Garden County Nebraska

GardenCoNe.com

Oshkosh, Lewellen, Lisco

Office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Monday through Friday. Closed for Legal Holidays
Field operations are from 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Closed for Legal Holidays.
County Shops are located in Lisco, Oshkosh, and Lewellen.

Dennis Allen was appointed as the Garden County Road Foreman in 1999. He received certification and was licensed as a County Highway Superintendent in 2000, with a Class B license. In 2005, he upgraded his license to a Class A, and is required by the State Highway and City Street Superintendents to acquire 20 hours per year of continuing education to maintain his Class A license. Dennis was born and raised in Garden County, and after living in California and Wisconsin, moved back to live on the family homestead.

Location

Our Office is currently at the Courthouse Annex

619 Main Street, Oshkosh

What our office does:

The Garden County Road Department is responsible for the design/construction and maintenance of County Roads and Bridges in Garden County.

Duties of office

It is the duty of the County Highway Superintendent to keep County Roads safe and well maintained for the traveling public.

Office Personnel

Brenda Tophoj

Secretary

What records/other we maintain

All maintenance of county roads, budget info, equipment costs, annual report (which is filed with the state), the 1 & 6 Year Plan.

What services are available to the public

All maintenance of County Roads.

About this Office

The county is 1722 square miles and the Road Department maintains approximately 670 miles of road. In addition, there are approximately 130 miles of trails and bridges. The State of Nebraska encourages all counties to employ a licensed Highway Superintendent. He/she is to be in charge of the construction and maintenance of roads under the county's jurisdiction. The state incentive payment to Garden County for having a licensed Highway Superintendent is $4500 per year, and will increase to $9000 as of January 1, 2006 due to the Class A license.

Annual Budget

The County Highway Superintendent is required to submit an annual budget report and a One & Six Year Plan which includes the following items:
1. A project accomplishment list for the next fiscal year.
2. A project priority list for the following 5 years.

The project accomplishment list and annual budget report may be revised only if unforeseen circumstances occur. Any revision must be approved by the Nebraska Board of Classifications and Standards. The deadline for filing the One & Six year Plan is March 1 and the annual budget report is due 90 days from the fiscal year end. Failure to file these may result in the suspension of all state funding to the county.

Facts and Figures

The Garden County Road Department is composed of:
7 Grade 5 Equipment Operators (motorgrader)
4 Grade 5 Truck Drivers
1 Office Manager
1 Highway Superintendent

Each Grade 5 Motorgrader maintains about 80 to 90 miles of gravel roads. The truck drivers transport dirt, rock and gravel throughout the county. The county has borrow agreements with 14 landowner to obtain dirt, rock and gravel. 12 of these pits are in Garden County, 1 is in Deuel County and 1 is in Cheyenne County.