Three northern Panhandle county commissioners will meet with Governor Dave Heineman in Chadron today to discuss a 90-day action plan for fire recovery efforts in the parts of Dawes, Sioux, and Sheridan counties that burned in this summer’s wildfires.
Work on creating the plan began with a public meeting last week in Chadron that drew about 75 participants from the 3 counties and came up with some general areas of focus and possible action.
Priorities included rebuilding pasture fences, clearing fallen trees, salvaging burned timer, repairing damaged county roads, and replanting burned areas. Some could, or should, begin within the next 30 days.
Dawes County Commissioner Stacy Swinney…who organized both the input session and today’s meeting…sent the priorities list to the governor last week to give him a chance to review the ideas and be able to offer some firm answers today.
Meeting the governor along with Swinney will be commissioners Jim Krotz of Sheridan County and Kevin Lotten of Sioux County. Swinney says the idea is a private meeting that allows open discussion without running afoul of the state’s Open Meetings law.
Listen: