May 4, 2026 at 6:00 PM - Beatrice Regular City Council Meeting

Discussion:  shelena & Laureen
preservation for kids tot ake forward to look at & rmememer & honor people before.  do now for our future.

Discussion:  l - sponsorships hydo, if people renew do they still get a percentage?  TT _ yes

P - Fairbanks good program, get questions on this project.  good opportunity to explain.  TT - received from STate, 2023 grant.  Hubka subrecipeint, made improvements part of grant is reimbursement with state to be reimbursed for %, max 75%, 60%, originally filed in March, didn't get submitted to SENDD so refiling.  TF - how much?  TT - $350,000 10-12 recipients.    Hydo - 3rd grant?  TT - yes 15, 19, 21???

Discussion:  navaid # of grants bundled together, FAA ikes separate for each grant.  Will have sent to us in May, proactive to sign agreement.

Discussion:  DTR Grant 2021 grant taylor original recip.  seling to koenig, assigning grant & loan agreement from taylor to koenig, has done before, stil has to abide by grant regulations, must keep improements for 5 years.

Discussion:  along with previous res, now release tayor from responsibilities, transaction is to close 5/15 prior to next meeting.  assuming transaction goes through, will sign & file

Discussion:  FAA has lease at Airport 200 sq ft, computer antennas, asked to renew for another 10 years, will approval will extend, note agreement is with authority, then will amend to city of Beatrice, then will get signed.  no chinese spyware etc. 

Discussion:  project about 1 year ago.  student hosing in Lnk off campus, asked for us to serve as conduit.  paperwork not completed by 12/31/25.  had to restart, asked if we will renew.  $60,000, 2 bases - have to offer 6 scholarships annually to Beatrice students.  asked for clarification, yes, 
Income qualifications - clarification to define income, do not like to do that because they don't want to say $20,000, hamstring if $21,000 and want to help.  not agreeing to issue bonds, just moving forward. 
Hydo - scholarship part means 6 kids get free housing & if they stay could get free housing each year.  substantial, may mean someone going or not going, or being able to not have to get additional loan for housing.
ruh - if first 6 kids, are they automatically next year?  T - will reappy.
TF - 15 basis points $7500 each year.   had conversation not in Gage county, but spoke to both sons & had a lot of kids that went on to UNL, this could be important for those complletig school
Ruh - not just UNL? TT - any student in Lnk could live there & go to SCC, WEslyan, ____.  Mike - even if we help 1 family out, they could come back & be valuable to our community with no cost to us.

Discussion:  mayor morgan - statement of how we got here.  lot of confusion & misinformation.  thanks to grant 2024 SS4A action plan, 0 serious injuries by 2032?  back to plan, #1 recommendation was conversion to 3 lane.  State M&O project, would be time to make change.  will not happen until at least 2028, as it depends on NDOT & budget. will be working with NDOT on project.  reallignment was #1 safety.  will take care of 9 of the top 20 intersections.  155 serious accidents, 8 fatalities, 9 lifelight.  traffic flow will be looked at.  how will 52' of paving, right turn in key locations to help.  currnelty under investigation.  cost - final impact not known until NDOT finlaizs their project.  all will result in increase to taxes & decrease in services.  NDOT reviewing, city will once again review.  once to that point.  will review agian.  importance is safety - for him - will take few more minutes.  secondly, why denied - fair questions.  reason is public has had no less than 6 meetings to input.  CITY & JEO - comments included concerns, wanting to add center.  JEO also had 3 focus ________, also had online survey to participate with little to no input.  JEO made presentation.  no public was in attendance.  safety plan adopted 8-0.  7-1 spoke against.  just a recommendation, any decision made will be made by NDOT.  no further contact with NDOT.  no deadline of May.  keep in back of mind.  NDOT will hold their own information gathering session, that said, will also share concerns.

Mayor - not speaking on Hwy 77
Dave Rayburn, 100 W Mulberry, Beatrice, NE  is about open meetings act.  its on wall read it, council members are going to be mute, if u read meeting act said council cannot enact on a decision at public forum.  can contact 2 then 2 more, MAYOR - no that is a violation.  Rayburn - point out where it says that.  he believes violation forum means dialog, never say anything, due to open meeting act, violation. not all stupid & dumb as they think we are.  open meeting joke.  why take their time & come to meetings when they will want to do what they want.  are you really that cold, slow, niaeve.  

