[0:00] move around.

[0:06] » Yeah, let me throw my chair on the other side.

[0:12] » Just got to get on.

[0:24] » All right, it is past 5:30, so we will go ahead and call this meeting to order.

[0:29] Get on the right pile here. >> I'll call the order. Roll call, please.

[0:36] » Here. >> Yes.

[0:40] » Yes.

[0:55] » Pull that one up. Oh, okay.

[1:07] No, not yet. >> That's okay.

[1:10] » I appreciate you were ready for an answer, though.

[1:16] » No, we can go ahead and proceed.

[1:21] » All right, we'll go ahead and move on to observe a moment of silence, please.

[1:58] Thank you. Join me in the pledge of allegiance.

[2:05] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[2:10] republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[2:16] justice for all.

[2:20] » Thank you. Copy of the Communities Act is posted on the wall in the entryway um

[2:26] here in the library. It's also available in pamphlet form and

[2:31] if you follow the link listed within the agenda. Tonight we're going to be joined

[2:36] or uh the majority of this special council meeting will be the zoom

[2:39] presentation by Bobby Petty and Doug Christensen and they are with the five

[2:44] rule rule planning regarding the vacant property registry program. Thought I was

[2:50] repeating myself but I'm not. It's really written that way.

[2:55] Hi Bobby. Hi Doug. Thanks for joining us.

[3:01] » Can you guys hear? There we go. I can hear you. Can you hear me a bit?

[3:07] » Yes. >> So, just to orient myself to the room,

[3:12] it looks like you guys are looking at my fave, but I'm looking at the back of

[3:17] your head. That

[3:22] » comfortable with it. Yes. >> Yep. That's correct.

[3:26] » Okay. Okay. So,

[3:32] when you get ready question. We might have to adjust the microphone to make

[3:36] sure I can hear you. Okay. >> Um, April, thank you for introducing us.

[3:41] I'm Bobby Liz with Doug. You might have figured that out. Uh,

[3:47] we offer the vacant property registry program. So, our company is in Cardi,

[3:52] Nebraska. I I grew up in Verna, Nebraska. 300 people like just on the

[3:59] edge of this hill. Uh, and then I grew up and um do community planning now. So

[4:06] I have a master's degree in planning, but we focus on small towns, communities

[4:12] uh 5,000 and below. So I apologize for putting the name rural in the business.

[4:17] Uh it's important because uh planning is often associated with like urban areas

[4:24] or cities, but we focused on rural planning, farm communities. Turns out

[4:29] it's a really difficult word to say. So someday maybe I'll fix that or rebrand

[4:34] when I get around to it. I don't know. Uh and so I started the business in

[4:40] 2018. Before that I did um I did military I did planning for the military

[4:46] department. I was at the National Guard for the state of Nebraska and worked

[4:49] full-time. Then I worked with the city of Cardi and over the building

[4:53] department um development services planning and zoning. Then I worked

[4:58] development district. So you guys are part of PAD area development panhandle

[5:03] area development district. I worked with South Central Economic Development

[5:07] District through a couple more planning jobs and

[5:11] then finally just decided to open my own shop in 2018 and that seems to be going

[5:17] much better. Uh so we do community and economic development consulting. Some of

[5:23] our clients are long-term economic development. Like we serve as their

[5:28] economic developer. We also do like oneoff plans and studies, housing

[5:33] studies, comprehensive plan, draft your zoning regulations.

[5:38] And then what I'm going to talk to you about tonight is we offer vacant

[5:42] property registry administration. So in 2018, the legislature passed LB256

[5:50] and that made it legal for communities to create a vacant property registry.

[5:58] Before that, we had no enabling legislation to allow us to do that. Um

[6:02] so now what our program consists of is uh the city passes an ordinance, the

[6:10] city engages with the veil law. So, we only use one attorney to um administer

[6:17] the vacant property registry, and we'll get into why that's important. Um once

[6:22] you pass the ordinance, engage with lot and then appoint us as your

[6:29] administrator to a resolution, we create the registry. The properties that go

[6:34] onto the vacant property registry are properties that are not occupied that

[6:40] were built to be occupied. So commercial or residential

[6:46] um the owner gets notified once the property goes onto the registry and then

[6:52] for zero to six months there's no charge for the property to be on the registry.

[6:58] There's no fees assessed. Um to back up a little bit, once we've

[7:03] identified a property and decided it meets all the criteria, we notify the

[7:07] owner that their property meet the criteria and then we give them 14 days

[7:13] to register. If they don't register after 14 days, then we register on their

[7:19] behalf essentially because if they are vacant property and they choose to

[7:24] register, then the old fine of $100 a day comes into effect. So to not do that

[7:30] we register the property for them as the administrator. Then once the property is

[7:36] on the registry then the clock starts ticking. So for 0 to 6 months there's no

[7:42] fee of theft or anything. After 6 months we accept the first fee. Um for

[7:48] residential the maximum allowable fee you can assess is $250. For commercial

[7:55] the maximum allowable fee you can assessment. If we are administering your

[7:59] program, we will strongly strongly encourage you to accept the maximum

[8:04] fees. Binge um the fee double and add on. So again, at month zero, nothing in

[8:12] due at month six, if you are a commercial property, $1,000 in due. If

[8:19] you're a residential property, 250 in deal. And then fees are set every six

[8:24] months. So at month 12, if you're a residential property and you didn't pay

[8:29] your first fee, you now will owe 750 because you owe 250 for the first six

[8:35] months and then the 250 will double and add on to 750 and it carries on that way

[8:42] um up to 10 times the original fee. So after we get so far into it, it's just

[8:48] $2,500 every six months. The way that we administer the program and the reason

[8:54] that utilize available lot is that feed that go untaid we will assess a lean

[9:01] against the property for unt

[9:08] since 2018 and so we have quite a bit of data and experience and we just decided

[9:13] the other night that the sweet spot is right around two and a half to three

[9:19] years around that time we if you're a house we will have lean roughly $3,700.

[9:26] So when we get to that point, that's when we start to foreclose on the leans.

[9:32] Eventually the property will go to auction then and sometimes we have a

[9:37] private individual that wants to flip a property that does show up and buy the

[9:41] property. If there's nobody that's interested in the property, then the

[9:45] cities will end up with the property. If you have a CRA or a CA, we would like

[9:52] them to be the one that ends up with the property and we can help you set that

[9:56] up. If you've never worked with like substandard studies or tax financing or

[10:02] utilize the CRA or CDA, then we can help you with that. But we'd like you to have

[10:07] that body available when we administer the program and often

[10:12] coming from MRA to Doug Go. I'm about to tell the story of being a kid. Nebraska

[10:19] walking to school and like Aunt Edna died and then Leota died and then Jenny

[10:25] and June died and then nothing happened with their house and so 1994 I'm walking

[10:32] to school in Verna vacant house after vacant house after vacant house and then

[10:37] after a while you have to ask yourself what does that make you think about your

[10:41] community and then what does that make you think about yourself and so when we

[10:46] administer the vacant property registry, we have an end goal in mind to see

[10:51] something happen with these properties. So, we want the properties either to be

[10:55] occupied or demolished and that's the way that we operate the program with an

[11:02] end goal in mind. So, we charge I know you're you're probably wondering that uh

[11:10] what's this going to cost? We charge $6,500

[11:15] I think. That's what I said. Uh, and it's a black

[11:20] feed and we assess it every we charge you every quarter for setting up the

[11:25] registry and administering the program. If we become your administrator, Doug

[11:32] would visit you every six months. So, we report to you on a six-month basis.

[11:38] These are the properties on the registry. These are the properties that

[11:41] have unpaid leans. These are the properties that we can assess lean on.

[11:45] now and we come to you every six months with a static update but we would send

[11:50] you a report every quarter um after the first year then we would

[11:57] reassess our contract so we are your administrator for a year at a time um at

[12:03] the end of the first year maybe we ended up spending a lot more time on your

[12:07] community than I had budgeted for or maybe a lot of your property got off the

[12:13] registry right away and we have a couple properties you're managing, then we

[12:17] would reduce our fees. So, there's the administrative fee of paying us.

