Council Summaries - June 7 and June 21, 2022

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. in the Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall; Council Standing Committees may meet prior. View a list of City Officials and current council and committee meeting agendas.

Summary for Crete City Council regular meeting - Tuesday, June 21
View this Meeting Agenda and attachments

The council voted 6-0 to approve the Consent Agenda items:

• Minutes of the following meetings: City Council June 7, Legislative and Economic Development Committee June 7, Finance Committee June 7, Parks and Recreation Committee June 7, Personnel Committee June 7, Public Safety Committee June 7
• Treasurer’s Report
• Payment of claims against the City

The Council voted 5-0 with one abstention (Papik) to approve the payment of claims to ACE Hardware in the amount of $1,201.27.

The Council voted 6-0 to waive three readings and enact Ordinance 2148: An ordinance relating to established neighborhood and new development design standards.

• City Administrator Tom Ourada explained this item was previously tabled and taken up by committee again. One local developer had concerns and he spoke with the committee before this meeting where there was a reasonable discussion.
• Legislative and Economic Development Committee Chair Ryan Hinz said the committee members listened to concerns of the developer, but these changes do enact many things that will resolve issues. “We believe our city officials can work through any conflicts that might arise; the city will also work with the new comprehensive planner when they come in to look at these issues for long term solutions.”

The Council voted 6-0 to approve SCAT's request for the City's share of local matching funds in the amount of $25,630.

• Ourada said the Finance Committee had considerable discussion on this issue, including proposed changes to SCAT’s budget. That budget is worked through the State, which is on a biennial timeline, so any changes would have to wait until next year. He added the contractual agreement will come at the next meeting.
• Finance Committee chair Travis Sears said the committee did recommend approval of this budget request.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Police Department to apply for a NDOT Highway Safety mini-grant for an in-car camera. Sgt. Chad Menagh addressed this with the Public Safety Committee and the council. This his grant would cover $3,500 of a total cost of about $4,800 for one in-car camera.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Police Department to apply for a NDOT Highway Safety mini-grant for radar units. Menagh said this grant would cover up to $1,200 of about $2,200 purchase for one in-car radar.

The Council tabled the following item: approval of SEI's proposal for installation and service of exterior cameras at the Crete Police Station at a cost of $13, 494. Menagh explained he met with the Public Safety Committee and the department is reviewing a new quote with city IT staff which will be presented later for this item.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve Change Order No. 1 relating to red concrete and sidewalk replacement downtown similar to what was done in front of City Hall for Stephens & Smith Construction Co. in the amount of $25,190.

• Ourada said this involves some additional work for some red concrete removal and reasonable replacement work for some small gaps; they will also replace some concrete that is sunken in the walkways downtown.

Petition - Communication - Citizen Concern: 

Citizen testimony may be limited to 3 minutes per person. Please do not repeat testimony that has already be heard. No action can be taken on matters presented under this title except to answer any questions or to refer the matter for further action.

Officer Reports:

Reports may be given by Officers, Departments, Committees, or Council members concerning the current operations of the City. No action can be taken on matters presented under this title except to answer any questions or to refer the matter for further action.

• Tom Ourada, City Administrator:
  • The Wenz property the city has been negotiating on for a sports complex initially was discussed at either 46 acres or about 56 acres. We originally thought maybe we could do what we wanted to do on 46 acres but Ourada can’t get everything to work on 46 acres, especially with future activities in mind, so he would like to increase from 46 acres to 56 acres to do what we want to do. He would like to move forward to get an appraiser for the city’s purposes. The Council informally agreed that he should move forward with the appraisal on the larger tract.
  • Ourada announced that FEMA sent an email granting the city’s map revision request (LOMR) today (June 21); we have a 90-day wait where people can protest, but only with technicalities on the same levels we submitted our plan; this doesn’t officially take effect until October 27; this project was started years ago for what was thought to be 6-9 months of work. Ourada said, “This is the single largest thing that this council has done. Hundreds of properties will be removed from the 100-year flood plain with only 19 occupied properties left and the city is buying out 8 of them that are willing, leaving only 11 total. This is a huge deal.” 
  • Celia Banos, the city’s newest employee, custodian for city facilities, was introduced.
• Mayor Dave Bauer thanked everyone who worked on the flood plain redraw, saying this is a major factor for Crete and opens doors for many things that have been closed for years

Meeting adjourned.

Summary for Crete City Council regular meeting - Tuesday, June 7
View this Meeting Agenda and attachments

The council approved the Consent Agenda items:

• Minutes of the following meetings: City Council May 17, Public Works Committee May 3, Personnel Committee May 17, Public Safety Committee May 17
• Treasurer’s Report
• Payment of claims against the City 

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Mayor’s appointment of Kyle McGowan to the Civil Service Commission for the term ending May 1, 2027.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve Windstream Nebraska's application for a permit to occupy the city right-of-way at 2429 County Road F for fiber placement. City Administrator Tom Ourada explained multiple property requests for work in the right-of-way go to the council for approval.

