August 3, 2021 at 6:00 PM - Crete City Council Regular Meeting

Discussion:  Program Manager for Saline County Aging Services, Lori Moldenhauer, spoke about all of the great things they have done, are currently doing, and will be doing in the future for the elderly in Saline County. Among those things were providing meals, counseling on retirement, Medicare and social security, and working with Public Health Solutions to do a flu/Covid vaccine clinic. The amount requested is the same as last year. This went to the Finance Committee and they recommended providing Saline County Aging Services the funds.

Discussion:  The Finance Committee met on this and they recommend entering into the contact with The Bridge Behavior Health. 

Discussion:  City Administrator Tom Ourada informed the council that our new HR Coordinator does not use Zelle and there is no fee to terminate the agreement with them. The Finance Committee met on this and recommend terminating the agreement with Zelle.

Discussion:  City Administrator Tom Ourada explained LARM (League Association of Risk Management) and that renewing our membership for 3 years in advance would get us a five percent discount. The Finance Committee met on this and recommended renewing the commitment to LARM.

Discussion:  City Administrator Tom Ourada spoke with the Mayor and with the Parks and Recreation Committee about the development of an improvement plan for Tuxedo Park. It is a tremendous opportunity and the programs we have out at Tuxedo Park will especially benefit from this renovation. The Parks and Recreation Committee met on this and recommend entering into an agreement with Olsson & Associates to develop the Tuxedo Park improvement plan.

Discussion:  City Administrator Tom Ourada informed the council that the land we purchased for the water well on will also work for the City's solar power project. NMPP Energy will help us accomplish this, which requires having a special engineer for the project. The Public Works Committee met on this and recommended appointing Matt Reed as the special engineer for the City's solar power project.

Discussion:  City Administrator Tom Ourada discussed plans to expand Northward Park by purchasing the property adjacent to the park. The property owner agreed to sell his quarter block of property to the City for one dollar. Vacating Linden Avenue from 19th Street to 20th Street will allow for the park to be extended. The new plans for the park include park benches, BBQ receptacles, picnic tables, green space, and an entrance to the park. 

Discussion:  City Administrator Tom Ourada reported that the first round awards that have been reviewed by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) were put together by City Attorney Kyle Manley and presented to the Legislative and Economic Development Committee. The Committee recommends approving the chosen Downtown Revitalization program awards.

Discussion:  City Administrator Tom Ourada recommends, due to recent developments with SENDD, that the council reconsider committing the $175,000 for the Rural Workforce Housing program and to use the money locally in a different way. This went to the Legislative and Economic Development Committee and they agreed with Ourada's recommendation to rescind the funds.

Discussion: 

• Joy Stevenson, Library Director, shared a photo of one youth patron receiving her prize, a new bike, for participating in the Summer Reading Program; two bikes were donated by Public Health Solutions and bike helmets came from the police department.
• Tod Allen, Fire Chief, reported on traveling with four other department members to South Dakota for a pre-paint inspection on the new 3,000 gallon tanker that is scheduled for delivery in September.
• Wendy Thomas, Human Resources Coordinator, introduced Police Officer Lincoln Morehouse as the department’s new Investigative Sergeant and congratulated him.
   - Ourada said he takes the job of appointing authority very seriously and it was difficult going through the exceptional internal applicants for this position. He said speaking for himself and he knew the Mayor and Chief agreed, he was thankful that only two current officers decided to try for the investigative sergeant position as it was a difficult decision and would have been even more so had other officers applied.  
  - Mayor Dave Bauer said he’s talked to several businesses Morehouse has been involved with as a police officer and from those comments he thinks Morehouse is going to do an excellent job in this position and he’s very excited for him.
• Ryan Hinz, Council member for Ward II, commended Joy and the library staff on the Summer Reading Program. He was able to attend the last day of the program and said it's really fun to watch the library come together. He also thanked the Street Department for recent maintenance work.
• Jerry Wilcox, City Clerk-Treasurer, shared information about the annual League meeting coming up in Lincoln in September.
• Tom Ourada, City Administrator:
    - Reported that annual budget work is ongoing and will be to the finance committee and council soon;
   - Asphalt overlay plans are being discussed for Linden from 13th to 14th streets and possible other areas in town to put together a cost-efficient project;
   - The city is waiting for the final infrastructure bill to be passed and is looking at a water well project, remediation project and distribution mains as well as roadway reconstruction, with roadway reconstruction being the emphasis. Previously we were planning on using USDA zero interest loan funding and some forgivable loan for the water project, but the infrastructure route is a better alternative, possibly saving us well over $1 Million;
  - Informed everyone that it was Blaine Spanjer and his son Brandon Spanjer who sold the property over on 20th and Linden to us for $1 so that we can extend Northward Park.
  - Ourada is as excited about the potential for Tuxedo Park; he said if we do it right, it will be unrecognizable a year from now. What groups like the Diamonds, Legion, Tuxedo Raceway, and the Fair Board are doing is great. We have the opportunity to make what they do even better. When these groups are active, all rooms at the hotels are booked!
  - We are working with the Legislative and Economic Development Committee and the Mayor on a vacant property ordinance to dovetail what we are doing with nuisance property notices and cleanup. This would give us another powerful way to deal with absentee owners and distressed properties;
  - DTR is moving forward with the recent first-round grant awards; we are altering the process in hopes for the second round to move much faster. The Legislative and Economic Development Committee has been working with us on this and supports the proposed changes moving forward; 
  - We are continuing to work on issues with the Main Street railroad crossing, but there is not a lot of cooperation from Burlington on this.
• Mayor Dave Bauer shared a letter from Jim and Sharon Crouse about how they donated to the library picnic shelter for the use and enjoyment of the community and library events. The Mayor said it’s a very nice addition to the park and the city greatly thanks them for their donation.