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Otoe County switches gears, cuts bridge positions only

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BY JOE DUGGAN / Lincoln Journal Star

Tuesday, Sep 09, 2008 - 04:31:48 pm CDT

A representative of three Otoe County roads workers who will lose their jobs criticized the move Tuesday as retaliation against their union.

The Otoe County Board of Commissioners voted 2-1 to eliminate the county’s bridge crew, which consists of a foreman and three maintenance workers. Despite votes several weeks ago to also eliminate four truck driver jobs, the board left those positions intact Tuesday during a meeting in Nebraska City.

Commissioners Dale Haverty and Joy Schroder voted to lay off the bridge workers while Commissioner Nicki Kreifels voted against.

Nebraska Public Employees Local Union 251 represents the three bridge workers but not the foreman. George Forst, vice president of the union, said  he believes the two commissioners who voted for the layoffs were exercising a vendetta against the union.

As evidence, he pointed out the board approved a budget Tuesday that contains enough money to keep the bridge crew.

“We do not believe that the actions … had anything to do throughout this whole process with budgetary matters,” Forst said. “From our point of view, this is an attempt by Joy Schroder to bust the union.”

Schroder has never liked the fact that roads workers voted for union representation 12 years ago, Forst said. He referred to disputes over wages and personnel actions as examples of Schroder’s dislike of the union.

Attempts to reach Schroder Tuesday were unsuccessful.

After the meeting, board Chairman Haverty said his vote had everything to do with money. He estimated the layoffs could save the county close to $180,000 annually in salaries and benefits.

The county now will have to hire private contractors to do bridge work. But it was faced with having to pay for contract work even if the bridge crew remained, because bridge maintenance has become highly specialized, Haverty said.

The board made 10 or 15 adjustments to the proposed budget so it would balance, Haverty said. Those adjustments allowed the board to spare the truck driver jobs for this year, he added.

Tuesday’s meeting represented the fourth time in the past month the board has taken action on roads department staffing.

Commissioners voted to lay off seven roads employees at an Aug. 12 closed meeting. But after the union filed a complaint, Attorney General Jon Bruning determined the action violated the state’s open meetings law. Bruning admonished the board and said it needed to reconsider the action in an open session.

The job eliminations approved Tuesday will take effect at the end of the month, Haverty said. The county must submit its budget to the state by a Sept. 20 deadline.

Reach Joe Duggan at 473-7239 or jduggan@journalstar.com.


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Nina wrote on September 9, 2008 2:15 pm:
" This action presumes the commissioners posted in public newspapers the date, time and agenda of the meeting, giving those who wished to attend or speak the chance to do so. Meanwhile, more county road bridges have closed this year, making those roads unusable, and some families able to go only one direction to leave home. These bridges are not likely to be replaced soon, if ever. Meanwhile, I hope the fine new county road facilities, equipment and county vehicles are much enjoyed, because quite a price was paid for them, at the expense of upkeeping our county roads, which continue to deteriorate. "

 Rudy wrote on September 9, 2008 2:23 pm:
" Now correct me if I'm wrong. A road isn't much good if it doesn't have a bridge for it to continue on? "

 tim wrote on September 9, 2008 2:33 pm:
" all roads lead to somewhere, not so with bridges. "

 me wrote on September 9, 2008 2:43 pm:
" I agree with nina, we continue to drive around the bridges. the main one to hwy 2 will be out going on a year.. how sad. "

 Fed Up wrote on September 9, 2008 2:54 pm:
" The roads in southwestern Otoe county are deplorable. There simply is no excuse for the condition of the roads. I would like just one representative from Otoe County, whether its from the roads department or the county commissioners or anyone at all in local government to explain why the roads are in the condition they're in. And please don't tell me it's from all the rain this spring, because while that may be a contributing factor this year, that's not the case in previous years. "

 Recall Joy Schroder wrote on September 9, 2008 3:04 pm:
" Totally useless. I thought with the nice, new roads department building that was put up about 5 years ago just west of Palmyra would bring better conditions to the sadly declining roads around the area. Highway 2 is usually clear of snow but the side roads are a disaster. Most never get touched unless you plow them yourself. I noticed my taxes haven't gone down 1 cent since nobody is around to maintain them. I hope Joy doesn't mind that we treat his job just like the workers he voted out. "

 Observer wrote on September 9, 2008 3:04 pm:
" This is a short-term budget fix. You can usually ignore bridges for maybe three, four, or five years. The Commissioners will think they are saving money. The chickens do come home to roost when any road or bridge maintenance is ignored for a long enough period of time. The costs down the road could very well exceed all the money saved.

Ignore bridge maintenance? One only needs to look to Minneapolis to see the end result. "

 Roads suck either way. wrote on September 9, 2008 3:27 pm:
" they don't even work on the bridges so what's the point. Otote county roads are HORRID that is all there is to it!!!!! "

 less government wrote on September 9, 2008 3:58 pm:
" everybody in every county say their roads are bad. as for the bridge crew, it has been proven time and again it costs much less to hire private bridge contractors to build bridges. we need to get up to the times we are living in. very few counties in nebraska even have bridge crews anymore. ask them why! duh the privete sector alawys gets tginhs done cheaper than government. "

 Scott wrote on September 9, 2008 4:29 pm:
" That new building is a state building isn't it? Were talking about the county roads department. "

 Nina wrote on September 9, 2008 5:37 pm:
" The new building is a county building, with others existing or in the plans for other parts of the county. "

 Buddha wrote on September 9, 2008 5:55 pm:
" They left money in the budget to pay for these positions and are cutting them??? Wow, how dumb are these commissioners? The union needs to file grievances and fight this! "

 steve wrote on September 9, 2008 10:27 pm:
" Bottom line, this state without Omaha, has less than 1 million people. There are way too many roads and bridges to keep up. It is an unsustainable mess. We all are going to give somethings up. If we do it early enough we will be able to choose..... "

 lived in more than one county wrote on September 10, 2008 7:34 am:
" I have lived in Cass County most of my life til i moved to Otoe county and Cass county roads (even the dirt roads) are maintained better than Otoe county. Most of my friends won't even come and visit us at our home.
No road graders, the trees over hanging are making it one lane. As far as the bridges, it is sad, so sad, i have had the roads supv come years ago and meet me to discuss the conditions, with no luck, it is true, we maintain our own roads, take vacation when it snows, while Joy has coffee at the Caseys..... "

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