lake hastings

Anjanette Bonham, executive director of the Adams County Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the commissioners that Trevor Wilkerson with the local disc golf community attended the CVB board meeting to make the pitch for funds.

“He was very excited for their future improvements at the disc golf course at Lake Hastings,” Bonham said. “If you drive by there at any time of the day or the week, you usually see somebody out there playing. It’s just a very popular and growing sport for people of all ages.”

Bonham said the basket chains are breaking and the concrete tee pads are cracking at the 20-year-old course.

Wilkerson wrote in the application that the course hosted tournaments that brought 90 players to town in 2020 and 75 players in 2021.

Wilkerson also wrote that Lake Hastings is rated among the top five courses in Nebraska.

“That is really huge and exciting for our community to have that here in Hastings,” Bonham said. “Besides the many locals, it brings people in from out of town to play the course. These improvements will help increase those numbers.”

The commissioners also unanimously approved authorizing $25,000 in improvement grant funds for the Hastings Family YMCA’s $13.9 million capital campaign.

Hastings Family YMCA CEO Troy Stickels attended the CVB board meeting and presented the grant request.

“He just was very informative and excited and passionate about their future improvements of bringing their facilities under one roof and one location instead of the two buildings they currently have,” Bonham said. “I’m just excited for the Y and the improvements they are implementing because this facility is going to be amazing and beautiful. It’s going to benefit their programs and their activities even further than what they are able to right now.”

The grant funds would help the Y offset expenses toward the final phase of fundraising for the capital project.

According to the Y’s application, $11.028 million of the project cost had been raised as of Dec. 13, 2021.

Also during the meeting, Bill Barritt and Jan Beran with construction manager Beckenhauer Construction of Norfolk gave an update on the county’s planned jail project.

“Over the next month, it’s going to be a pretty busy time,” Barritt said.

Nearly complete design plans from project architect Prochaska and Associates are expected at the end of the week.

Beckenhauer will put a public notice in the Hastings Tribune in the beginning of February for bid package 3, which is the final bid package for the project and includes the rest of the trades that haven’t been bid so far.

The commissioners on Tuesday approved the six components of bid package 2.

That includes the following:

• Cast-in-place concrete for $1,032,783 to Heartland Concrete and Construction of Hastings
• Masonry complete for $2,924,486 to Kehm Contractors of Omaha
• Detention equipment for $2,389,727 to Sweeper Metal Fabricators of Drumright, Oklahoma
• Detention cell modules for $2,279,792 to Sweeper Metal Fabricators
• Site clearing and earthwork for $315,979 to Van Kirk Brothers Contracting of Sutton
• Water and sanitary utilities for $293,343 to Van Kirk Brothers Contracting

The two detention items totaled about $4.7 million. That is far less than the $9 million that Barritt said Beckenhauer had estimated.

The masonry bid from Kehm Contractors was the only bid for that item. It was nearly three times the $1 million Beckenhauer estimated.

Barritt said the other best bids fell in line with estimates.

Those approved bids, plus the contract administration, total $9,453,655. Including the previously approved first bid package of $2,930,552, $12,384,207 has been approved so far.

In other business, the commissioners:

• Unanimously approved one-year appointments of Neil Gerloff and Robin Stroot to the Adams County Extension Board.
• Unanimously approved surplusing two county-owned vehicles, a 2007 Ford Escape and 2007 Ford Edge, and sending the vehicles to public auction if no other county office wants the vehicles.
• Unanimously approved tax list corrections.
• Unanimously approved the chairman’s signature on a contract with Oden Enterprises of Wahoo for materials at $236,215 for a bridge to be constructed on Palamino Avenue between Pauline Boulevard and Cimarron Road.
• Unanimously approved for submission the Adams County weeds report from Weed Superintendent Eric Walston.