Almost Officially Speaking

Yesterday was a great experience for us at the Furnas county courthouse. I was surprised when we pulled into town at the...well...lack of town. The town sign on the highway states 641 residents if I remember correctly, but from the highway there doesn't seem to be much of a town for a county seat. Preconceived ideas about what should and shouldn't be jumped right in my face.

After passing through town, we turned around and saw the sign pointing to the business district. As we drove into town, the brick streets rumble along under us, and remind me of Omaha in the early 50's when I lived there. While the town appears much like any other small Nebraska town, being the county seat adds something. There is more traffic, not a lot, but more than most other towns it's size. We quickly found the courthouse, a vacant parking spot along the street, and headed in.

The very first office we came to was the sheriff's office. This was a required stop for someone wishing to license an out of state vehicle so the vehicle identification number could be verified. We handed our keys to a deputy, and headed into the sheriff's administration office to fill out paperwork. The deputy returned with our keys before we could finish filling out the forms, and we paid our fees, took our paperwork and headed for the drivers license testing office.

The drivers license testing office is open only on Thursday, so it was a pretty busy place. There was someone in front of us when we walked in, but the gal administering tests got us started filling out the required forms (again), we took our eye test, registered to vote, and were pointed toward the clerks office for photo and fee payment. This entire process took less than 10 minutes.

The Furnas county clerks office seemed to be the hub of activity for the whole building. The ladies working in the office were as professional, friendly, and courteous as anyone could be. Our only complaint would be that the drivers license picture taker seems to have a knack for taking the most unflattering pictures.

We paid our fees, got our pictures, made a stop in the treasurers office for a copy of the property tax bill for 2007, visited with Noel in the county extension office about weed control, and were on our way in less than 2 hours. If we had been in our original Colorado home county and had to do the same basic procedures, I think it would have taken a couple days to accomplish. Just getting a Colorado drivers license is usually a 2 to 3 hour affair as it is...take a number and wait...license plates can take 4 to 5 hours on a "good" day.

The Furnas county courthouse is an older building, but it sure has character in my opinion. The stairs creak a bit, and some offices are now located in what at one time were Diebold vaults like you might see in a bank. The building was as busy as any place we've been in Nebraska, but either our timing was right, or the folks working for the county really know their stuff because everything went quickly and smoothly. I'd put my money on the county employees knowing their stuff. OK, so maybe knowing what we needed to have with us speeded up the process just a little.

So now I guess we're almost completely officially full Nebraska residents. Why almost? It still takes 30 days of continuous residence to get a Nebraska resident hunting/fishing license...we're not quite there yet, but we're close!