Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Contracts And Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lancaster County commissioners approve relay permit, multiple contracts and infrastructure work
Summary
At its May 26 meeting the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners approved a special-events permit for the Market to Market Relay (date corrected to Oct. 17), accepted a $1.09 million juvenile-services grant that staff said was reduced this year, and signed off on a series of contracts for appraisals, bridge repairs, a salt-shed replacement and other infrastructure and vendor services.
The Lancaster County Board of Commissioners on May 26 approved a slate of routine permits, contracts and infrastructure projects, including a special-events permit for the Market to Market Relay, multiple appraisal and right-of-way contracts for the county’s South 68th Street federal-aid project, and repairs to a Canongate overpass.
Chair Krista Yocom opened the meeting and the board moved, seconded and approved the consent agenda after removing and amending one consent item to set a public hearing for June 16, 2026.
An applicant for the Market to Market Relay told the board the multi-stage relay between Omaha and Lincoln is returning this fall and corrected the date in the packet. “It’s actually on 10:17,” the presenter said, and the board approved the permit.
County staff presented a temporary agreement with Emergis Healthcare Staffing Inc. to provide professional healthcare staffing at mental-health crisis center rates the packet lists as “$45 to $280 per hour.” The board approved that agreement. The board also authorized a $17,000 payment from the inmate benefit fund to Good News Jail and Prison Ministries for chaplaincy services.
Leslie Arons of Lincoln Lancaster County Human Services briefed commissioners on a Nebraska Crime Commission community-based juvenile service aid enhancement grant for fiscal 2027, saying funding has been cut. “There was a significant cut in funding, for both community based aid and juvenile services,” Arons said; the board approved acceptance of the $1,091,224 grant and related program support.
Staff described two appraisal contracts required by the federal-aid S. 68th Street improvement project: RL Keith Consultant Inc. for appraisal-review services ($43,860) and Cooper Appraisal Group for appraisals and property-acquisition services ($134,300). Dalton Hoffer of county right-of-way explained project delays and federal requirements tied to right-of-way purchases: “Of course, we can't bid the project before we bought the right away,” he said. Both contracts were approved.
Public-works and engineering items approved included a contract with Greenfield for construction of a replacement salt shed at the Sprague district shop (not to exceed $221,575.11) and a repair contract with Lobato Construction LLC for Bridge H‑253 (Canongate overpass) not to exceed $421,225.50; county staff said adding approach slabs should extend the structure’s life by roughly 20 years and the county will seek RTSD reimbursement for approach-slab costs. The board also approved a $150,000 not-to-exceed contract with Eurtec USA Inc. to continue the county’s foam-injection soil-stabilization program and a memorandum for square-steel signpost systems estimated not to exceed $50,000.
The board approved several procurement and vendor agreements, including maintenance and security services with Kidwell Electric (not to exceed $250,000), janitorial supplies with Capital Sanitary Supply (estimated not to exceed $360,000) and an adoption agreement moving the county retirement plan form to Empower Retirement with a requested correction to paragraph 2 (box 2b checked rather than 2c).
The board voted to enter executive session at 9:23 a.m. for a strategy session on a real-estate transaction and legal advice, then reconvened at 9:55 a.m.; no substantive details from the executive session were disclosed in open session. The meeting concluded with routine announcements about upcoming hearings and adjournment.
Budgetary and procedural details were presented by county staff during the meeting and all listed motions passed by roll call votes.
What’s next: the board set a public hearing related to county construction codes for June and will continue project work on right-of-way acquisitions and design for the S. 68th Street federal project.