[12:22] Honestly, we're probably the cheapest of the costs you're going to incur. When

[12:27] you engage with the law, the attorney that will be representing you is Drew

[12:32] Graham, and he's out of and he's out of York. He's a municipal attorney

[12:36] representing numerous communities across the state. You'll pay $1,000 when you

[12:42] sign the engagement letter with him and then he'll generate your ordinance and

[12:48] your other documents to get you started. Then you'll only pay his hourly rate

[12:53] when needed. So if you guys are like Sutton and Skyler and everybody in

[12:59] Crawford is lawyered up and we get uh hot Doug say the other day hot phone

[13:06] call. We get hot call from lawyers. When a lawyer calls us and says they're going

[13:10] to sue us, we say, "That's great. I'm so glad that you have a lawyer. Now, your

[13:16] lawyer can talk to our lawyer." And so, when Drew returns the call, then you pay

[13:20] his fee. When it comes time to assess leans, you'll you'll pay for Drew's time

[13:26] to assess the leans. We think our process is very efficient because Drew

[13:32] knows that we are doing all the necessary notifications as required by

[13:37] law. So when it's time to file a lean, he knows our process and that we've gone

[13:42] through the step, but he will be the attorney that files the lean. And then

[13:46] when we get to the point that we're going to foreclode on the leans, Drew

[13:50] will be the one that we do through that process. His billable rate is getting up

[13:55] there. around 320 an hour. Uh, but I'm willing to pay good money for a

[14:02] municipal attorney that's going to get something done. And so if you check with

[14:06] some of the communities that we work with, I think you'll hear that he's very

[14:10] efficient and effective. I don't know if you're a city attorney in the room. I

[14:14] don't know if there's any lawyers in the room. Uh, one of the biggest

[14:18] frustrations the working for the development district and doing dudes

[14:21] with abatement and then um just trying to work on dangerous buildings in

[14:26] general. A big roadblock I often run into with the municipal attorney the

[14:31] local attorney. They don't specialize municipal law. They're pretty busy

[14:36] anyway or you know seven times out of 10 they have to conflict out because they

[14:41] have some connection to the property owner. So we think it clears up a lot of

[14:46] issues just to bring a lawyer with us. Our lawyer will travel but we don't want

[14:52] to go around your attorney. So if your attorney doesn't like the program then

[14:58] we don't want to do it because your at your appointed attorney attorney needs

[15:04] to be a partner. We don't want them to be somebody that we're working against.

[15:07] We tried that in the community and that was real painful.

[15:13] So, uh, which direction do we want to know?

[15:17] What questions might do we want to go? What questions might you have? I think

[15:22] just to start off with, I want to clarify. You said the 6500 is due

[15:26] quarterly and not annually. Did I hear that right?

[15:31] » Yeah, quarterly. So, the first quarterly payment is due when we execute the

[15:36] contract and then every quarter after that.

[15:40] » Okay. quarter of CC500. It's build quarterly.

[15:45] » Oh, so the 6500 is the annual rate, but it's build quarterly.

[15:49] » Yes. >> Oh, okay. Cuz I understood that. But

[15:51] during the first meeting that you guys said, so then I sold it as that. And

[15:56] then tonight as you spoke, I was worried it was 6,500

[15:59] » instead of being 28,000 >> for Yeah. for to be a total of a lot

[16:04] more than 6,500 annually. So, thank you for that clarification. So,

[16:09] » split total. >> No, that that's okay. Thank you. That

[16:13] that helps a lot with that clarification. And then the next

[16:16] question that that came to mind the more that I thought about it after uh the

[16:20] initial presentation that I witnessed through our land bank meeting um was as

[16:25] you assess the fines um to residential and business

[16:30] properties, how are those fines processed? Are those fines that you guys

[16:35] retain and use to help you uh make more process with more uh more properties or

[16:41] do those fees and fines go to the city? So the payment the check would be made

[16:47] out to the city. They can pay it direct to you or they can mail it to us and

[16:54] then we would record in our database but then immediately put in the mail to you

[16:58] guys. If they do pay it to you directly then we would just asked if you could uh

[17:04] send us a a scan of the payment method or something just so we can uh record

[17:10] that. But all payments would be going through

[17:12] » okay >> to you.

[17:14] » Okay. I again this we're super excited about this and this all sounds extremely

[17:20] wonderful and I'm still looking for the part that I'm not thinking of. So my

[17:24] apologies for being hesitant or um feeling like this feels like the

[17:29] perfect answer to something that we've been looking for for quite some time.

[17:32] and and how unusual that we could afford it. Um but yeah, that was one thing I

[17:36] thought, well, maybe they get to keep the fees. Maybe that's why it's so

[17:39] affordable. So, thank you for the clarification on that.

[17:43] I >> have a question. So, how do you um do

[17:46] the first goound of I mean, you can't get every vacant property all at one

[17:51] time. Do you do it by sections of the city? Are you looking for us to give

[17:56] direction on that or do you come in of all the properties in the city and

[18:02] make a list.

[18:06] » We start with your list of inactive accounts. So your residential utility

[18:14] accounts and your commercial utility accounts that have been inactive for a

[18:19] long time that that's where we start. So in the beginning when I was very

[18:25] conservative if your utilities were on you didn't

[18:29] have to be on the registry. We have since changed that you need more than

[18:33] just your utilities on to be off the registry but most people turns out not

[18:39] all people in a grass but most people do not occupy a house if there's no running

[18:44] water electricity. So that's what we start with and then Doug will come to

[18:51] Crawford and sit down with the clerk and whoever else and discuss the

[18:55] circumstances of each property. For instance, if the owner of the vacant

[19:00] property is right next door, uh not really worth fighting over, we

[19:04] would just like to have them replat or something. Um maybe the appears vacant

[19:10] because the utility, but there's some other circumstance or maybe after you

[19:14] visit with Doug, other properties will come to mind. Um another decision we

[19:20] made in had like has more than 50. Uh we are

[19:25] doing 10 at a time. So it's up to you. We don't we're not going to section the

[19:30] town off. I feel like I would like you to start with the lowest hanging fruit.

[19:34] Like the properties that everybody in the community knows has been empty for a

[19:40] long time and it's sort of like a morale killer. And a lot of like local owners

[19:47] will usually get off the registry right away and maybe they just haven't

[19:50] realized how hard that is on the community to leave a property vacant.

[19:55] But owners like where the owners are, we've had situations, we've had the most

[19:59] success or I think where we have proven that we are needed the most. The owner

[20:04] is deceased and no next kid has any interest. The owner has is mentally ill.

[20:11] We found an owner in a homeless shelter one time that just drove away from his

[20:15] house. Uh the owner is in prison. Um maybe it's a landlord that can't afford

[20:22] to fix a house back up. So those circumstances where you know the land

[20:26] owners are long gone, the property owners are long gone or

[20:31] they don't they just don't have the means to do something with the house

[20:35] because once we assess a lean now we have a financial interest in the

[20:39] property and now we have a lot more power to make something happen.

[20:46] That was a long answer, but but basically I think I answered it. I think

[20:50] I answered your question. >> So, we have some

[20:54] Go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> No, no, it's it's up to you guys's

[20:58] discretion. As far you don't have to do the whole

[21:01] town at >> we have some properties that are

[21:05] actively on sale and I see on your guys's list um as long as they were

[21:09] being sold and long as it didn't circumvent a certain amount that then

[21:13] they would be off of it. A lot of these properties are overpriced. How do we go

[21:19] about putting the pressure on these? And they've been been open for some of them

[21:24] as long as five, six, seven years on the commercial side. I'm looking at

[21:29] which is what I'm looking at. >> So the the law said that if a property

[21:35] is listed for sale, it cannot go on to the registry. Our ordinance, the law

[21:41] does not, but our ordinance, we took the liberty of defining what for sale mean.

[21:47] And so we say that it has to be listed in active listing with an agent. But I

[21:52] need to be able to Google the property online and find it. And then it cannot

[21:56] the purchase price. It cannot be advertised as more than 125% of its

[22:01] assessed value. We have not been challenged on that.

[22:05] » We defined that on our own, but that's that's the rule we've been sticking to

[22:10] and so far so good with that. >> How is your taxes assessed this last

[22:15] year? >> Well, you know what? We're all over the

[22:19] state. So, we're down in Dundy County. We're up in Cing County, Buffalo County.

[22:24] Fern County is way behind county is another town, they're way behind on

[22:29] their assessment. Uh Buffalo County is pretty close to 90% below market rate.

