by Nancy McGill, The Milford Times

    For a solid year, the taxpayers of Pleasant Dale have not seen where their money is going.
     That's because the village board is not publishing its claims or proceedings.
     Resident Frank Jacox addressed the matter at the board's regular meeting Dec. 14. In an interview Dec. 20, Jacox compared the board's method of conducting business to a "political southern regime."
     "Residents are frustrated. There's no confidence," he said.
     The Nebraska Open Meetings Act requires cities and villages to publish their proceedings and list approved claims within 30 days after each meeting in a newspaper of general circulation within the city or village's county.
     Village Clerk Kathy Allen published proceedings once last year in February, but the claims were not listed.
     At the board's December meeting, Allen said, "Sometimes I receive affidavits and sometimes I don't."
     Allen was referring to the general practice of publishing. Once proceedings and claims are published, a government body can request a "proof of publication," and the newspaper will send it to that body.
     The state requires that certain publications become part of the state's record, such as the budgets of cities or villages.
     Allen did publish Pleasant Dale's budget Sept. 6. She ran a legal notice Feb. 8 for the village's six-year road and street plan and Nov. 1 for a Nov. 16 public hearing on the village's comprehensive plan.
     She also published a notice for a liquor license at Keller's II. Liquor licenses are mandated by the state, and by law Allen would have needed proof of publication.
     The budget and the notices were received by the Seward County Independent and published in The Milford Times. Allen said she sent the village's proceedings by U.S. mail the remainder of 2006. Neither the Seward or Milford newspaper received the documents.
     Pleasant Dale Postmaster Marilu Fichtner said the chance of losing an item in the mail is less than five percent. She said mail does occasionally get lost, but losing all of the proceedings for each individual month would be "highly unlikely."
     Fichtner also said notices of meetings are usually posted the day before they are to take place. Rarely were they posted three to four days before the meetings, Fichtner said, which is the "reasonable advanced notice" stated by the Open Meetings Law.
     "Things weren't going like they should have been going," Allen told The Milford Times. "I'm trying to rectify the problem and find alternative ways to make it work."
     Allen, who is reportedly difficult to contact by residents, has served the village since December of 2005. She was trained by the previous clerk, Kevin Cline.
     In order to be certified as a municipality clerk, Allen must attend a one-week course every year for five years. She said she could not recall if she had attended a training in 2006.
     The Milford Times requested the village's minutes for the entire year of 2006, and Allen produced them in two days. The minutes did not include the village's claims, however. Allen did not return a telephone call to the Times regarding the claims.
     The minutes revealed invoices the board approved every month, but they didn't state amounts or what the claims were for.
     Village Board Chair Mike Reed said the board would discuss whether they had violated the law and try to solve the problem. When asked if the issue would be on the board's Thursday, Jan. 11, agenda, Reed said: "I don't know. I haven't seen the agenda."
     Reed also confirmed that the village attorney, Robert Blevens, resigned immediately following the December meeting. He did not say why.
     "I don't know. You'll have to ask him," Reed said.
     Blevens did not return a telephone call to the Times.
     "You know something's going on, but you can't prove it," Jacox said about the village's business.
     He served on the board approximately seven years ago but left after four years because he was frustrated with the board.
     "Decisions were made outside the meetings," he said.
     According to him, board members would make up their minds about village business before the meetings began. Then the board would approve items on the agenda without discussing them in front of the public.
     Jacox said he had trouble locating work records from the village's maintenance department, as well.
     Building permits are scarce, too. Sometimes the building begins before the permits are approved, Jacox said.
     "There's never any record of it (the permits)," he said.
     When Jacox asked a number of years ago why the claims weren't being published, he was told by a board member that it was too expensive. He has repeatedly asked to see the claims, but he can't seem to get an answer.
     "The rules aren't followed," he said. "It's selective government."