County commissioners are getting closer to hiring emergency manager

​YORK – It appears the York County Commissioners are getting closer to hiring an emergency manager.

​Gary Peterson, who was the emergency manager for Seward and York Counties, recently retired. At that point, it was decided York County would have its own emergency manager and would no longer be sharing the position with another county.
They have been receiving applications – quite a few, according to Commissioners Randy Obermier and Daniel Grotz, who are heading up the hiring effort.
Obermier told the other commissioners this past week he and Grotz had already interviewed four candidates and two more were to be interviewed the following day.
The county board members also went into executive session in order to have a private discussion about the various candidates, following committee reports.
Also this past week's county board meeting:

• The county board has been listening to and following testimony regarding LB1204 which pertains to solar field projects. Grotz said he has had conversations about the bill with Sen. Jana Hughes and he submitted a letter of opposition.
• Commissioner Andy Bowman said he and Grotz have been doing reviews and talking with each of the staff members at the roads department. “We have been getting a lot of good, very good, constructive feedback. These have been very good meetings.
• Bowman said he attended a recent meeting of the Bradshaw Fire Department.
• Commissioner Deb Robertson reported she has been attending village board meetings within her district. She also said she would be having an open house opportunity in the near future so she could hear from her constituents in District 2.
• The county’s tech committee recently met and there was some discussion about using old security cameras – which had once been used at the courthouse but eventually replaced. Grotz said the decision was made to keep the old cameras and now there is an opportunity to install them at the roads department in order to have more security.
• Obermier directed the commissioners to the fund balance sheet and said right now, most are "in good shape."
• The board went into executive session to discuss an application for general assistance. After the session, all the board members voted in favor of denying the application.
• Two tax list corrections were presented by York County Assessor Kurt Bulgrin. He explained one was to correct the number of acres in a parcel and the other was to correct the square footage of a house.
• As the board of equalization, the county commissioners approved two vehicle tax exemptions -- one for St. John's Lutheran Church and the other for the Mennonite Bethesda Church in Henderson. Both exemptions were recommended by the York County treasurer.