[22:35] So it will depend a little bit on on higher as their census properties, but

[22:41] still sticking with 125% of the test value.

[22:45] » Many of our properties have been um we just had our assessment go through this

[22:48] year and they've doubled on some of these. So I was just curious.

[22:54] » Yeah. You know, I get the yellow postcard from

[22:58] the assessor and they're like, "Oh, your house is nice. Your taxes are going up."

[23:01] And I'm like, "Screw you." Like, next year, "Oh, you're not so nice." Yeah,

[23:07] » your taxes are going down. I'm still like, "Screw you." So, uh, not helpful.

[23:12] I know that's not helpful. That's how I feel about property tax assessments.

[23:16] » So, once we decide to go forward, if we decide to go forward, how long um we

[23:20] need to give you a listing then or sit down with Doug and get a listing? How

[23:24] soon can you get started on this? How long will it take to get started? Are we

[23:29] looking this summer? Are we looking next year?

[23:33] » First thing First thing, if you sign a contract, because I don't want to sound

[23:37] like a jerk, but I don't want to work for free. You sign a contract first.

[23:41] Once you sign the contract, then when you're when you get the list together,

[23:46] then we will get up to Coftton and get it going. So, um,

[23:52] » or not. away.

[23:55] » Huh? >> We're not Croftton. It's Crawford.

[23:57] Croftton and Crawford are two different spots.

[24:01] » I'm so sorry. Crawford, too. So, if I call you Croftton, I mean Frosters.

[24:08] » I know you're a long way. I know you're handle. I know you're clear the hell up

[24:12] there. Both of you are kind of close to South Dakota in my defense, but uh you

[24:19] know, I know you shouldn't do that. I know you shouldn't mix up town, but I

[24:22] did the founders of the state to get a little more bit creative when they're

[24:26] naming all these all these communities. I may I may call you Clarkson too and I

[24:31] apologize for that but I know you're Crawford. Awesome. Um, another thing

[24:37] that had come to mind u the more I thought about this and and setting it up

[24:42] and and how how we determine which properties are appropriate to be on this

[24:48] registry and how we how we determine which ones qualify. Um, I'm not I'm not

[24:54] sure how many communities you've run across that have an RTS or a ready to

[24:58] serve uh fee. So, a property in our community doesn't have to have a

[25:04] building on it, but if they have water services up to their property, then they

[25:09] pay a ready to serve fee monthly. So, that is it's a different utility than

[25:14] just the regular utility of serving water and sewer. So, I I'm not sure if

[25:19] you guys have come across that yet or how that impacts assessing whether a

[25:24] property is vacant or or or how we assess um to put it on the registry

[25:31] because there will be properties that that have vacant lots on them that have

[25:36] a ready to serve. Many of them that are problem properties don't pay that ready

[25:40] to serve. So that's part of the problem. Um, but there are some that are vacant

[25:45] that are paid.

[25:49] Vacant lots or vacant houses? Both. So, the vacant lot, Newman Grove does

[25:56] that, too. If a if the service runs by your lot, you have to pay for the

[26:01] service. Um, if it's a vacant lot, it's never going to come up for us. It's not

[26:06] going to be an issue. >> Correct. If they're paying that base

[26:08] rate, if they're paying the ready to third, but it's a vacant house, then we

[26:13] can still put it on to the registry. >> Okay.

[26:16] » It has to be it has to be residential or a commercial building. Correct. It can't

[26:21] just be a lot. I mean, lot >> empty lots are not don't need to be on

[26:26] the registry. >> Right. Okay.

[26:28] » Right. Yes. And these are buildings like when I think about it, these are

[26:31] buildings that were built to be occupied. So, brain bed, no. That's not,

[26:36] you know, a metal machine shed, probably not. But like a a downtown business, a

[26:43] retail business, a commercial business by utilities. Um, a lot of times we get,

[26:49] well, it's not vacant, it's storage. Well, if it wasn't built to be a cold

[26:53] storage facility, then I'm not I'm not I'm not buying that. I'm not doing that.

[27:00] » Thank you, Bobby, for continu. I said, "Thank you, Bobby, for

[27:05] continuing to say the right things."

[27:09] I'm telling you, I thought about I thought about it a lot before I became I

[27:15] had nothing to do with passing the law, but once it was passed, I was very I was

[27:20] like, "Let's go." And we I will tell you, we've made a

[27:25] we've cut our teeth. We have learned some lessons along the way. There's

[27:29] probably still lessons that he learned in Broford. There's probably the

[27:33] exciting circumstances that you have that we never would have thought of. Uh,

[27:38] but we're just we're plugging away. I keep it I keep the price low. I keep it

[27:43] affordable because coming from well, not really western Nebraska compared to you

[27:48] guys coming from central Nebraska, but being raised by a Sand Hills rancher, I

[27:54] understand and respect private property rights. And I also know how quickly this

[28:02] program can be misunderstood. And so I I probably care about this program the

[28:08] most out of all the services we offer. But I keep the price low because if uh

[28:15] if something happens and you decide you don't want to do it anymore, I don't

[28:18] want you to be such a big client that I have to pressure you into it. Otherwise,

[28:21] I'm going to lose too much money on you. >> Sure.

[28:25] Well, >> I want to keep the pride and love as

[28:27] possible. >> Right. Well, thank you for loving it

[28:30] enough that this program even exists because there's I know we're not the

[28:33] only rural community where maintaining and and adding additional workloads to

[28:39] our very small already um employee base is is even an option. Um so we we

[28:46] certainly appreciate that people like you care enough about rural rural

[28:49] Nebraska America to create these kind of programs and these and offer these

[28:53] services. So, thank you. >> Can you tell us thank you for your

[28:58] interest? >> Can you tell us some success stories

[29:02] » that you've had in in Nebraska?

[29:08] » Oh, yeah. Uh, I'm going to tell you my favorite and then Doug, you can tell

[29:13] your favorite. I'll be thinking about it, Doug. My favorite is acknowled

[29:30] right now talking to you guys. Sorry about that. I'm also a real

[29:36] person. I'm not like a consultant. I'm like a consultant makes it sound like I

[29:41] have my best way more together than I do. Anyway, my favorite. My favorite

[29:47] story is the Rapone Nebraska. And mind you, we do a lot more for Rapo. So, we

[29:52] were prepared, but it was an icky house a block off of Main Street. So, Highway

[29:57] 283, go through Rapo on your way to Kansas, hole in the foundation. Uh,

[30:03] somebody had bought it with the best intention, then fell in love and Norton.

[30:08] Um, we put on the registry. We kept doing the lean. She kept ignoring it. We

[30:13] the leans went up to7500. He called me owner called me one day asked the will

[30:18] and asked what it was going to take to get rid of the $7,500 lean. And I asked

[30:23] if he'd sign the property over to the CRA in Arapaho. And he did. And so we

[30:28] ended up with this nice corner lot with this icky house. And really the only

[30:33] cost that we had in it was RC for setting up the registry. So he found the

[30:38] property over. We waved the $7,500 lean. At the same time,

[30:43] uh Shannon, it's her name. She started baking. She's a farm wife, ranching

[30:48] wife, started baking out of her kitchen. Wanted to grow her baking business. It's

[30:53] called Taken. T A K I N. Taking care of business if you want to look her up. She

[30:59] was looking for somewhere to put in a commercial kitchen so she could stop

[31:03] being cottage industry and start to sell her baked goods wholesale. Uh could not

[31:08] find a commercial kitchen that she could afford to buy in the area. So, we have

[31:13] this nice corner lot, not nice corner lot, we have the torn lot with icky

[31:17] house. She and the CRA made a deal. So, the CRA sold over the lot for $1,000.

[31:24] She waved her right to tip, tax increment financing. The CRA paid $1,000

[31:32] and demolished the house and cleared the lot for her. She didn't pay the $11,000.

[31:39] Said $1,000 to the lot. After they paid the $11,000 and the lot, sold it for her

[31:45] for a,000. The part of the deal was she was going to have to put a commercial

[31:50] building on there within a year, which she did. So, um, where he sat on the

[31:58] corner lot in Arapjo, there's now a bakery called Taking Tear Business where

[32:04] she does I don't know if you guys ever got a backed um convenience store, but

[32:09] she's in the process of getting her products into Fat Dogs. But um instead

[32:15] of having this little house that just makes you feel depressed when you look

[32:19] at it in the drain in the community, that house is gone. A new commercial

[32:23] bakery is there with a little venue attached to it. And that's probably my

[32:29] favorite story so far. Okay, Doug, you tell them yours.

