Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Area residents with business in the courthouse might soon have to get used to a few changes.

But the scope of those changes remains uncertain as the county Board of Supervisors wrestles with balancing safety with access.

At its June 14 meeting, the board directed Deputy Sergeant K.C. Bang to gather additional bids on expanding the camera system at the courthouse and adding “panic buttons” for each office.

The board also discussed changing public access.

Bang said after consulting with security experts, including representatives from the U.S. Marshals Service, he recommends using the courthouse’s west doors as emergency exits only. The public would enter through the south door and pass through either the metal detector the county already owns or through an x-ray machine, similar to the kind used in airports.

Implementing the entire plan would run upwards of $63,000 for the hardware. The county also would have to pay a security guard to man the scanner during business hours. That amount was not included in the proposal.

But the board didn’t want to jump into a complete security overhaul, at least right away.

“I like that we have options and I think that there are more options,” District 7 Supervisor Carl Pearson said. “If we can come to a consensus, something the department heads are good with, then I think we should pursue it and see what the costs are.”

Among the top priorities on protecting the people who work in, or have business in, the courthouse is to reduce the number of entrances. An option toward that end is to make the south door the only public entrance.

Bang said in his opinion a scanner would do more to keep people safe than expanding the camera system, which would only monitor hallways. He said the cameras the building has are fine, “we just don’t have enough of them.”

Bang said he also liked the idea of panic buttons. Each office would have two. Small enough to be carried in a pocket, the devices make no audible sound but they alert whoever is monitoring them, most likely the sheriff’s office, to a potentially dangerous situation. One vendor also offered off-site monitoring in case the sheriff’s office is the site that’s in danger.

In other business during its June 14 meeting, the county board:

—Accepted the tax list corrections and the list of overvalued and undervalued property prepared by County Assessor Katie Hart.

She told the board there were 85 improperly valued properties on the list.

“Most of them have land discounts,” she said.

She said in order to assess property accurately and fairly, all of the discounts were removed.

“A lot of them I didn’t put back on because I couldn’t justify them,” Hart said. “That’s one of the things the state was looking at—unequalized applications.”

Among the reasons for the large numbers of improperly valued properties, she said, is the lack of building permits issued.

“That’s a city issue for all the cities,” she said. “Our office needs a statement to know what changed, especially if its over $2,500, so we can make changes accordingly and not have these big hikes every six years.”

Residents who want to protest valuation changes on the property have until June 30 to file their intention at the county clerk’s office. Protest hearings will be held July 12 and 13.

—Accepted the most recent set of updates to the county’s zoning regulations.

—Named Scott Herbolsheimer to the county’s Visitors Committee. He replaces June Simpson who recently resigned form the post.

—Took no action after discussing President Biden’s proposed 30x30 plan.

The plan intends to put 30 percent of the nation’s land into government ownership by 2030. Supervisors were concerned over the loss of tax revenue, but were reticent to have a resolution drafted until more specific details about the plan are revealed.

On January 27, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, to chart the course on how the United States will combat climate change and address how the nation’s lands, ocean, inland waters and wildlife can be used to accomplish the goal of obtaining 30 percent of the country’s land and water, ostensibly for conservation and public access purposes. Biden’s executive order called for the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Commerce through the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and Council on Environmental Quality, to present a report to the National Climate Task Force, with input from diverse stakeholders. The first such report was issued last December.

To reach the 30 percent target, it would require adding an additional 440-million acres, an area more than twice the size of Texas. Farmers and ranchers have already enrolled 140-million acres in conservation programs, the size of New York and California combined.

Get local news delivered to your inbox!

LOUISVILLE – A single-vehicle accident on Sunday evening in Cass County took the life of a 19-year-old male from Springfield.

UNION – An Omaha man suffered facial and possible back injuries when the plane he was piloting crashed in southeastern Cass County on Sunday.

PLATTSMOUTH – A rural Plattsmouth man died in a two-vehicle head-on collision on Bay Road on Wednesday evening.

PLATTSMOUTH – Cass County baseball players will take part in a pair of league tournaments this week on multiple diamonds.

PLATTSMOUTH – A Plattsmouth man will spend time in the Nebraska Department of Corrections on charges of drug possession, false reporting and theft.

PLATTSMOUTH – Two people who stole more than $50,000 worth of items from three Weeping Water houses were sentenced in district court Monday morning.

PLATTSMOUTH – A Plattsmouth man who sexually abused two young children multiple times will spend more than a decade in state prison.

VALLEY – A tornado touched down in the Murdock area on the evening of June 14 causing tree and structural damage, according to the National We…

PLATTSMOUTH – A former Cass County resident will spend time in jail for speeding on local roads with a revoked driver’s license.

PLATTSMOUTH – The late Josephine Crofton had a dream many years ago, her grown children said.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.