Council Summaries - Jan. 3 and 17, 2023

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.

The next Crete City Council regular meeting will be Tuesday, Feb. 7.

Summary for Crete City Council regular meeting - Tuesday, Jan. 17
View this Meeting Agenda and attachments

Council members Kyle Frans and Dan Papik were absent.

 The council approved the Consent Agenda items:

• Minutes of the following meetings: City Council Jan. 3, Finance Committee Jan. 3, Legislative and Economic Development Committee Jan. 3,
• Treasurer’s Report
• Payment of claims against the City

The Council voted 4-0 to approve the payment of claims against the City to Crete Ace Hardware in the amount of $1,290.00

The Council voted 4-0 to approve payment to Cline Williams in the amount of $7,766.75 for legal services rendered through December 31, 2022. 

The Council voted 4-0 to appoint Henry Wiedrich and John Zimmer as special city attorneys to the City of Crete.

• Ourada explained to the Legislative and Economic Development Committee that the city has some need for prosecution and litigation. In consultation with Henry Wiedrich, he suggested that he and John Zimmer be appointed special city attorneys to prosecute city ordinance violations. Alison Borer, who has been present through December and January doesn’t litigate for Cline Williams as her specialties are in other areas.

The Council voted 4-0 to waive three readings and adopt Ordinance 2160: An ordinance to amend the electric rates beginning March 1, 2023.

• City Administrator Tom Ourada explained this is the ordinance we worked on last year with a small percentage rate increase. Looking ahead, wholesale electric rates will go down about 2% for the city, however, other costs have seen extreme increases, such as transformers, which now cost a minimum of 60% more than before.

The Council voted 4-0 to waive three readings and adopt Ordinance 2161; an ordinance creating a Grant Writer position on the City Officer and Non-Bargaining Unit Employee Salary and Wage Exhibit. 

• Ourada explained to the Personnel Committee that his intent is to have the position share duties with other positions to add value and hopefully develop into two highly successful positions in the future.

The Council voted 4-0 to approve Application for Payment No. 2 to General Excavating in the amount of $35,300.20 for the East 22nd Street project. Ourada said this is the second payment for the box culvert project and there are no issues with moving forward.

The Council Consider approving Change Order No. 01 to Kingery Construction in the amount of $14,638 for renovations to the Isis Theater. Ourada explained this change order is necessitated by the city’s changes, including a city crew doing some exterior work. The Public Works Committee approved payment contingent on how the city deals with sales tax.

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.

• Gary Young, Chief of Police, said he spent part of the day in Beatrice testing the 911 system; Windstream is getting out of 911 carrier operations, which leaves all area 911 centers looking at new vendors to provide those services; the department will work with the city’s dispatch center, Southeast Communications 911 Center; they received help from Kidwell and Mike Kalkwarf, City IT Director, to help understand the process; he will keep city officials informed on services.
• Tom Ourada, City Administrator:
  • the City’s newest Police Sergeant is Colin Gaman, a current CPD officer, who applied and was selected through the Civil Service Commission and City appointing authority process;
  • he was supposed to go to Kearney Wednesday for MEAN annual electric rate meetings, however with the weather, the meetings will be done Wednesday and Thursday virtually; he reaffirmed what he noted earlier that wholesale rates are going down, but everything else is going up in cost;
  • planning with Olsson on the newest city electric substation is on track; right now some types of substation transformer deliveries are 3 years out as are some other materials and equipment; we are hoping this can be shortened.

Meeting adjourned.

Summary for Crete City Council regular meeting - Tuesday, Jan. 3
View this Meeting Agenda and attachments

The council approved the Consent Agenda items:

• Minutes of the following meetings: City Council Dec. 20, Finance Committee Dec. 20, Legislative and Economic Development Committee Dec. 20, Personnel Committee Dec. 20
• Treasurer’s Report
  • Keno Report
• Payment of claims against the City 

The Council voted 6-0 to approve entering into an agreement with Cline Williams for legal services.

• City Administrator Tom Ourada said Alison Borer is present at tonight’s meeting, as she was for the last meeting in December, and in fact, Alison has handled Crete’s legal services related to TIF for the last few years; several attorneys, a couple of which the city has experience with, will provide services from Cline Williams based on what the city is working on.

The Council voted 6-0 to authorize the Mayor to sign the Certificate of Compliance and the Agreement Renewal for the Maintenance Agreement with the Nebraska Department of Transportation. 