[32:35] Well, my favorite one would be uh in Hampton. Um there's this there's this uh

[32:42] old commercial property in downtown Hampton that uh was changing hands

[32:48] between various LLC's and estates and uh so through the vacant property registry

[32:54] and then also surveillance work on the on the title uh this this commercial

[33:03] property ended up in the hands of a local a local owner who who who started

[33:09] a restaurant there and and and so that's the loading shoot there in Hampton. And

[33:15] so every time I go over to to Hampton every quarter to do their update, uh

[33:21] swing through Hampton and have some delicious food. I know it's not direct,

[33:27] but it's indirectly somewhat the fruit of my labor um to eat there at the shoot

[33:34] uh in I think they even won a like a restaurant tournament in Nebraska a

[33:40] couple years ago in in uh in their food quality.

[33:46] current NFJ is this call.

[33:51] Awesome. >> Well, we're we're running into our

[33:54] meeting time, but I don't know if anybody does anybody else have any other

[33:57] questions. I'll open up to the public just really quick just in case somebody

[34:00] has something that we haven't maybe covered. Does anybody have a question

[34:03] that they'd like to present to Bobby or Doug that we can squeeze in really

[34:06] quick?

[34:11] » Well, I think you guys did a wonderful job explaining everything. I'm sure we

[34:14] might come up with a couple other questions, but um we'll be in touch.

[34:19] » Thank you. Thank you. >> Sounds good.

[34:21] » Thank you so much. >> Thank you for letting me present to the

[34:24] city of

[34:56] All right, we'll go ahead and take a motion for adjournment for a special

[35:00] session

[35:03] Dean and a second.

[35:07] Roll call.

[35:19] » Thank you. Ajourn 607. Thank you. Move on to the go the regular council

[35:25] meeting.

[35:28] Go ahead and call to order >> and roll call, please. Okay.

[35:33] » Yes. >> Grant.

[35:35] » Yes. Dean, >> yes.

[35:41] Thank you. We have quite a few more. So, we'll go ahead and proceed with

[35:44] everything. We'll observe a moment of silence, please.

[36:13] Thank you. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance.

[36:22] I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[36:27] republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and

[36:33] justice for all. >> Thank you. There's a copy of the open

[36:38] meetings act that is posted in the entryway of the Crawford Public Library.

[36:43] is also available in pamphlet form. And if you follow the link on our agenda,

[36:53] we'll go ahead and start with our consent agenda this evening. We've got

[36:56] quite a few listed, so be patient with me to read through them. A, approve the

[37:00] March 10th, 2026 and March 24th, 2026 regular meeting minutes. B. approved the

[37:06] SDL at the rodeo building at 16 Main for the annual Old West Trail Rodeo

[37:10] fundraiser 3 p.m. on April 25th of 2026 to 1:00 a.m. on April 26th of 2026.

[37:18] C. Approve FA Hughes uh Be Hughes resignation letter from the golf board.

[37:24] D. Approve advertising for a golf board member. E approve adjusting Missy

[37:29] Super's wage from $20 per hour to $1850 per hour and raising Gina Lemons from

[37:34] $15 per hour to $1650 per hour per recommendation of the golf board. F

[37:40] approved golf board recommend recommended hire for clubhouse nap at

[37:45] $15 per hour. G approved planning commission approved building permits and

[37:50] warranty deed for the following. Ansley Ericson at 503 Annen Street for a wood

[37:55] fence and a warranty deed between Joshua Fleming and Christopher Tumi. H approved

[38:01] deed for cemetery spaces block four, lot four and spaces 1 through five for Tom

[38:06] Bow. I approve park board approved location for a 4ft square pad and flag

[38:12] dropbox for the American Legion. J. approved park board recommend

[38:17] recommended hires for seasonal park and cemetery including Hazel Sims seasonal

[38:22] full-time $15 per hour retroactive to a start date of 4828.

[38:28] Uh Ian Anderson seasonal part-time one to two days a week at $15 per hour.

[38:34] Cameron Werenberger, David Vanderpook, and Mason Haran on call for occasional

[38:39] work if budget allows if they are available for a fee of $15 per hour. Do

[38:45] I have a motion for the consent agenda? >> To approve the agenda.

[38:53] » Thank you from and a second from

[39:00] » Thank you.

[39:11] Didn't we put the presentation? Oh, she has to talk new business. Okay. Just say

[39:16] I think did we have to move that to the beginning

[39:20] » the presentation of the pla? Did we need to do that?

[39:25] » Right. >> Yeah. Yeah.

[39:29] » I think we plan on doing that right away. That way Yeah. That way you guys

[39:32] had had some time. So I'm going to go ahead and move um item number 11. It's

[39:37] under new business. It's a presentation by David

[39:39] » Cleave. Levy. Okay. Thank you. To the mayor,

[39:44] city council, and law enforcement representative of two plaques

[39:47] recognizing officers who died in the line of duty in Crawford.

[39:58] Basically, let me give you a little background. My

[40:02] name is David. Started off police department chair when

[40:07] I was 28. Ended up running three terms and then

[40:12] did not recommend him and become a school teacher and stuff. And in my

[40:16] research, I ended up finding about how many law enforcement officers have been

[40:22] killed in the state of Nebraska. And so we I started a book called tour duty and

[40:28] watch every cop killed to honor them at Grand Island and nationally if we could.

[40:35] And we've been doing that. And what I'm going to read tonight is actually what

[40:41] is on Grand Island Law Enforcement Memorial and a little bit different than

[40:48] the lady. I know where Cass appreciate that.

[40:53] » A little side note, one of the second interview I ever did

[40:58] in my life was at Crawford State Park. I came and joined a family reunion of the

[41:05] Saxon family when I was dating my wife to be and I think they interviewed me to

[41:11] find out where I was coming from. I want to tell you personally and I talked

[41:17] about Crawford being very very special place and you should be commended what

[41:22] you've done over the years and will continue to do. Uh we started that was

[41:27] in 1965 or 66 already been having family re

[41:32] So we have been currently having family reunions in your park for probably 60 or

[41:39] 70 years and we come down to all the parades.

[41:44] I've been in a couple of parades in my fighting thing and we do that. We also

[41:50] come back Memorial Day and we are probably even more consistent coming

[41:55] back Memorial Day because our family, my wife's family all started in this area

[42:01] with some of the earliest people. So it's an honor for me.

[42:12] So, with that said, I'd love to read this to

[42:17] you so everybody understands what's going on. These are old

[42:22] uh incidents because I felt my wife felt that a lot of these people were not

[42:28] being recognized. The first one is Marshall Arthur A. Moss, Crawford,

[42:32] Nebraska, end of Watts, May 13, 1906. Crawford Marshall Arthur A. Moss died

[42:40] from a gunshot wound. 7:30 on Sunday May 13th 1906 Marshall M

[42:46] was attempting to disperse a group of soldiers in the drinking bear and began

[42:50] to create a disturbance when he stepped into the area while the soldiers threw

[42:56] his revolver and shot it. He died a short time later fled and was later

[43:02] captured. He was found guilt and seven years in state for manslaughter. He was

[43:08] actually 31 years old. He's very lucky because a lot of the people I read about

[43:14] that area, the model go get the killer out of jail

[43:19] and so he was probably very that is the first one

[43:29] and the second one happened in 1955. Chief of police Charles

[43:40] Prophet Chief of Police Charles Esry delighted the result of a heart attack

[43:45] following the call and arrested the American.

[43:54] When this family called for tear gas canister gas arrived, he decided to

[44:00] throw it through a basement window. By doing this, the suspect fire

[44:05] was a woman that suffered a heart attack following the attack on his wife that

[44:10] soon was 62 years old and survived by his wife and two children and I think

[44:16] when I do my story that's probably the hardest thing is survived by wife and

[44:22] children and ended their life and these

[44:25] individuals gave everything for law enforcement in this town and the town

[44:31] state and it's pretty impressive

[44:35] they would get that. And so we'd be honored to honor them today.

[44:47] » There you go. Thank you.