Jim nelson 1025 n 6th, correct one thing that people don't know about the safety plan because it was not on site.  had to ask for items to be sent to him.  didn't know until after meeting when it was posted.  6th street traffic volumes.  RAISE grant cost analysis, collected 3 peak 7-9, 11-1, 4-6 - traffic not included in RAISE grant analysis.  heavy vehicle count.  6th & Della, 6th & court, 6 & Market  also included NDOT 2035 traffic volumes.  .5% growth on 6th Street.  latest comp plan in 2021.  familiar with it, detailed analysis, pg 59 - ensure to meet demands upon it.  pg 61 - heaviest loads occur along 6th STreet north of 136.  12,345-19,___. below 10,000 south of BNSF  1978, 1981, 1999.  historical trend increase.  all documented court street, west of 6th 1/2 of volume of that on 6th  no increase to 6th.  on Facebook member quoted from NDOT not sure where number was from.  NDOT on website  traffic counts . most recent 2024 county on 77 - 8 locations   road diet max out at 20,000 vehicles per day.  refer to safety action plan didn't include traffic counts.  recommendations 46 actions.  due to street lighting.  1987 went on road diet, didn't work. was a disaster, some remember backing up for a block. tried & it didn't work, more bisnesses Turing in & out.  put on agenda, revote, & don't cost _________

Billie Hofeling, 1419 Paddock lane, been in contact with NDOT & discussed with engineer.  traffic above 20,000 mainitnaing 4 lanes, safety crash patterns do not justify reducing lanes.  last 2 likely medical issues & single vehicle.  change will create chaos.  was ultimately changed back.  funding should;t be reason.  phased.  irresponsible to look at demisters perkins to mulberry where cut in 1/2.  would reduce taxes.  Dorsey to mulberry.  entire 
speed & safety, signal turning & law enforcement without reducing lanes.  maintaining 4 lanes is most practical forward solution, supports capacity.  Ted voted to approve, has stated position has changed & would support 4 lanes.  ruh - voted against.  if & only if, then should be reflected  take responsibility to call for new vote at next meeting.  deserves clarity & _________, if council changes, embarssment for tax dollars.

Dave Warren, 1515 N 15th, being in insurance for years.  one thing talked about was 3 & 5 lane roads, problem is same thing today, with 1 lane & cars backed up, cant make left turn.  when cross bridge go up 2nd street to make they will turn in front other thing is slower moving traffic will cause more to want to pass in center lane, or people trying to make left turn & intersection/driveway doesn't match up.  did try & only lasted a few months.  also remember when 6th had 2 lanes & parking on both sides.  state & CIty put in viaduct to 4 lane.  why go backwards now to make smaller as far as # of lanes?

Mike Havecost, 430 N ??? - comparison 136 & 77, parking & 1 lane, when make left hand turn, many times moe into that same lane makes more challenging & 136 is deffinately not as busy.  3 blocks north 23 entrances/exits, along street, that is where turn lane would be challenging.  will bog down & unsafe.  detrimental to businesses.  want to be business friendly, challenging to have businesses start out & now potential __________.  other options, 3 lanes all the way through, 4 lanes, if coming to viaduct too expensive, why not gradually move to 3 lanes, ways around it.  appreciate safety aspect & history will never be down to 0 serious accidents.  if make as safe as can, still flow through would be great.  keep at 4 lanes & work on traffic flow

Mike Zary, 1218 N 9th, handful of people know what he does.  reducing to 3 lanes is udder crap.  what do you do if accident in outside lane, cant divert traffic, short & sweet, rather have traffic diverting into 2nd lane due to  accidents & keeping traffic flowing during clean up.

don 1519 n 15th tak about safety, not many know what safety is.  take during harvest, semi going to elevator, how long is a semi?  stack 3 in one block backed up 2-3 blocks. that is what will happen.  tried before & it didn't work.learn from other poeple's mistakes.  more about safety.  dumpsters sitting on street, evening  - no reflectors but sitting on street, needs to have reflectors/licensed/both.  see the darn things. welcome to Beatrice the backwards town.

tayna fe, 405 N 12th STreet, 20 years from Lincoln, Billie & others correct, have handmade sign on 6th & court - do not turn right?  wait for your green - needs to be updated.  truck traffic is ruining street.  when call NDOT will not separate accidents just counts into wrecks accidents/vehicles how many were due to medical animal, etc.  when BPD stop on 6th street, pull into the business, maybe a wider shoulder would be an option.  stromsburg ne more population, they had federal to reroute 81, to take truck traffic away from downtown.  going to Beatrice for a specific reason.  got to get rid of truck traffic, that will make it worse.

Mayor - heard a lot of coments.  public forum at all meetings, best thing is that NDOT gets the recording. that is how we will proceed.  THank you.

Jim Nelson - used to be practice if 2 or more council members  could place on agenda item.  would as council members to put on agenda to have a vote.