McNutt retained as Red Willow County Commission chairman

Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Earl McNutt

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Earl McNutt of McCook, Nebraska, this morning started his 13th year as chairman of Red Willow County's board of commissioners.

During the board's first meeting of the new year and its annual reorganization Monday morning, the board also approved the reappointment of Steve Downer of rural Bartley as vice chairman.

McNutt was elected as District 1 representative to the board in 1998, and served his first term as chairman in 2001.

Vesta Dack

The board voted unanimously to retain Commissioner Vesta Dack as chairman and Downer as vice chairman of the board of equalization. McNutt will continue to serve as chairman of the county's Noxious Weed Control Authority; Dack is the vice chairman.

Commissioners also approved these appointments to boards and committees:

Downer: E-911 Committee, RC&D board, Region II governing board, McCook Economic Development board of directors, Veterans Service Committee and the City/County and County Cooperative Committees, West Central Nebraska Development District board (alternate).

Steve Downer

Dack: Hillcrest Nursing Home board of trustees, Red Willow County Health Department board, County Visitors Committee, County Zoning/Planning board, Work Ethic Camp Community Involvement Committee.

McNutt: County jail planning committee, county fair board, Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department, REWARD board of directors, West Central Nebraska Development District board.

Lloyd Smith of Niobrara Valley Consultants LLC, Valentine, was reappointed as the county's roads superintendent.


As the liaison between the county and its county health department and the Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department (on whose board he has served since its inception in mid-2002), McNutt agreed that commissioners need to call a joint meeting of the two health departments to discuss consolidating the departments' services following the resignation Dec. 17 of county health department director Darcey Hansen. Hansen's resignation is effective Jan. 31.

At their meeting Dec. 31, commissioners voted not to hire a replacement for Hansen.

McNutt said that one purpose for the creation of district health departments was to allow counties to phase out their county health departments. He said that only seven county health departments remain across the state.


In other action:

* Sitting as a board of equalization, commissioners approved these motor vehicle tax exemption applications for religious, charitable and/or educational reasons: McCook Christian Church, 2 vehicles; McCook Humane Society, one; Hillcrest Nursing Home 5; Southwest Area Training Services, 13; and Community Hospital of McCook, 9.

* Back in regular session, commissioners approved the lease of a 100 KW emergency generator from NMC of North Platte for $980 a month. The contract includes maintenance of the generator, which will be placed at the county's jail facility (the city's former public safety center), McNutt said.

McNutt said commissioners will want to revisit this item in the very near future to discuss the pros and cons of purchasing a generator rather than leasing.

* Commissioners appointed Calli Nelms to replace Deb Korte, who has moved from McCook, and reappointed Dr. Wayne Watkins DVM to the Red Willow County Fair Board; their terms will expire Dec. 31, 2015. The fair board still has to fill one vacancy, that created with the recent resignation of Jay Schilling.

* Commissioners designated these banks as depositories for county funds in 2013 : Wells Fargo Bank, McCook National Bank, AmFirst Bank, Horizon Bank and First Central Bank, all of McCook; Adams Bank and Trust of Indianola; and State Bank of Bartley, Bartley; and authorized investments in the Nebraska Public Agency Investment Trust (NPAIT), which is neither a bank nor a depository.

* Commissioners designated publication of notices of their board meetings in the McCook Daily Gazette and on the county's web site.

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