[44:56] » Well, thank you so much for contacting us and and bringing this to our

[45:00] attention and helping us uh remember these individuals that have served our

[45:04] community. That means a lot to me.

[45:14] » That's so thoughtful. >> Thank you so much.

[45:31] » Um I think might this is all very soon that

[45:36] we've been notified of it. This will happen fairly quick.

[45:44] » So family we we're in the middle of considering

[45:48] where we're going to we're hoping to move the sheriff's office so it might

[45:51] come to fruition or it might be in a great place where it can be somewhere

[45:55] where they're at and where the public can come see it.

[45:59] » We'll let you know. Awesome.

[46:04] Well, thank you. All right, we'll go ahead and move back. We'll start with

[46:07] our reports. So, if we can start with reports from park and cemetery, please.

[46:18] » So, I'm going to uh defer a little bit to our wonderful park employee because

[46:23] everybody keeps saying the best park in the world.

[46:27] » It's true. So that that creates a little bit of

[46:31] problems for us as a as a board because we we know we have such a great resource

[46:38] and and he does a great job, but he can't do it all by himself. So we spent

[46:42] a bunch of time um this this last two meetings actually thinking about who and

[46:47] how much can we pay people to do stuff. And so we've really I wore out to win

[46:52] seriously because I know that Miss Harry is going to be looking over her shoulder

[46:56] and and this is the first year of my tenure in the park board that I think I

[47:03] really get the budget. I mean it was it was a series of numbers that I had no

[47:08] input on a year ago. I could be I have no relationship to those. So with your

[47:13] help in us helping us understand what we have we really tried to

[47:19] And and then we had better than we expected applicants.

[47:25] Wow, that's great. We had three young people in in high school. We have and we

[47:31] had two people that uh had an ability to work a little bit longer. And so we

[47:36] wanted to be able to kind of play with the numbers and everything. So I we

[47:40] asked for uh actually Kevin was really excited about Hazel uh since coming on.

[47:45] She's got good experience and then um has an ability to work for a long period

[47:49] of time. So, and then we're probably going to go back with Ian because he can

[47:54] work one or two days a week. Doesn't bother and that's great. I did talk with

[47:59] all the kids and they would work part-time. I mean, as a we got a day

[48:04] when like the cemetery, we got the crosses to go in. Is that right? From

[48:08] John Jones's class. So, that's going to be a day to put up a bunch of crosses.

[48:13] So that's the kind of things that I think that as Kevin works to manage the

[48:16] the opportunities we've got with people plus I think we talked about volunteers

[48:21] as well. So there's a lot going on and the park board is really

[48:28] I hesitated to uh to push a little bit on the budget but again in April and

[48:34] she's been very honest with us that there is no more budget to work with. So

[48:39] we're going to pencil with Terry every period, I think, and to watch that. I've

[48:44] asked Kevin to be watchful for the hours that we're we're um expecting the people

[48:49] to work in so that we keep on track for you and everybody in our city. Um I will

[48:57] say that we did talk a couple other things. So, Crawford Serving Humanities

[49:02] is um interested in donating some lighting at the ball fields for

[49:08] especially for um the um September event and uh Roger contacted us. He is they

[49:15] are planning to purchase and install two 60,000

[49:21] water lumen LED flood lights for the ball field. And they would be in use for

[49:27] them, but will leave them for us to be able to use. They are uh you can move

[49:32] them. So, and there's a light switch at the bottom of the pole. Looks like

[49:36] they'll be on first and third base is what they looked at. Um they'll be

[49:41] adjustable and that 40 to 50 foot high is where they'll be now. He said that's

[49:45] a lot of lumens and sometimes people complain about the light, but you can

[49:50] turn them off. So, they will also have a um dawn to dusk flood light for the new

[49:56] flag pole that's going in out there as well.

[50:00] » And when we were looking at um the the lights that don't work, we asked them if

[50:06] they could squeeze in their budget the bulbs to replace on those lights that

[50:11] are not work currently working. We talked with Jared have Kevin called

[50:16] Jared and so he's he said, you know, I just haven't had time to get out and

[50:19] look at the and stuff. It's probably okay to go ahead and put those bulbs in.

[50:25] So, no cost to you guys. Think we'll get those lighting pieces put together. I'm

[50:30] really excited about that. So, more stuff to uh add to our beautiful city.

[50:37] Questions?

[50:41] » Well, thank you, Jeff. That's wonderful to hear you guys working with others and

[50:45] getting those donations to to come into the city where we can help them and let

[50:49] them So we appreciate it library.

[51:01] So March marked a fair weather uptick in

[51:06] library numbers and usage. We had 501 patrones and visits. We had 45 computer

[51:13] lab uses 30 prior month. circulated 352 materials in the library to include 60

[51:21] DVDs, 136 ebooks and audio books and 23

[51:28] digital audio materials. Uh upcoming events that we have well the

[51:34] library has an event kind of coming up this Thursday. We're actually closing

[51:39] early at 4 o'lock Thursdays because one we were nominated as the attraction of

[51:46] the year at the discover Nebraska chest of the Northwest event.

[51:52] So, we're going to have a booth at that event

[51:55] participate in their activities that evening, but will be otherwise open from

[51:59] noon to 400 p.m. that day. The next event for patrons will be April

[52:06] 21st at 5:00 here at the library. It's trivia night. The theme will be

[52:11] folklore. So we're excited for that as well.

[52:15] Crochet knitting club continues on April 24th at 1:30. Reading group will be on

[52:21] May 1st. It's usually the first Friday of the of the month. So May 1st is going

[52:26] to be Mayday. The friends of the library's

[52:31] next meeting will be May 5th at 12 and the next board meeting will be May 11th

[52:36] at 12 p.m. as well. more topical things. So, I've mentioned

[52:42] before that the library was awarded an internship grant from the Nebraska

[52:47] Library Commission. And just to give everybody a refresher on what that

[52:52] entails, it's really meant to open up librarianship as a possible career path

[52:58] for young people, specifically geared to high school and college students. And it

[53:04] gives them a place where they can have real world hands-on experience with that

[53:08] kind of stuff. It's also next to help during one of our busiest

[53:13] times of the year which is reading program. So the internship will last

[53:17] from June 1st to July 31st but applications and flyers have been shared

[53:24] with local high schools the college online various places and there's

[53:30] applications that are available here at the library or on our website. So, if

[53:34] you have any questions about that or know someone who might send my very

[53:38] happy about it,

[53:42] a fun update on the library's AC situation. So, when I last spoke to the

[53:48] council, I said that I would look into quotes options for what that cost would

[53:54] be and where we might be able to have it done. And I got three quotes back from

[53:59] MPC being cooling mechanical and

[54:05] homes home heating cooling. So I got those three quotes back. They ranged

[54:10] from 5900 to 48.50 And I presented that to our friends

[54:15] group actually and they agreed to pay the full cost of the replacement of the

[54:20] equipment and we collectively decided to go with the home's home quote which was

[54:26] 4850 not just because it was the lowest quote but also it had twice the warranty

[54:32] of either of the other quotes. So the other two had a 5year parts warranty and

[54:39] one year the other had a 10year parts warranty

[54:44] warranty. So um a great shout out gratitude friends for assisting in such

[54:51] an important aspect of library operation on to services development. Just to give

[54:58] you guys an update on the new library management system that we got and the

[55:02] new They're awesome. They're working wonderfully. They have really smooth

[55:07] transition periods. Um, all the vendors that we've been working with are

[55:11] wonderful, very helpful. Um, and patrons have been responding immediately

[55:17] positively between quality of both services and all the new features that

[55:23] they have to as well. At this point in the fiscal year, we

[55:28] actually have also earned enough print proceeds to cover the remainder of for

[55:33] this year. So everything after this is

[55:40] I do intend because there are so many new features that just haven't been

[55:44] available before. I do intend to create video content YouTube videos that can be

[55:49] linked to the library's website and our Facebook and our YouTube channel of

[55:53] course that explain how to make take advantage of these new features from

[55:58] home your phones that sort of thing. So more Plenty more to come on that later.

[56:06] Regarding collection development, there's been a lot of new exciting

[56:10] placement and arrangement projects happening in the library. We're trying

[56:13] to develop sections and better ways people can find things. The recent most

[56:18] section being developed is a dedicated large print section.

