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NACO County Board Workshop
February 5-7, 2014
Kearney, Holiday Inn
Southeast District Meeting
March 13, 2014
Mahoney Park, I-80
Panhandle District Meeting
March 19, 2014 Bridgeport, Prairie Winds Community Center
West Central District Meeting
March 20, 2014
Bridgeport, Prairie Winds Community Center
Northeast District Meeting
March 21, 2014
Norfolk, Lifelong Learning Center
Central District Meeting
March 27, 2014
Kearney, Holiday Inn
Assessors Spring Workshop
May 22-23, 2014
Lincoln, Cornhusker Hotel
To view all upcoming events, click here.
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 Associate and Sustaining Members
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NACO Associate and Sustaining Members enable NACO to enhance its continuing education programs for county officials across the state. Visit NACO's complete associate and sustaining membership list here.
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Education Foundation Memorial Program | |
A gift to NACO's Education Foundation ensures that the children of county officials and county employees are eligible to apply for scholarships to continue their education at Nebraska's higher learning institutions. Whatever their passion - history, art, music, science, education, sports - the NACO Education Foundation will provide them an opportunity to fund their education beyond the K-12 level. Memorial gifts to NACO's Education Foundation are tax deductible and will be a lasting legacy in honor of your loved one's commitment to educating the children of Nebraska's county officials and employees. For more information about how to make a memorial gift, please contact Larry Dix / 402-434-5660 ext. 226. |
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NACO Legislative Committee to Meet in January
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NACO's Legislative Committee will meet on Jan. 31 to review and take positions on 2014 legislation. The meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Nebraska State Education Association (NSEA) Building (605 S. 14th Street) in Lincoln. The NSEA Building is located directly north of the NACO office. After brief introductory remarks, affiliate groups will meet for discussion of bills pertinent to their membership. After the groups have met, the NACO Legislative Committee will reconvene as a whole to review and take positions on the entire list of bills. All county officials are encouraged to attend or discuss areas of concern with their NACO Board representative prior to the meeting.
Because lunch will be provided, please notify the NACO office at (402)434-5660 or leslie@nacone.org if you plan to attend. Because the Legislature is in session, parking around the Capitol may be limited. Public parking is not permitted behind the NSEA Building and no parking is available behind the NACO and MIPS offices. A parking garage is available at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel at 12th and L Streets.
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Register Now for 2014 County Board Workshop
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The 36th annual County Board Workshop sponsored by NACO for all Nebraska county commissioners and supervisors will be held in Kearney on February 5-7, 2014. Commissioners and supervisors planning to attend the workshop are encouraged to begin registering online at NACO's website (www.nacone.org) or by clicking here. Educational sessions covering a variety of topics will be presented on Thursday and Friday. A tentative agenda can be viewed by clicking here. The workshop will begin Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. with a review of legislation and an introduction of NACO County Board Committee members. Following a breakfast buffet on Thursday morning, plans for Thursday's agenda include general sessions for all board members from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., followed by break-out sessions in the afternoon. General session will again be the order of the morning on Friday. The advance registration is the same as last year - $80.00 for those registering no later than January 24. After January 24, the fee increases to $90.00. Please note that there is no per-day or per-session fee and that all attendees will be required to wear their name tags to gain entrance to workshop events. Additional meal tickets may be purchased at the registration desk during the workshop. Click here to register now. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Holiday Inn at the rate of $85.95/single/
double. If you have not made reservations, you are encouraged to do so by contacting the Holiday Inn at (308)237-5971.
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| | 2013 tax rates and tax levies for all 93 Nebraska counties can now be viewed on the Nebraska Department of Revenue, Property Assessment Division's website. Click here to view this information. |
2014 NACO Scholarship Applications Available
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Nebraska high school seniors who are the children, stepchildren, or under the legal guardianship of county officials or employees are encouraged to apply for one of twelve $1,000.00 NACO scholarships. Additional information and the application form can be found under the 'Services' tab on the NACO website. The scholarship application deadline is March 1, 2014. To access the application, click here.
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Legal Line
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Editor's Note: Legal Line is a feature that will periodically appear in NACO E-Line. This edition has been prepared by Elaine Menzel of the NACO legal staff. Legal Line is not intended to serve as legal advice. Rather, it is published to alert readers to court decisions and legal or advisory matters important to county government. For a specific opinion on how the information contained in this article or that which will be discussed in future issues relates to your county, consult your county attorney or personal counsel.
Court of Appeals Upholds An Officer's Termination
In Shear v. City of Wayne Civil Serv. Comm, 21 Neb. App. 644, --- N.W. 2d --- (2014), the court reviewed an appeal from a police officer following his termination from his position with a Police Department. The former police officer's assertions were that his due process rights were violated in a pretermination hearing, that the Commission's decision was arbitrary and capricious, and that the Commission erred in allowing undisclosed testiŽmony at the hearing. The Court of Appeals declined to find in his favor.
