County OKs exemption

Red Willow County commissioners approved a re-quest this morning from the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln to exempt from taxation all three floors of the former convent in the 1200 block of West Fourth in McCook.

County Assessor Sandra Kotschwar told commissioners Leigh Hoyt and Steve Downer she understands that the third floor of the convent is not being used for educational and religious purposes, and as such, should not be tax exempt. Kotschwar said the third floor is valued at $13,340 and taxed at $262.68 per year.

The Rev. Gary Brethour of McCook said the first and second floors and the land are being used for the alternative school operated by Educational Service Unit No. 15, based in Trenton, and for storage by McCook Public Schools.

Former ESU Director Duane Tappe said that the second and third floors remain as bedrooms, although several have been used in the past as offices. Access to the fire escape for the second floor is through a window on the third floor, Tappe said, and the state fire marshal has forbidden occupants to block off the stairway to the third floor.

Tappe also told commissioners that he thought at one point several years ago the rooms were made available officially to the county as shelters in times of natural disasters.

However, neither Sheriff Gene Mahon nor Barb Ostrum, director of Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska, could re-member making the shelter status official, although both said they thought it was a good idea.

The convent has full kitchen and laundry facilities, fire sprinklers and telephone lines. Shower facilities are available on the second and third floors and there are 20 beds set up (two bedrooms share one restroom), and extra mattresses are available.

Brent McMurtrey, ESU director, said the facility could be ready at a moment's notice to shelter people in case of a natural weather disaster, or in a highway or train emergency/disaster situation in which motel rooms are not available.

Ostrum said that zoning regulations would prevent the facility from housing victims of domestic abuse or transients.

Sheriff Mahon said the facility could also be used for evacuation purposes or as an emergency operations command center. "We'll look at it and possibly include it our LEOP (local emergency operations plan)," Mahon said.

Brethour said, "You're welcome to use it as a shelter, as we thought you were."

Kotschwar said she would have no objection to recommending the tax exemption to commissioners if the third floor met such exempt purposes.

Downer and Hoyt (Earl McNutt was absent for a family emergency) approved the exemption, on the grounds that the third floor is necessary for the second floor's access to the fire escape and for the entire facility's use as an emergency shelter.