KIMBALL – Kimball County Sheriff’s Department will be hiring part time deputies to provide court room security.

The decision to hire is based on concerns Sheriff Harry Gillway’s expressed during the regular county commissioners meeting on Jan. 20.

The presiding judge requests two deputies on court room duty when court is in session. That means one officer in the court room and one just outside the court room at a desk, overseeing the next prisoner to be brought into the court room.

The Sheriff’s Department now consists of Sheriff Harry Gillway, Chief Deputy Dwayne Murdoch, and Brandon Loy, a new Deputy in the fourth week of a 14 week training stint at the police academy.

Right now the Sheriff’s Department can do little beyond providing court room security on days when County Court is in session.

Court is in session just about every Tuesday.

After considerable discussion, the County Commissioners approved two resolutions put forward by Gillway. The first resolution permits the hiring of two part time deputies while the full time deputy is finishing up training at the Academy. The second resolution permits hiring part time deputies up to a total of 20 hours per week. The second resolution is aimed specifically at court room security.

Chairman Soper told Gillway several times during the Jan. 20 Board of Commissioners meeting that “we do not have unlimited funds.”

Soper also said, “We are reluctant to hire full time help that we might soon have to release, given the state of the economy.”

Security for District Court is not as great a problem. District Court does not have as many sessions and the presiding judge does not have the same security concerns.

All this could change with the upcoming appointment of a new District Judge, they said.

Voters in the Twelfth Judicial District voted in last November’s general election not to retain Judge Kristine Cecava. She will continue to serve until a replacement is named. Such replacement is expected in the near future.

Road and Bridge

The commissioners also held a public hearing concerning the One Year and Six Year Road Improvement Program.

The plan proposes the improvement of 20.7 miles of county roads by hard surface or aggregate over the next six years. Cost is given as $600,200. No public comment occurred and the program was approved.

Highway Superintendent Terry Flick reported all county road signs are being checked for integrity following the recent wind storms.

Flick also told about the upcoming state requirement that all road signs be checked annually to insure their reflective index is up to safety standards. He said checking each sign, recording and reporting the information, as well as manpower and fuel costs would be a significant expense to the county. These costs would be over and above the cost to buy, lease or rent the necessary reflectometer.

A new hoist would be installed in the county shop on the northwest side of Kimball, said Flick.A cylinder on the old hoist had failed. The new installation would be made by county employees using about $2,100 worth of purchased materials.

Kimball Area Foundation The commissioners considered the request of Dr. Douglas McConnell and Derek Thomas to permanently display a Kimball Area Foundation donors plaque and decorativeeagle in the court house. No decision was reached.

In other business, the use of a NACO Purchasing Card was approved. Use of the card should improve control of county expenditures.

Uncollected ambulance accounts of $12,271.39 were struck from the record and purchase of a copy machine for the third floor court room was approved.

Board of Equalization

Earlier in the morning, the commissioners met as Board of Equalization with Assessor Alice Ryschon and held a public hearing on In Lieu of Tax Agreements for Governmental Properties. These are tracts of land owned by governmental agencies, specifically school district, city or village. The tracts are no longer being used for public purpose and so should be subject to property tax.

The school district was made aware that a one acre tract in SW/4 SW/4 Sec. 6 14N 58W that held a rural school building long abandoned but still owned by the school district. Superintendent Troy Unzicker will deal with the matter and get the tract off the school  district’s books.

Three tracts owned by the City of Kimball are being used for public purpose and will be retained. The Village of Dix owns about 33 tracts which the village was holding for development. The Board of Equalization will put these on the property tax rolls if the village takes no action on the matter.

Ryschon said they would likely be valued at $2,000 per lot.