During the regular meeting Wednesday morning of the Dodge County Board of Supervisors, officials heard about cyber security.
Board chairman Bob Missel and supervisor Greg Beam attended the Nebraska Association of County Officials (NACO) Conference earlier this month. Beam provided details from a Homeland Security meeting he attended.
“Homeland Security, of course, has a great interest in ransomware and security for all entities — government, school and the like,” Beam said. “They do have a program that will come in and assist. They will do a survey and will go as deep as you care to go as far as training. … It is probably a good idea at some point.”
Supervisor Dan Weddle asked Beam if there was any cost for the training.
“There is not,” Beam said. “It is totally free and is in the best interest of all. That is why Homeland Security does it. I think it would be beneficial to engage in it.”
Missel provided the board with some details about American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds.
“This is in regards to the money coming to states, cities and counties,” he said. “We’ve received funding now. We’ve got some time, but it is going to be out in front of all of us and something we’re going to have to address. We will have people coming forward, I’m sure, looking for these dollars. It is all tied to COVID-19.”
Missel said there are already some set deadlines.
“NACO is going to continue to try to keep up on their website all of the latest information as it comes out,” he said. “We’re still waiting on the state of Nebraska to kind of firm up their position on it. There are already some definite timelines. It is kind of looking that we will have to obligate the money by 2024 and it will have to be spent by 2026. It is a long span, but it is complicated.”
During the NACO conference, Missel heard discussions about the funds.
“I heard a lot of county supervisors and commissioners talk about what they were going to spend it on,” he said. “It was all over the place.”
Missel told the supervisors it was something “they needed to start wrapping their heads around.” He suggested going to the NACO site and searching ARP to see the major details of the plan.
Dodge County will be receiving more than $7 million over two years, the chairman said. The City of Fremont is also receiving funds.
“We’ll want to collaborate with the city so that we don’t cross over,” Missel said.
The board also received bids for the Yager Road Paving Project.
Supervisor Lon Strand said the road committee met Wednesday morning and moved to accept the bid from Graham Construction for $958,313.95.
Highway superintendent Scott Huppert said the bid was in line with what officials were estimating.
“Graham was pretty close to what we were thinking,” he said.
The board unanimously approved the contract for Graham.
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