Reports from the Bates County Commission
May 20, 2026 The Bates County Commission met with Presiding Commissioner Jim Wheatley, Northern Commissioner John Gray and Southern Commissioner Trent Nelson present.
Sean McGonigle came in with MAC Trust, Workman’s Comp, and visited with the Commission.
Brent Bettels visited the Commission, assuming they could not do a moratorium. Brent was correct, the Commission cannot due to not being zoned. He also spoke more about the Cost Benefit Analysis. He does not like the 1.75% increase over the 30-year period and thinks it should be raised to 2% at the least. He then stated, along with Trent, that GilmoreBell and MarksNelson can run those numbers and give them an idea of what those numbers would look like.
Brent stated that he has been working alongside the Mayor of Amoret, Rob. They have been discussing things that Amoret needs and the cost. One thing they discussed was fire equipment but was told by Clearway that they had already given the County an allotted amount for that. John clarified that this was not stated anywhere in the document and was not correct. Brent then mentioned that he felt this was untrue, so he wanted to take the time to come in and get clarification on that so when he meets with Barry on Friday, they are not playing the citizens and the Commission against one another. He also mentioned that Friday’s meeting will also be over the plans and prices that they have in mind for upkeep and upgrades that were supposed to be negotiated directly with Clearway. He is hopeful of getting good counter offers or at least a yes or no.
Brent expressed his gratitude over the Commission listening and answering questions that he has brought forward and thanked them for helping him have answers for his meeting Monday night. He was able to answer questions and calm some concerns with the information he gathered on Monday. Trent then spoke on the wrath that the Commission receives and how it can be discouraging at times. Brent understood what they are trying to accomplish and recognized that it is sometimes harsh, the hate they receive. Brent stated that he does try to take some of the heat before it makes it to the Commission, as he knows they are trying to do what’s best.
Brent then discussed some more questions that were gathered from Monday night’s meeting and Trent said he would get some clarification on such matters. He also asked if there had been any changes or updates dealing with the setbacks. John informed him that nothing had changed. Brent explained that they have found a company that will plant what they are wanting and will continue maintaining them over the next 5 years. All that information will be discussed at Brent's meeting with Clearway on Friday.
May 27, 2026 The Bates County Commission met with Presiding Commissioner Jim Wheatley and Southern Commissioner Trent Nelson present. Northern Commissioner John Gray was absent.
Jami Page, the Bates County Clerk, met with the Commission to discuss the 2024-2025 Audit Bid that she received. The bid was sent to individuals as well as posted in the newspaper for two weeks, but only one bid was received.
Mueller Oberkfell & Jones, LLC quoted the Audit at $25.540.00 with a June start date. Jami did include in the Bid Proposal to have it finished by September.
Trent made a motion to accept the bid from Mueller Oberkfell & Jones, LLC, for the 2024-2025 Audit. Jim seconded the motion. All were in favor, one absent. Motion carried. No opposition.
Jami then spoke over the Bates County Sheriff’s Office Audit. She was emailed by the Auditors to retrieve signatures and put together the letterhead, so she sent out emails to gather such information. She is waiting to hear from Sheriff Anderson about whether he is going to sign or not.
Several Elected Officials came in and addressed issues they had with the new Personnel Policy that was presented by HR Solutions. Jim started the meeting explaining the changes that have been made and stated he understands there are more changes that need to be made and encouraged each individual office holder to figure out what needs to be rewritten for their specific office.
Chad Anderson, Bates County Sheriff, spoke on his issues. He felt as if there was a shift of independent power for the elected official. Where it addressed the Dress Code, he felt that should be up to the elected official. He also pointed out a section where it said in the event of promoting an employee, they had to involve the Clerk and the Commission and he felt that was not right, either. These certain things left him feeling like the Clerk and the Commission got all the power, but Jim reassured him that was not at all the case.
Kacie Robey, with the Treasurer/Collectors Office, expressed her concern about how the decision was made to effortlessly give $11,000 to this company for the entire policy to be redrafted and questioned what the policy was doing for the County. She then stated that all the Elected Officials could have sat down in a meeting and had this same conversation and revised the old policy. She then continued to express her aggravation on the fact that it took an extended amount of time for her software to be accepted. She then expressed that she feels as if there is no communication in this building.
Hugh Jenkins spoke up and circled things back around and asked the Commission if they were going to redraft the Policy for each office, Jim explained they don’t have any of the offices’ suggestions, which led Hugh to feel as if this meeting was premature. He also mentioned that the Policy needs to be separated between Elected Officials and Employees.
Chad then asked who they needed to send their suggestions to and Jim told him to send it directly to Steve Cohen, the Policy Coordinator. Chad then asked for contact information for Steve and asked if he could make sure all the Elected Officials received it as well.
Kacie and Chad then discussed all the Statutes and Policies that they must follow and have always gone by.
Shelli White had some concern about the free time and internet access. She stated she already must follow guidelines from the State, plus her employees don’t have the downtime anyway.
Chad then brought up holiday pay and spoke over certain hours that have been missed in previous pay and pointed out how this policy stated that the employee will be paid what they were expected to work, not just an eight-hour workday. He has employees that work 12-hour shifts and used to get paid for only 8 hours, so he was thankful for that. He then agreed with Kacie and stated he did not disagree with the earlier statements she had made.
Kacie then began getting upset, stating that she is passionate about her job and it would be more beneficial if she was asked to be involved instead of receiving an email of this policy and asked to review it. Chad told her that he wasn’t trying to undermine anyone, he was simply explaining things to help her understand, she stated it made more sense now that they had a conversation about it, but felt that this meeting was easily had and wondered why there wasn’t a meeting with all Elected Officials in the first place instead of just a select few who then donated money to help pay for the Policy and the others had no say. She continued to express her annoyance that she has to find out everything on Facebook or an email after the fact. She then removed herself from the meeting.
Jim then asked if everyone could review the policy and mark things that need to be added or changed and reminded them that he will get everyone Steves’ information so they can work with him directly.
Robert Rosendahl, with Walnut Township, came in and checked on the status of a tube that he had been concerned over previously. Trent told him that Road and Bridge has been by the spot he’s concerned about and informed him that they plan to get it fixed by mid-June. Robert then wrote down contact information for the members on the township and continued to speak with the Commission over several other things.
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