[56:23] So between that our new display style for our section

[56:29] and then revamp early reader engine reader

[56:34] chapter section as well. And lastly for program development um so

[56:41] the cultivate you was a program that I was trying to introduce this year as a

[56:45] personal and professional development series due to a lack of response from

[56:49] possible presenters and attendees. I'm gonna kind of put a stopper on that

[56:54] program as a regular program for now. I still really am invested in the concept.

[57:00] So I'll be continuing to reach out to possible presenters and just taking them

[57:03] up when they're available rather than having a set series. So that one is

[57:10] continuing to adapt and evolve and develop. The other history talk series

[57:14] on the other hand is in its final stages of preparation. So this is usually a

[57:21] global history oriented series that takes place either sometimes spring

[57:26] usually and this spring is going to be a late spring walking tour like the

[57:31] architecture history of Crawford especially downtown. So the tentative

[57:37] date we set turns out May 17th at 2 p.m. which is a Sunday and then if the

[57:43] weather's not with us we plan for the following Sunday at the same time. So

[57:48] we're very excited about that program. That's one of the most

[57:51] requested and popular events. And lastly, the summer reading program theme

[57:58] this year will be unear a story with the national theme as well. So that will

[58:04] orient itself around

[58:08] geoscience and that kind of stuff. So dinosaurs, cool minerals and what a

[58:13] perfect theme for us here at this point in the country.

[58:18] Most of the programs I'm just making final arrangements and touches. Uh but

[58:24] I've streamlined it based on prior experience to be really impactful and

[58:30] potent while considering my anticipated capacity by that time and the presence

[58:35] of an intern for the duration of it. So unless there are any questions for me

[58:40] that is my

[58:43] » Thank you Ashley. Congratulations on Thursday's announcement and thank you to

[58:46] your friends. Thank you. We'll go ahead and move on to ordinances

[58:51] and resolutions. Number six, discuss approved disapproved resolution 2026-08

[58:57] regarding the completed survey of the cemetery's new addition as prepared by

[59:01] handhandle land surveying. This is just something that we need to

[59:06] accept as a final. >> I guess

[59:11] it's been completed. So if I have a motion for that,

[59:16] right? Sure. I'm sorry. >> So, are they going to be pulling flags

[59:19] out there? Are they done or >> heard they still had a few more rebar to

[59:27] put into the ground?

[59:37] » They said they come back and do those few that were left, but other than that,

[59:41] I understood they were pretty much done. >> Okay. Well, if they're done, we're

[59:44] pulling our flags, but if they're not,

[59:52] I'm serious.

[59:58] » I I'll call.

[1:00:05] » All right. Do I have a motion to approve?

[1:00:14] » And do I have a second?

[1:00:19] Second. >> Okay.

[1:00:24] » Thank you. We'll move on to number seven. Discuss approved, disapprove,

[1:00:27] passage, and adoption of resolution 2026-06

[1:00:30] that allows for the collection of delinquent water rental, sewer rental,

[1:00:34] and use charges to be assessed against the real estate as a special assessment

[1:00:38] on the following property. Block 16, lot six, addition pal. Do I have a motion?

[1:00:45] Motion to approve 2026-06. >> I have a second.

[1:00:50] » Thank you Dean and from Dean. >> Yes.

[1:00:55] » Yes. >> Yes.

[1:00:57] » Thank you. Have a couple of these the same here. Eight. Discuss approved

[1:01:01] disapproved passage and adoption of resolution 2026-07

[1:01:05] that allows for the collection of delinquent water rental, sewer rental,

[1:01:08] and use charges to be assessed against the real estate as a special assessment

[1:01:12] on the following property. Block J. Lock 13 addition for spins. Do I have a

[1:01:18] motion? >> I move that we accept resolution number

[1:01:21] 2026-7. >> Prom. Do I have a second?

[1:01:25] » Second. >> Dean and roll call.

[1:01:28] » Yes. >> Dean.

[1:01:29] » Yes. >> Yes.

[1:01:31] » Thank you. Number nine. Discuss approved, disapproved, passage, and

[1:01:34] adoption of resolution 2026-09 that allows for the collection of

[1:01:39] delinquent water rental, sewer rental, and use charges to be assessed against

[1:01:43] the real estate as a special assessment on the following property. Block 21, lot

[1:01:48] 9, addition PTC second. Do I have a motion?

[1:01:55] » I'll make a motion to approve resolution 2026-09.

[1:02:00] » Thank you, Dean. Do I have a second? Gaston roll call.

[1:02:05] » Yes. >> Gaston.

[1:02:06] » Yes. >> Yes.

[1:02:08] » Thank you. Number 10. Discuss approved disapproved passage and adoption of

[1:02:12] resolution 2026-10 that allows for the collection of the

[1:02:15] delinquent water rental sewer rental and use charges to be assessed against the

[1:02:20] real estate as a special assessment on the following property. Block J, Lock

[1:02:24] 13, addition wristbins. Do I have a motion?

[1:02:29] » No, it's a different block. Oh, I'm sorry.

[1:02:39] » We'll have to say need some more specific.

[1:02:48] » Thank you for that that catch. It is

[1:02:58] 10.

[1:03:04] Yeah, it's a different >> 39. Okay.

[1:03:11] » So, it's still >> You want to

[1:03:13] » Yeah. >> Is it still

[1:03:17] a

[1:03:21] » I move that we a

[1:03:27] 26

[1:03:30] Block 39, block five and six and block 39 PTC fifth addition to the original

[1:03:36] propert. >> Thank you Dean and roll call.

[1:03:43] » Yes. >> Dean.

[1:03:44] » Yes. >> Yes. Thank you for the assistance there.

[1:03:48] All right. Number 12. Discuss. Approve. Disapproved. Request.

[1:03:55] » Oh, as amended. Okay. I'll make that motion as amended.

[1:03:59] » As amended. Okay.

[1:04:04] » I'll second it. >> Thank you.

[1:04:07] » Yes. >> Yes.

[1:04:13] » All right. I do two motions on that.

[1:04:22] » Resolution. >> Okay. Thank you for the question.

[1:04:27] » All right. Well, >> yes, thank you. Also, we would have got

[1:04:31] that. Um, we already completed number 11, so we will move down to 12 and under

[1:04:37] new business. Discuss, approve, disapprove the request for utility bill

[1:04:41] consolidation for the following locations, 412, 420, 424, and 428 on

[1:04:47] Second Street, which is also commonly known as the Arcade Building. A

[1:04:51] presentation by Patricia Province. I make a motion we approve the bill

[1:04:58] consolidation for the church provincial.

[1:05:27] So, um, this is just kind of a, um, a letter and I'm going to read part of it

[1:05:33] because I'm not a great public speaker, but anyway. So, yes, my husband and I

[1:05:37] own, um, what is known as the arcade building at, um, lots of 412, 420, 424,

[1:05:43] 428 on Second Street. since 2023.

[1:05:48] Um it's being been built um under one building um as a um we would like to

[1:05:55] resume that um it's been yes since the fall of 2023. So the arcade building

[1:06:01] encompasses 412 420 424 428 and is currently under active redevelopment as

[1:06:08] a single integrated commercial property. Since October 2023, the city has

[1:06:14] accommodated us consolidating building under one account during this renovation

[1:06:19] period. We appreciate this cooperation. At present, the building is has one

[1:06:24] active um water connection. It has one bathroom, one sink, and has very limited

[1:06:30] utility usage consistent with a construction and rehabilitation phase.

[1:06:35] The remaining spaces are not independently occupied service or

[1:06:38] capable of separate utility demand. Nor do we anticipate

[1:06:44] renting them out in in in that capacity book separately like it had been being

[1:06:49] done in the past. That's not our plan. So for these reasons, we respectfully

[1:06:55] request that the city continue consolidated utility billing under a

[1:06:59] single account reflecting the bu the building's

[1:07:03] concurrent use as one redevelopment project or in the alternative classified

[1:07:08] the building addresses as inactive or non-active service units during the

[1:07:13] renovation period with reduced or s or suspended base charges. This is grounded

[1:07:19] in the principle that the utility building should reasonably correspond to

[1:07:22] actual service delivery and with infrastructure use rather than

[1:07:27] historically addressing that which does not reflect current conditions. The

[1:07:32] request is granted. We evaluate formal. We're going to we're going to evaluate

[1:07:38] and look into formal formal process of basically consolidating the property

[1:07:43] into one um one address. Um so it's a long-term redevelopment plan which would

[1:07:52] further align the property with a single service unit. So we thank I thank you.

