Council summaries - Jan. 5 and Jan. 19, 2021

Individuals and media outlets are encouraged to contact the City Administrator for additional details or clarification on the following material. Regular meetings of the Crete City Council are held on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 6 p.m.; Council Standing Committees may meet prior. View a list of City Officials and current council and committee meeting agendas.

Summary for Crete City Council meeting - Tuesday, Jan. 19
View this Meeting Agenda and attachments

This meeting was held in the Community Room at Crete Public Library to accommodate social distancing.

The council approved the Consent Agenda items:

• Minutes of the following meetings: Jan. 5 Public Safety, Jan. 5 Legislative and Economic Development Committee, Jan. 5 Council
• Treasurer’s Report
• Claims against the City
• Confirmed Mayor's appointment of Anthony Fitzgerald to the Planning Commission to succeed Ron Schroeder with term ending April 2024.

The Council approved the addition of six new firefighters to the insurance rolls: Nadiyah Stonewall, Claire Holling, Sara Aguayo, Sean Hummel, Landon Chao, and Tyler Hooper. Fire Chief Tod Allen said several have relevant experience and several others have connections to Crete and the area, including several who are Doane University students.

The Council renewed employee health and dental insurance plans.

• Council member Travis Sears said the Finance Committee reviewed changes. The city currently has three health plans and the renewal would remove that middle plan, which has four people enrolled. Those participants would be moved to one of the other two plans. The traditional plan saw a slight decrease in cost and the HSA plan saw a slight increase. A representative will come to reenroll employees who need to move plans. The Dental plan saw no rate increase.

The Council accepted the Keno audit report for fiscal year ending 09-30-2020. Finance Director Jerry Wilcox said there was an annual audit of operations and report from state. Sears said the Finance Committee reviewed the report and found no issues or concerns.

The Council approved the scope of work for the Keno Operator Request for Proposals and set an opening date for Feb. 28, at 10 a.m., on recommendation of Finance Committee.

The Council authorized the mayor to enter into a contract with the Lincoln Airport Authority to use Lincoln Airport facilities for police department training. This is an annual agreement. Police Chief Steve Hensel explained this is for driver’s training for law enforcement officers.

The Council approved Ordinance 2117 for its third reading and adopted the ordinance relating to the annexation of land along South Boswell Avenue. These annexations were petitioned in by the two property owners.

The Council awarded the Crete Housing & Development Corporation $250,000 in LB840 funds for workforce housing matching funds.

• City Administrator Tom Ourada explained this is the city’s nonprofit arm, registered with the state. They are asking for economic development funds, which could be matched 100 percent if a corresponding grant is approved from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. This project is intended to create a revolving fund for housing development. Other community partners are eager to join and get the project going.
• Council member Ryan Hinz asked how does the city maintain accountability? They want access to the information that it is operating as it should be; this is a great tool for the city to use, but they want the checks and balances.
• Ourada said the board is governed by the bylaws, and while the council and mayor can’t be on the board because they vote on matters this company may participate in, such as LB840 projects, some of the board members would still be accountable to the mayor and council. LB840 money is governed by a process approved by the council; DED money can’t be used for anything other than what its approved for as well. The corporation’s accounts will be audited to ensure accountability; expenditures won’t go to the council for approval, but reports will go to the council.

The Council voted to participate in the MEAN solar farm RFP as recommended by the Public Works committee.

• Ourada proposed this to the committee and council pointing out that this is not committing the city to anything other than being a participant in the RFP. All details will come back to each prospective participating MEAN community. When they have that information, Ourada will present it to the committee and Council. Ourada told the Council that typically renewable energy can be sold in blocks to interested subscribers and that he believed there was enough interest in the community that these slightly higher priced blocks generate considerable interest.

The Council waived three readings and adopted Ordinance 2119: An ordinance relating to signs and outdoor advertising businesses.

• Ourada explained this addresses a number of issues such as a current downtown situation where one business’s electronic sign would have prevented another electronic sign within 500 feet. Another would be the lack of ability to place outdoor advertising signs (billboards) in C-3 Highway Commercial zones. Most of the rewrites by City Attorney Kyle Manley were to address pending issues as cited above. Otherwise they left the ordinance to be reviewed when the impending comprehensive plan rewrite occurs this year.
• Mayor Dave Bauer said Kyle has done a very good job, but it’s hard to know how this ordinance will effect everyone down the road, which is why it becomes an issue with current projects and will continue to be looked at and updates considered.

The Council vacated the subdivision plat for Cardinal Lane Commercial 2nd Addition.