The Council voted 6-0 to accept SEI's proposal for installation and service of access control to multiple doors at the Crete Police Station at a cost of $9,725.00.

• Ourada explained the city is doing this project in phases for electronic card access to buildings and PD is next on the list; it’s a budgeted item; Sgt. Chad Menagh said this item covers three exterior doors and one interior door; he’s been working with Mike Kalkwarf, IT Director.

The Council voted 6-0 to table the following item: accepting SEI's proposal for installation and service of exterior cameras at the Crete Police Station at a cost of $13,494.00. This is tabled until the next regular Public Safety Committee meeting.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Police Department to engage TLOxp to apply Open Source Intelligence techniques at a cost of $2,040 per year.

• Ourada said Police Chief Steve Hensel gave an excellent presentation to the Public Safety Committee about this service. We talked about this in great detail on the times it would be used and the oversight; it makes great sense to enable the investigator to use this.
• Hensel explained this is a comprehensive product which pulls in open source materials and information into one visible platform. Officers can identify a great deal of information for use in investigations. This is available to law enforcement across the nation and is all public information. “It will save us a great deal of time for an annual cost. We are already testing it in investigatory uses.” Other costs may be assessed for additional information services on an al a carte basis.

The Council voted 6-0 to enter into an agreement with TCI in the amount of $15,500.00 for a K9 with Handler Certification course.

• Ourada explained the addition of a K9 program with this training facility is a big deal and checks a lot of boxes. “It turns a corner for our police department.”
• Lt. Gary Young said Officer Audrey Arbuckle will be the department’s first handler, chosen through a selection process. He and Sgt. Pucket made a site visit to this training facility in Texas and they had everything the department is looking for; there is a shorter training time, surpassing Nebraska state standards for police service dogs. The department is recommending the council approve this contract and move forward with the police service dog program.
• Public Safety Committee Chair Jack Oelschlager said they are excited to move forward with the project and get it in place.

The Council voted 6-0 to table the following item and referred it back to the Legislative and Economic and Development Committee for discussion: enacting Ordinance 2148: An ordinance relating to established neighborhood and new development design standards.

• Ourada explained this accomplishes a number of things, including taking into account neighborhood design standards for new and old neighborhoods instead of lumping them together; there is a tighter criteria in older neighborhoods and looser criteria in newer neighborhoods. Building Inspector input was incorporated and the Planning Commission had this for two months of review and recommend it to the council for approval.
• Legislative and Economic and Development Committee Chair Ryan Hinz said the committee members reviewed this for the last couple of months and felt it balances between existing neighborhoods and newer developments.
• City Attorney Kyle Manley explained first part of changes were cleanup of language in the ordinance. Changes for existing neighborhoods had standards that project the character of those older neighborhoods; all recommendations taken from the comprehensive plan.
• Local developer Ron Sack had concerns that public input was not included. He said he went to the planning commission but couldn’t get a copy of what was voted on. He has concerns about the changes, including that it doesn’t allow garages to extend further that 8 feet in front of the house and doesn’t incorporate other designs aspects.
• Mayor Dave Bauer said he knew some of Ron’s concerns were heard and thought they would be addressed in this item and was disappointed they were not reflected in these changes. "We have these ordinances for certain reasons and it’s hard to know how things would be affected in every case. I think it’s important to go through some of these examples and they are affected. I would like to table this for tonight.”
• Mark Widick, 1144 Ivy, spoke on an a building code issue which wasn’t affected by this ordinance change, but will be looked at by city officials to determine a solution. Widick said he is trying to replace an old shed on his property with a new one and was told that through new regulations he can’t put it where he thought he could. He said he’s frustrated because he’s trying to better his property and he can’t do it. Building Inspector Brad Bailey explained the house sits close to property line, like many older houses in town, and by the old code a shed could have lined up with house, however now it’s 25 feet off the house, which is not an ideal location on a narrow lot.

The Council voted 6-0 to enter into a service agreement with Confluence for planning services on the Comprehensive Plan at a cost of $169,500.00, as recommended by the Finance Committee.

• Ourada said they were really looking for out of the box thinking, and that through several long conversations, he was convinced that Confluence is capable of doing what we feel we need to distinguish ourselves from others. In speaking with other planners, this firm comes highly recommended for this type of comprehensive plan. It will be a 15-month process.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Certificate of Substantial Completion and Application for Payment No. 4 in the amount of $16,181.00 to Dostals Construction Company for the 2020 Wildwood Pool Play Structure. 