• Ourada explained the city has an agreement with the State of Nebraska DOT for city maintenance of lane miles on the section of highway within the corporate limits of Crete; this is an annual agreement recommended by the Public Works Committee.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve Amendment No. 1 to the Owner-Engineer Agreement with JEO in the amount of $5,000 for the 2022 Street Improvement project. Ourada explained this was for additional surveying and ROW services requested by the City related to the project.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve a quote from Capital City Concepts and Nebraska Pays Surveys to do a wage comparability study for bargaining and non-bargaining unit employees at a cost of $18,000.

            Ourada explained this item had been discussed with the Personnel Committee at a prior meeting and the city wanted clarification on a non-collective bargaining market based study, and this was made with amendments; this also meets the expectations as discussed with the council in a previous strategic planning session and is recommended by the Personnel Committee.

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.

• Gary Young, Police Chief
  • the department is currently short-handed while in the process of testing for the open sergeant position; the Civil Service Commission interviews, as well as interviews with the appointing authority and mayor are coming up; there is also testing for two officer positions, and perhaps a third, which may be based on hiring for the sergeant spot.
• Wendy Thomas, Human Resources Director introduced new hires, Maria Acevedo as facilities janitor, and Juan Lopez in bookkeeping for the Utilities Office.
• Tod Allen, Fire Chief reported the departments call numbers for 2022 and membership status:
  • the department responded to 945 total calls for service in 2022, averaging 72 calls a month and 2.5 calls a day. 
  • 911 call breakdown: Medical - 384, Motor Vehicle Accidents - 3, Structure Fire - 4, Room and Contents Fire - 11, Vehicle Fire - 4, Grass/Vegetation Fire - 41, Fire Alarm - 60, Hazmat - 12, Mutual Aid Medical - 17, Mutual Aid Fire - 21, Cancel - 45, Special Duty (Public Assist) – 9 
  • Additional calls: Inter-facility Transfers – 274, Standby calls – 10, Other calls - 14
  • membership is 40; some have gone through EMT class - new members have 2 years to get through EMT class and the department pays for the first one, they pay if they need to try it a second time; they have another 5 new member applications; 
  • the tanker has to go back to South Dakota for repairs that can’t be complete here;
  • members are making kitchen improvements at the station;
  • Tod was again elected Fire Chief, additional officers are: Assistant Fire Chief - James Yost, Rescue Captain - Steph Yost, Fire Captain -   Harrison Gaman, Rescue 1st Lieutenant - Marvin Barlow, Rescue 2nd Lieutenant - Nikki Wells, Fire 1st Lieutenant -  Preston Zvolanek , Fire 2nd Lieutenant - William DeHart , President - Terry Petracek, Vice President -  Brandon Smejdir, Secretary - Melissa Clouse, Treasurer - Courtney Marcelino, Ambulance Administrator - Phillip Oelschlager;
  • Mayor Dave Bauer thanked all the department members for their hard work this past year.
• Tom Ourada, City Administrator:
  • Gary Young is now the Police Chief as of Jan. 1; no longer the acting chief;
  • Blue River Raceway (formerly Tuxedo Park Raceway) update: Nick Dice is out of this venture utilizing the lakebed area in Tuxedo Park for go kart racing and others want to take over; the city was asked if we can help and we will work with the new operators; they want the opportunity for the space;
  • Sunday’s electrical outage was caused by a blown high side transformer fuse; Jose Ramos did a really good job with this situation, while Mike Kalkwarf came in on his own and followed up on the power plant end; they were very efficient and they handled it very effectively;
  • Recreation Coordinator/grant writer recruitment update: he is still in contact with the person we are working with who is hopefully near commitment;
  • it’s good to see Amy Hausman here from The Crete News.
• Mayor Dave Bauer 
  • read a thank you note from the Crete Senior Citizens stating the group’s appreciation allowing them to use the Wanek Community Center free of charge; two new stoves purchased by the City, new flooring, and light bulbs have been added/replaced and there is always a quick response from city staff whenever they need something;
  • he is working with Saline County Aging Services to bring back a meals on wheels program; it worked well with volunteer help in the past and he’s hoping there will be a good response again when they get this program up and running; there is a need out there and he’s excited to get it started;
  • he also commented on the new year and he’s excited to get some new things going and work with Tom on new ideas.

Meeting adjourned.