The Council approved a first reading on Ordinance 2120: An ordinance relating to the annexation of the Crete Municipal Airport.

• Ourada said this has been talked about for a couple of years. This annexation can create a larger footprint for the city of Crete, which can be advantageous for redevelopment districts which are necessary for Tax Increment Financing. The City is nearing its allowable threshold of total redevelopment area and the additional area needed could be provided with the airport annexation. The City also owns the ground, which is managed by the Airport Authority. Another consideration for annexing is to consider that with the upcoming comprehensive plan, being in the corporate limits would provide some additional advantages.
• This annexation would not include other property along East 13th Street to the airport; it would go through property south of 13th that is currently in city limits.

Officer reports

• Ryan Hinz, Ward II Council Member, shared information about the Lincoln foodbank distribution in Crete, which served over 300. It currently sets up on the Doane campus for a dive-thru and will continue service twice a month through February and reevaluate at that time. Crete currently has a 22 percent poverty rate; 14 percent in Saline County and 11 percent in Nebraska. He said there is a lot of opportunity in Crete, but there is also a significant portion of the community in poverty.
• Tom Ourada, City Administrator
  • There will be MEAN committee meetings Wednesday and Thursday; he chairs two committees; Thursday is the board meeting.
  • Last week he went to the Crete Area Improvement Development Corporation meeting to talk about new downtown Christmas lights; that board saw the benefits and discussed a desire to eventually contribute $10,000 toward the lighting.
  • A recent conversation with Doane University centered on the possibility of a student job shadow for multiple positions at the city.
  • The Comprehensive Plan RFP is close to being ready for submission.
  • There was a building permit denial for a contractor dealing with a home in the flood plain. We worked with Brad and Kyle: the contractor has six months to clean up his permits in good faith and come into good standing with the city. If he can, he comes off probation and can take out new permits again.
• Judi Meyer, City Clerk, reported on signup for the mid-winter conference to be held virtually.

Meeting adjourned.

Summary for Crete City Council meeting - Tuesday, Jan. 5
View this Meeting Agenda and attachments

This meeting was held in the Community Room at Crete Public Library to accommodate social distancing.

The council approved the Consent Agenda items:

• Minutes of the following meetings: Dec. 15 Legislative and Economic Development Committee, Dec. 15 Finance Committee, Dec 15 Public Safety, Dec. 15 Council
• Treasurer’s Report
• Claims against the City

The Council held a Public Hearing on amending City Code sections relating to zoning definitions, accessory uses and structures, home occupations, and residential, commercial, and neighborhood design standards - Ordinance 2118

• City Administrator Tom Ourada reported the Planning Commission had a hearing on this and recommended forwarding to the council. He said in regards to a specific question about a building built to house an RV, that type of oversize building would not be allowed. In addition, the city is starting the process of a comprehensive plan update and if The Planning Commission and administration staff should look into doing that, it would go through focus groups in that plan update process, so we would benefit from deliberate planning and consideration in addition to the planner’s guidance on this as well.
• The Council then adopted Ordinance 2118: An ordinance relating to zoning definitions, accessory uses and structures, home occupations, and residential, commercial, and neighborhood design standards. The second and third readings of this ordinance were waived.

The Council approved Crete Hillside Development Group's application for an administrative subdivision of Lot 1 of Cardinal Lane Commercial Subdivision. 

• Ourada said this is the lot where the new Scooters is located and City Attorney Kyle Manley did quite a bit of work on this as plats were submitted out of sequence among other issues. This subdivision enables the owner of Scooters to move forward with their plans and Hillside LLC to move forward with separate uses on the rest of the property once it is subdivided.

The Council approved Unite Private Networks request for a right-of-way permit along 13th Street from Hickory Avenue to Tabitha. This was also recommended by the Public Works Committee.

The Council voted to enter into an agreement with Nebraska Municipal Power Pool (NMPP) for a financial plan, cost of service, and rate design study for electric rates.

• Ourada said this is in conjunction with what the city is looking at in design of an additional substation, which caused a review of rates. The power pool does rate studies for half the cost for members. The cost of the study is just over $6,000. This was also recommended by the Public Works Committee.

The Council approved updates to the Crete Emergency Operations Plan.

• Ourada said this has been worked on throughout 2020 with department heads. He deferred to Chief Steve Hensel, emergency management liaison. Hensel said the city is required by this plan to meet once year, review and recommend necessary changes, and changes to training. This was also recommended by the Public Safety Committee.

The Council authorized the Fire Chief to submit grant applications to Firehouse Subs for video laryngoscopes and to Federal AIG for hoses. These grant applications were recommended by the Public Safety Committee.

