VALENTINE, Neb. - The Niobrara Council is taking steps forward on pivotal funding agreements with the National Park Service (NPS). As News Channel Nebraska previously reported, the NPS typically provides $100,000 a year to the council through a cooperative agreement. However, the last $20,000 from last year wasn’t paid, and this year’s $100,000 is up in the air after concerns raised by that state auditor about mishandling funds.

On Thursday, Niobrara National Scenic River Superintendent Susan Cook shared promising updates. She said that her regional director was successful in talking to Washington about moving the $20,000 to the council. However, the council and NPS will need to create a task agreement to ensure what the money is being used for.

After the $20,000 task agreement is accepted, the two groups will also work on the next cooperative agreement for future funds.

“We need to get it done now,” Cook said, noting the urgency of finalizing the agreements. Cook plans to meet with a small group of council members in the coming weeks to create a submission for approval.

“We also had an audit of our own that found our agreements were not documented as well as they needed to be. We can’t move $100,000 to the council in a chunk like we’ve done in the past. We also can’t create vague task agreements,” Cook said.

In addition to talking about the agreements, the council also accepted the resignation of the education manager, Wendy Murphy. Murphy has served in that position for 11 years.

“I didn’t want to resign, but there’s a lot of uncertainty with the job,” said Murphy. “I’ve really enjoyed it, especially the camps and working with kids in the summer.”

Murphy’s final day is Dec. 20, though she said she would be willing to contract with the council to help with events, such as summer camps.