The Seward County Commissioners have signed a contract to begin a comparability study through Capital City Concepts.
During the March 31 commissioners meeting, Seward County Attorney Wendy Elston said the county would pay Capital City Concepts $16,000 to conduct the study.
The comparability study would compare Seward County’s employees’ pay and benefits to similar counties. This is to keep the county competitive when looking for new hires.
“We do want to keep the employees we have because what would we do without them?” Commissioner Diana Garske said.
Commissioner Roger Glawatz said paying for the comparability study would help the county save money on training new employees, which can cost thousands.
Also during the meeting, the commissioners agreed to let Great Plains Communications bore under Highway 34 to connect the County Courthouse to the planned optical fiber ring.
The boring would take place when GPC is working on the fiber ring on City Hall’s property, according to GPC engineer Bob Marksmeier.
“It’d be nice to tear it up once,” Marksmeier said, adding that if GPC does not bore now, it will have to get new permits to dig on city property if the county decides to connect to the fiber ring in the future.
Marksmeier also said the county does not have to use the fiber ring now, but the option to use it is there if the county decides to in the future.
Also during the meeting, the commissioners granted the Seward Youth Center permission to use the courthouse lawn in April for outdoor activities.
Sue McHugh, the director of the youth center, said the group cannot use its usual space on the old middle school grounds because of ongoing construction.
However, she still wants students to be outdoors.
“This gives students a chance to get outside and enjoy the weather,” McHugh said.