The Council tabled indefinitely an item involving the Central States Group quote and authorizing the expenditure of approximately $46,590 for noise control panels around the Library's chiller. Ourada said they are looking at cheaper, possibly more effective alternatives.

The Council approved a second reading of Ordinance 2117: An ordinance relating to the annexation of land along South Boswell Avenue. Third reading is required before adoption. These annexations were petitioned in by the two property owners.

The Council adopted Resolution 2021-01: A Resolution setting administrative policy for City permits and other applications.

• Ourada said this has the effect of asking council to formally support and authorize the mayor, city administrator, and city attorney to create rules and regulations and propose legislation that would further them to approve administrative permits and licenses and other applications to those who are and are not in good standing. This would facilitate reasonable approaches to helping with building and code issues. It would also address contractors who do not comply with city codes and permitting as well as preying on city residents.
• Ryan Hinz said the Legislative and Economic Development Committee agreed this was a good idea to reinforce this resolution for people having trouble confirming to existing building regulations.

Petitions - Communications - Citizen Concern:

• Resident Jared List encouraged the city and council’s Finance Committee to think about not cutting funding to SCAT (Saline County Area Transit) at this time, during a pandemic. Mayor Dave Bauer said when that committee talks again they will take those thoughts into consideration

Officer reports:

• Joy Stevenson, Library Director, reported the library has been tweaking policies on visitors - now 5 visitors at a time can be in the library, limited to 15 minutes. A lot of services are available from the pickup window - printing and copying; and everyone has been very cooperative. Year-end 2020 savings to library card holders was just under $500,000 - in terms of the value of materials checked out; the 2019 total was 1 percent less than that. 
• Shelby Brown, Human Resources Coordinator, introduced David Paxton as the Code Enforcement Officer, who started a couple of weeks ago. He is a 24-year Air Force veteran with a lot of experience with law enforcement and training.
  • Ourada said a lot of what they city has been doing lately is code oriented; Paxton has been busy. This position doesn’t minimize what Brad Bailey has been doing as Building Inspector. When we get good people in good positions, we get good results. One of the reasons for Resolution 2021-01 passed tonight, was to give staff the teeth to go after some issues. He is excited to see David at work, with his impressive background; he has been all over the US and the world and is no stranger to confrontation, but the city should see some voluntary compliance with issues of code enforcement.
  • Shelby is leaving her position and the city has already received applicants for the advertised HR position and police officer position. She said she feels she has been successful in this role and hopes she contributed to this position for the city and thanked everyone for their support in her time here. Ourada said she did not go looking, but was recruited.
  •  Mayor Bauer welcomed David and said when he took over as mayor he wanted to see an effort to clean up areas. He is excited to have David in his current position.
• Tom Ourada, City Administrator
  • The city’s private non-profit has been filed and accepted, Crete Housing Development Cooperation, the economic development housing nonprofit arm of the city. The effort will will be very advantageous for the city.
  • He will meet with the mayor to work through details on flood plain buyout program and what happens when the city buys out these properties still located in the flood plain; a relocation plan included in this process is very specific in what the city has to do in compliance with federal law per the Uniform Relocation Act.
  • JEO is almost 60 percent done on the gap paving projects plan for this year and will go the Public Works Committee.
  • He spoke to the Planning Commission in December and January on the comprehensive plan renew; they are excited about it and created a subcommittee.
  • Local sales tax - Even though there were deficits in April, May, and August, Crete finished well ahead than it did in 2018-2019.
  • The budget is generally on track, with all departments doing about as expected, except the Water Department. The city is talking with JEO on water rates and Gilmore on the water project.
  •  Dave Peterson with JEO is working on nuisance electrical outages experienced lately.
  • He is investigating having the city joining the Nebraska Community Energy Alliance, which promotes use of electric vehicles and charging stations. This could open up grant opportunities. He will bring back to mayor and council at the appropriate time.
  • He has talked with local contractors to do downtown sidewalks. Haven’t heard back yet, but believes the city can do this for sub-bidout prices.
  • He has talked with Jack Cochnar at the Chamber and other downtown business people about Downtown Christmas lights; a committee is starting to talk about this.
  • A presentation of Tuxedo Park bridge progress photos was shared, as well as a video of the new snowblower machine at work for collected snow on city streets. The snowblower is an incredibly efficient addition for the Street Department.
• Mayor Dave Bauer thanked city crews for the quick and efficient snow removal saying they did an excellent job at cleaning streets, etc.

Meeting adjourned.