Executive Board:2/13/2024 (Public Comment – S. Mikowski, 2/13/2024)
Event Date: 2024-02-13 00:00:00
Summarized with ai model: claude-3-haiku-20240307
Disclaimer: AI-generated summaries may contain errors. Please review the source document for accuracy. Internal document reference #:2247
Executive Summary:
Section 1: Solar Panels on County Property
The document cautions the commission against hastily installing solar panels on all county property, citing the example of Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, where solar panels were damaged by hail in 2023. The author suggests the commission should carefully consider the potential risks and impact of such a decision.
Section 2: Finance Director
The document expresses concern over the commission’s handling of the interim Finance Director, suggesting that the commission may be attempting to impose the same “Clerk-Loathing decision” of May 11, 2021 on the Finance Director, which could lead to her departure.
Section 3: Public Comment at BOC Meetings
The document questions the commission’s desire to limit public comment at Board of Commissioners (BOC) meetings, noting that the author has attended these meetings for 35 years and has never observed such an “obsession” to restrict public input. The author wonders if the commission has the same “disdain for the Public as they have for the Clerk.”
Section 4: MLI Search for Administrator/CFO
The document respects Commissioner Ross’ “distrust” regarding the commission’s decision to use MLI, a firm with a former county administrator, Janik, to conduct the search for a new administrator/CFO. The author suggests that there are likely other qualified firms that could perform this task and that the commission should be “embarrassed” by the “fiasco” of Janik’s previous 18-month tenure as county administrator.
Section 5: Governance Requires “Leaders”?
The document challenges the notion of “governance by ‘leaders’,” stating that local governance is not about leading but rather about leaving people and taxpayers alone to lead their own lives without government interference. The author suggests that the county commission’s objective should be to provide the “Best Possible Least Cost Republican Form of Limited Government” and only act on issues that county electors have lawfully petitioned for, rather than self-initiating millage taxes and regulations based on their own “individual passions.”