[1:07:56] We thank you for looking into this and considering

[1:08:03] » So you're That's the goal of the property in the long term is to have one

[1:08:06] address. >> Yes. And it's not we've never intended

[1:08:10] it to be, you know, as it was like a vet office, um, you know, commercial

[1:08:17] insurance, things like that. Our vision is that it will be one, it would be

[1:08:22] center, it' be a place of rest and restoration, however that healing

[1:08:25] center, whatever. Um, um, we have a lot of ideas. Um,

[1:08:33] a lot of work. The building was neglected for two years. Of course, um

[1:08:38] you know, that's our issue. Um we have um some re we have done reelectrical

[1:08:44] work. We have um that's mainly what we've done, but we

[1:08:49] have done a lot of demolition. Um the property needs a lot of work, but we

[1:08:54] have a vision and we're hoping that the city can continue to

[1:09:00] help us in that way. Keeping under one one usage.

[1:09:05] » So the county says that is different. >> Yeah. And and the starting process of

[1:09:10] that would would be with the county. Is there any reason why they could apply

[1:09:14] for that to be >> the 911?

[1:09:16] » Right. >> So is there

[1:09:20] » is there any way they could just apply for that now?

[1:09:23] » With the county and it's because once it's approved by the county it's

[1:09:26] recognized by the city. >> Yeah. Because what I'm thinking we're

[1:09:31] going to run issues with forgiveness with swan. Um

[1:09:38] I have a meeting later this week,

[1:09:43] » right? So once you get it rem

[1:09:48] one one building which I'm good with it makes kind of sense but you got to go

[1:09:55] through proper channels I' I'd be willing to do a continuence on

[1:10:01] on the agreement that we currently have >> pending

[1:10:14] two and a half years. >> Right. Right. So, I'm I'm willing to do

[1:10:18] that >> thinking that it gets, you know, it gets

[1:10:21] addressed within six months, a year. I don't we we should we really need to set

[1:10:25] down a set parameter on some of this stuff. These are going to be issues.

[1:10:29] » Well, right because we've already this is not this is a redo of what we've

[1:10:33] already set. We gave We gave two years and then didn't even even I know take it

[1:10:39] away until two and a half. So >> So we need we need to have this

[1:10:45] » but I guess

[1:10:51] I don't know about that.

[1:10:58] She is also 911.

[1:11:03] » She's called the office.

[1:11:07] » So she would

[1:11:11] officially recognized as one one back to one address is what you want.

[1:11:18] » Continuous up to a year. Maybe you should wait and

[1:11:22] see. Come back. a timeline.

[1:11:28] » I don't know how long.

[1:11:39] » Give us some time. We'll just continue. >> Well,

[1:11:43] » well, why would it be unreasonable to say six months?

[1:11:47] » Oh, to me, no.

[1:11:53] If there's a problem with six months, you can

[1:12:02] I'm good with it

[1:12:06] for six months

[1:12:11] that

[1:12:19] motion. >> Yeah.

[1:12:20] » Okay. Thank you. Second.

[1:12:28] » Oh, yeah. Roll.

[1:12:35] » 13. Discuss, approve, disapprove contracting with five rule. Oh, we're

[1:12:39] supposed to remove that, please. All right. 14. Discuss, approve,

[1:12:44] disapprove selling shares in principal financial group incorporated. Could you

[1:12:48] help us understand that, Terry? So, it's

[1:12:55] time a long time ago.

[1:13:02] before we move to. >> We had an insurance policy at some point

[1:13:08] that bought shares. We've been getting offers to buy those

[1:13:14] shares from that company and it's like $6,000

[1:13:20] and it's really something we should just my

[1:13:26] suggestion is that we just cash it in and put it towards you know I mean it's

[1:13:31] it's something that's been out there for years.

[1:13:37] » So is it interesting is it Yeah, it's drawing some interest.

[1:13:47] » I think so.

[1:13:51] » I read it as Pokemon, but it's not

[1:13:59] » there's not a ton of interest. Um, and we don't have a lot of information on

[1:14:04] it. Um, we often will get, you know, hey, you've earned $140 on it, that kind

[1:14:10] of thing. And then and then we've gotten this

[1:14:14] » I think they're tired of dealing with the paperwork of it, too. And of

[1:14:24] » put

[1:14:34] suggest you'll hear on the treasures report.

[1:14:40] » It could go to me personally, but

[1:14:45] » I suggest park fun.

[1:14:53] » I just >> that would be some labor.

[1:14:58] » I mean, I suppose if we could do what we would like with it, it's

[1:15:02] We've, as you'll hear in the treasur report, we've got the reallocation.

[1:15:08] You could ultimately split it into the funds that are, you know, and divy it up

[1:15:15] that way. That could be one way we do it with that

[1:15:22] cash flow.

[1:15:29] » Anyway, that's it's just this hanging out thing that just shows up once a

[1:15:34] year. And so instead of just take it, you guys should make that

[1:15:40] decision and decide if you want to just keep hanging out there.

[1:15:46] » I'm reading this right for >> it actually cover the first year of that

[1:15:52] program.

[1:15:57] » Our special meeting their annual cost is 6,500.

[1:16:03] So

[1:16:09] » that keeps

[1:16:12] in a hurry to figure out what's going on because they're only they're only

[1:16:16] offering two of what they're buying.

[1:16:21] We're getting priced two offers 500,000 shares. Their offer to

[1:16:27] purchase is 3,6004.

[1:16:31] That's the whole

[1:16:38] » shared

[1:16:56] time. >> How long has it been in it?

[1:17:02] Are you talking 10 years? You talking more than 10 years,

[1:17:10] » right?

[1:17:13] » That's I'm making things a lot harder than they are, but I just I'd like to

[1:17:16] have more information, I guess. So, I'm okay with it if we can figure out where

[1:17:20] we're going to put it. I don't I just don't

[1:17:23] » It's from 2012. >> It would it would pay the first year of

[1:17:27] the of the

[1:17:34] And if you remember, we had some

[1:17:39] great

[1:17:43] » I'm good with it. You can apply it to that if we decide to do that.

[1:17:52] » Okay. Do we have enough for a motion?

[1:18:05] that we that we go ahead and cash those in and use apply that if so

[1:18:13] for um the revitalization for the

[1:18:20] » vacancy >> vacancy.

[1:18:23] » Okay. And if that doesn't go through, >> if it doesn't go through,

[1:18:28] » then

[1:18:38] » All right. So, we have a motion to approve the selling of the chairs. Do I

[1:18:42] have a second?

[1:18:47] » Yes. >> Yes.

[1:18:52] » Number 15. Discuss, approve, disapprove the presented surplus list from the city

[1:18:59] departments.

[1:19:06] » I guess I would have questions at this stage of the game. So, we got the list.

[1:19:12] » Some of it can be taken to a

[1:19:17] place that'll buy it, that kind of thing. Others of it can

[1:19:24] stuff. How does this I don't know how

[1:19:29] that we have the list. >> We surplus it tonight and you decide how

[1:19:33] to sell it. >> I do.

[1:19:35] » Well, I need the $6,800. >> You can have you can have an auction

[1:19:42] junk if it's not worth anything. >> In the past, they've had

[1:19:49] options. You don't have enough You take bids, seal bids.

[1:19:56] » The county just did seal bids for like 10.

[1:20:01] » Well, I see. >> But you advertise for city hall. We have

[1:20:04] an old monitor that's broken and six old phones that are mostly broken.

[1:20:11] » Don't fight over it. That just needs to

[1:20:16] » now

[1:20:23] » the 12 gauge shotgun that we have to that has to be sold through

[1:20:29] an NFL. >> Yeah, that's

[1:20:31] » where do we get it? >> It's left over from the days when we had

[1:20:36] » the police department. >> Oh,

[1:20:38] » the sheriff's office was tired of storing it, so they allowed us to

[1:20:47] Correct. >> We don't we don't allow the ladies to to

[1:20:50] carry in the office. Although maybe they need to.

[1:20:54] » The first thing I do is do the surplus tonight and then sit down and figure out

[1:20:58] what if there's stuff that you want to sell, stuff that you want to dispose of,

[1:21:04] and then come back with the plan. >> So, this is this is just a general.