The Council voted 6-0 to authorize design services for the layout of the south drive of the City Park expansion.

• Ourada said he has been thinking about possible layouts for quite a while. He and Mayor Bauer have visited the site numerous times. Tom met with the engineer who concurs with the latest layout. We are ready to move forward with the design. It has been discussed with the Park and Recreation Committee at several meetings. Committee Chair Kyle Frans said this had input from people and they are ready for the next step of this project.

The Council voted 6-0 to amend Section 4.02 of the Personnel Rules and Regulations to include 'Juneteenth' as a paid holiday.      

• Ourada said they did the research after the Council requested it. It is a state and federal holiday and other peer first class cities have incorporated this holiday.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve BRAC's proposal for project continuation on the Isis Theatre. 

• Ourada said the Finance Committee discussed this and it was still incomplete with a few unknown numbers. The Committee did not make a recommendation but that does not preclude the Council from taking action on the MOU.
• Blue River Arts Council President Shaylene Smith explained all her board needs is an amended MOU stating BRAC will own the building when the project is done and pay the city the $90,000 purchase price agreed on. They had one agreement stating this which was replaced with another agreement last year, but has no confirmation that BRAC will own the building. They do have full plans and Kingery is letting bids. Without this amended MOU at the end of this month they would lose a Daugherty Foundation grant of $50,000. She said all the numbers in this amended MOU say ‘estimate.’
• Travis Sears said if there are not any concerns in approving what they need tonight, he made a motion to approve.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the bid of $63,862.20 from Phil Karkowski for the water filter plant.

• Ourada explained this was the low bid and originally submitted for an August start, however, engineer Keith Gilmore requested they start earlier. Pending council approval, they agreed to start June 13th. The last time this was done was in 2005.

Petition - Communication - Citizen Concern: 

Citizen testimony may be limited to 3 minutes per person. Please do not repeat testimony that has already be heard. No action can be taken on matters presented under this title except to answer any questions or to refer the matter for further action.

Officer Reports:

Reports may be given by Officers, Departments, Committees, or Council members concerning the current operations of the City. No action can be taken on matters presented under this title except to answer any questions or to refer the matter for further action.

• Joy Stevenson, Library Director:
  • Summer Reading kickoff on June 2 drew about 300 people for 15 activity stations; volunteers were a great help with this event; there are 300 kids signed up for reading challenge;
  • today (June 7) was first Summer Reading activity;
• Brian Stork, Public Works Director:
  • The Street Department started mosquito spraying on Monday;
  • Parks and Rec removed the top of the slide at Tuxedo Park’s Cerny Playground a couple weeks ago for repair; it’s been fixed and replaced.
• Jack Oelschlager would like to schedule a Public Safety meeting for UTV discussion on June 22, 4:30 p.m.
• Tom Ourada, City Administrator:
  • Has been meeting with police officers about the police chief retiring. In the School Resource Officer conversation, they discussed school shootings and in this current social and national environment, having an SRO pays dividends in a tremendous way. Dawn was explicit in their plans and her beliefs and expectations in these situations, i.e., calling for police getting between the shooter and the kids. Tom was quite satisfied with her responses during that conversation. He asked Chief Hensel to comment on the department’s training and scenarios for active shooters: with the Chief saying, our discussions result in ‘go inside’ to get between the shooter and the children, make the shooter react to you and not people react to the shooter. Changing the dynamic is a way to an end. Our department is small, but we are trained for these things He mentioned that Audrey working the new K-9 program will be stellar and stand out in a lot of ways, helping take the department to the next level. Our department shines from top to bottom. He noted that as the Appointing Authority, he will have Sgt. Jon Pucket and Officer Dawn Jonas as two of the interviewers with the mayor and himself. He also talked about establishing minimum standards with the chair of the Civil Service Commission - all so we can continue to operate at a high level.
  •  the city is working on a purchase agreement on Wenz property south of town for a sports complex; I’ve talked with planners about what it would look like, with the people driving through Main Street downtown to get to the complex, and they agree, it could be a game changer for the community.
• Mayor Dave Bauer commented that he wished the Crete News would sit in on council meetings like they used to in the past as he has been frustrated on some issues in the last few weeks:
  • it’s garage sale season and city street poles are covered with signs, but people need to come and take signs and tape away;
  •  it’s mowing season and a reminder to residents that they can’t blow grass into the streets, it’s against city code;
  • social media posts about street issues are frustrating in that when people read it and comment and don’t know what they’re commenting on; he encourages people to please call and ask questions to us at the city before commenting or providing misinformation;
  • he met with 20 school kids today to talk about the city and being mayor; he was able to share a lot of positive things and how they could get involved in their community, but they also asked what he didn’t like about being mayor and he said social media can often be one of the reasons.

Meeting adjourned.