip to the moon or 19 times around the equator. Warner reviewed the number of transit vehicles, which includes three buses, two SUVs, one van, three wheelchair vans and four minivans. The transit has four part-time drivers, seven inactive drivers, 14 full-time drivers, four schedulers, and five office and janitorial staff.

The rides for March totaled 1,587. Financially, February's reimbursement from NDOT of $137,006 is pending. Also pending is the March reimbursement of $136,668.

After a public hearing, the commissioners approved the conditional use permit for an asphalt or concrete batch plant on Parcel ID# 530163885. The applicant was Paul Reed Construction.

Finally, Valerio Jansante, the community liaison for U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, summarized Smith's recent activities. He said Smith supports a veto override vote for overturning the Biden Waters of the United States. Smith also supports the Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act under which Title IX schools would prohibit males from participating against women in women's sports.

The Kimball County Commissioners next will meet 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 2.