The Court highlighted pretermination procedures that were outlined by the U.S. Supreme Court in Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532, 105 S. Ct. 1487, 84 L. Ed. 2d 494 (1985). In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a public employee possesses certain due process rights when state law grants a property right to continued employment. When a state deprives a public employee of this right to continued employment, the deprivation must "'be preceded by notice and opportunity for hearing appropriate to the nature of the case."' After Loudermill, courts have concluded that procedural due process claims are divided into three stages: pretermination process, actual termination, and posttermination process. (Citations omitted).
In this case, there was not a dispute about whether the former police officer had a property right in his continued employment with the Police Department and could not have been discharged without due process rather the necessary extent of the pretermination process was disputed. The terminated employee argued that the pretermination procedures were insufficient because there was a biased decisionmaker. He claimed that because the city's administrator was both the complaining party and the adjudicator in the pretermination hearing, the city adminstrator effectively served as "the accuser, the judge, and the executioner," rendering the pretermination process a nullity.
The Court explained, "In interpreting Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, the Nebraska Supreme Court has adopted the view that only limited pretermination process is required, especially if posttermination proceedings are available and extensive. In adopting this view, the court noted that the purpose of a pretermination proceeding is not to resolve the propriety of the discharge, but, rather, to serve as an initial check against mistaken decisions. Thus, pretermination proceedings need not be elaborate. Informal meetings with supervisors are sufficient pretermination proceedings." (Citations omitted). The Court concluded the posttermination procedures provided the required measure of due process for the terminated employee.
The district court and Court of Appeals held that the former police officer was afforded due process and that the Commission's decision was made in good faith for cause.
The full text of the opinion can be located by clicking here.
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U.S. Communities
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Order NACO's 2014 Directory of County Officials Now
| NACO's 2014 Directory of County Officials is a valuable resource that not only gives you names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers and e-mail addresses of every county official in the state, but includes a listing of county board meeting days, NACO districts, county seats, NACO officers and directors, affiliate officers and NACO staff. County clerks for each county will receive one complimentary copy of the directory intended for use by all offices in their courthouse. For additional copies, click here for the order form.
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County Government Day PowerPoint
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The PowerPoint presentation is available electronically at no charge (sent via e-mail) for use by counties during their annual County Government Day. The PowerPoint provides a comprehensive look at county government functions in the State of Nebraska and can be customized by each county. CD's are also available for $10.00 each to cover processing, shipping and handling. To request the County Government Day PowerPoint electronically, please e-mail your request to larrydix@nacone.org. The CD order form is available here. |
2013 County Board Handbook and Revisions
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The 2013 County Board Handbook and related revisions are available. The cost for a current handbook, including legislative information from the 2013 session, is $80.00/book plus $17.00 shipping and handling per book. The 2013 Supplement to the County Board Handbook is available for $20.00 plus $5.00 shipping and handling. The order form is available on the NACO website here. For questions, contact Ashley Vandeloo by clicking here or call her at (402) 434-5660 ext. 223. |
News Across the State
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Beatrice Daily Sun, 01/23/2014
York News-Times, 01/23102
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News From NACo
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County Services in Jeopardy if Congress Fails to Fund PILT
Counties will have no option but to severely reduce or eliminate critical county services to the public if Congress fails to deliver funding for PILT in the FY 2014 Omnibus spending bill. To read more, click here.
Registration for the 2014 NACo Cyber Symposium is Now Open
Join NACo April 9-11 in Omaha, Neb. for one and a half days of education and networking around the topics of cybersecurity. This year's symposium will follow a two-track model with targeted programming for both county officials, and IT and cybersecurity staff. NACo is offering complementary registration for all Cyber for Counties Task Force Members. To read more, click here.
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NACo Web-Based Education
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Strategies to Bolster Economic Resilience: County Leadership in Action
Counties, regions and communities that can foresee, adapt and leverage changing economic conditions are best positioned to attract and grow new businesses, retain skilled workers and promote a high quality of life. As a result of constrained local budgets and economic uncertainties, counties must think creatively about their local and regional strengths and how to translate those assets into economic growth. To address this, NACo recently released a report, "Strategies to Bolster Economic Resilience: County Leadership in Action," to highlight how counties across the country are pursuing creative and innovative policies, partnerships and initiatives to create healthy, safe, vibrant and economically resilient communities.
Thursday, January 30, 2014 2:00-3:15 p.m. EST
To view NACo's entire web-based education listing, click here. |
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