[1:21:08] You're just you're not necessarily approving things that are on the Tonight

[1:21:12] you're you're surplus and everything. >> So if there's something you don't want

[1:21:15] surplus, we need to remove it now. >> The helford

[1:21:22] can donate those. I think they museum already said she

[1:21:28] » Okay, that's already been addressed. Okay, perfect. That's

[1:21:33] » Oh, you do? Okay. >> So my question is I think the same

[1:21:40] question that the mayor has on the 60inch mowers.

[1:21:45] I'm not sure Kevin

[1:21:51] that we want to surplus them just yet. um for myriad reasons. One being um

[1:22:02] you're using one of them for parts right now. So, might have to use another parts

[1:22:08] just to keep the third one going. um

[1:22:13] what we talked about yesterday that those can be utilized for um um

[1:22:23] » property well not but >> yeah um so I I don't think that we

[1:22:31] should surplus the mowers just yet but um yeah I agree they Do weed

[1:22:42] trimmers work? Kevin, >> I'm sorry. What was the question?

[1:22:46] » The weed trimmers not. >> There's one that does not work.

[1:22:52] » There was like three of them. >> Yeah, there's

[1:22:57] brand new.

[1:23:02] » Piece of equipment that were bought that >> used. Wow.

[1:23:07] » And then there's the 16inch chainsaw. the steel handheld blower and then the

[1:23:13] Honda trimmer. >> So all that would be

[1:23:16] » I think I put on their functional or nonunctional or maybe I didn't

[1:23:22] » and the also um

[1:23:32] » I'm not sure that the dorm fridge be utilized at city hall.

[1:23:42] if we move them over they would like one.

[1:23:48] » So these are all pieces of equipment or items that I have no use for.

[1:23:53] » Sure. It's up to whoever decides

[1:24:22] it. Don't surplus it. Take it back.

[1:24:25] » I have a truck that I don't want.

[1:24:29] » I need a hedge trimmer in my office.

[1:24:49] » Actually, it was probably

[1:24:54] How do we acquire a dentist chair? >> It's one of those departments that got

[1:24:59] cut over time.

[1:25:03] » Well, I I'm okay with most of this other than than the yard works. I would like

[1:25:09] to address that a little bit.

[1:25:15] » There's no push. >> Yeah.

[1:25:18] » I would like to Sure.

[1:25:33] » So, we'll go ahead and take action. >> Suggestions on how to sell it.

[1:25:47] » Okay, we'll take no action on item 15 at least. Number 16, discuss approved,

[1:25:52] disapproved annual renewal of HAC service partnership.

[1:26:07] Why not? >> Can I ask what those abbreviations mean?

[1:26:14] » Hawk is the company that provides the equipment. And this equipment

[1:26:18] continuously monitors the disinfectant level in our water and also the

[1:26:23] turbidity meaning the cloudiness or particulate matter in the water. This

[1:26:29] contract is not just a service agreement. It's also an insurance

[1:26:34] policy. If we were to be maintaining this

[1:26:37] equipment ourselves, we would still once a year probably need to call a hawk

[1:26:42] technician to come out for about three or $4,000 to do firmware updates that we

[1:26:47] don't have access to do. The reagents and chemicals we need to do the

[1:26:54] calibrations run about $45,000 a year.

[1:27:00] and the extra equipment we would need to have on the shelf would probably hit us

[1:27:04] for another $16,000 just to have in case something breaks. Now, if something does

[1:27:11] go bad or breaks, our service contract will cover the replacement of these

[1:27:16] parts within 5 days. And if the technician makes a mistake

[1:27:22] and messes up that equipment, that equipment will be replaced for free that

[1:27:27] day off of his truck instead of if we happen to make a mistake that might hit

[1:27:33] us for $10 to $20,000 worth of uh very sensitive monitor.

[1:27:41] » We have been over these guys shoulders for two years. Um, we we are constantly

[1:27:48] learning and watching. We have a very good handle on how the equipment works.

[1:27:53] It's just there there's too many benefits to not going with these guys.

[1:27:58] Um, I know that we've brought this contract up a lot. We had a lot of

[1:28:02] different equipment that was bought in stages and then they all had service

[1:28:09] agreements that were in stages. This now kind of smooshes it all together and

[1:28:13] it'll be every April and it'll give us four visits on the four tubidity

[1:28:19] monitors that we have. It'll give us two visits on each of the controllers that

[1:28:25] monitor or the three three controllers. It'll be two visits a year for uh

[1:28:31] firmware updates and calibration. And then our uh disinfectant monitor

[1:28:37] will be serviced twice a year. um to include replacement of all the wear and

[1:28:43] tear parts on the interior. >> How long have you been using them

[1:28:46] » of these machines? These uh machines we have

[1:28:49] » no this company >> Oh, this company was in use before I

[1:28:52] started working here. >> We just entered into this contract one

[1:28:56] year ago. Has it not been budgeted in year?

[1:28:58] » It it is budgeted in for this year. Yes. >> So what we're considering for the total

[1:29:02] for this next year is $8,467. >> That would be from this year.

[1:29:07] » How would that compare to last year? Right. How would that compare to this

[1:29:10] last year? Is there a lot of change since we've since we've combined?

[1:29:14] » It's just one contract contract. It's actually come down a little bit because

[1:29:19] everything's consolidated. >> We're not sending guys out all the time.

[1:29:23] » Appreciate it. >> Absolutely.

[1:29:25] » Any other questions? >> I make a motion.

[1:29:30] I'll second. >> Thank you. From Dean

[1:29:34] from >> Yes.

[1:29:35] » Dean. Thank you. Number 17.

[1:29:39] disapprove the treasures report.

[1:29:44] » So I just got to on the first page of the

[1:29:49] treasur we've always put in this this little

[1:29:54] diagram that shows how much in the negative we were to water

[1:30:00] the amount as high as $246,000.

[1:30:06] If you look at Marches, you can see we've got everything allocated now and

[1:30:11] we are at 54642

[1:30:17] after reallocating three years on the insurance that and other things that

[1:30:22] were not split out to the different departments.

[1:30:26] General was caring everything. Now we actually it makes sense now. I

[1:30:32] mean we were struggling to try to understand how just keeps going bad at

[1:30:38] the end. That was a big problem. >> You'd be excited to have a negative

[1:30:42] 54,000. But good job. >> Way to go.

[1:30:46] » I know. >> I know it's not zero, but it feels like

[1:30:51] zero.

[1:30:54] » Thank you for that that effort. >> And Jane was a big part of helping us

[1:31:00] find all of that because we just kept why and when we finally saw what had had

[1:31:08] happened and was uncovering it then we were able to fix it all and make

[1:31:13] adjustments. Now there is something which the um adjusting journal entries

[1:31:20] that we've been doing with the auditor. We still got a couple that we're still

[1:31:25] trying to get on the second page. I pointed this out before that there's a

[1:31:29] couple differences there that kind of midweight on the page. And when that

[1:31:34] shows on your report, it says there's something wrong. The bank totals don't

[1:31:38] equal to your general ledger totals. We were at 68

[1:31:44] 4014 wherever. And as we've been fixing the

[1:31:49] journal to entries, we're almost got that fixed and cleaned up so that it'll

[1:31:53] be a clean slate. Matching numbers with the auditor, matching numbers over

[1:32:01] it's definitely a lot of progress.

[1:32:07] » Congratulations.

[1:32:11] » What a difference. >> It don't mean we got flesh money, but it

[1:32:15] means Real numbers. Real numbers means we can make do with the money we have.

[1:32:25] » Well, thank you. That's that's that's taken a lot of hard work. We appreciate

[1:32:28] all that you guys have put through and investigative

[1:32:31] » time that it takes to track that all down and to redistribute another.

[1:32:40] Well, as long as those auditors don't steal you guys away.

[1:32:45] That's not going to happen. I have a motion to approve the treasures report.

[1:32:49] » I'll make a motion to approve the treasures.

[1:32:52] » Have a second. >> Second roll call.

[1:32:56] » Yes. >> Motion to approve. Sorry. Move to 18.

[1:33:00] Approve bills and claims requisition orders and transfers. Do I have a

[1:33:03] motion? >> Motion.

[1:33:07] » I have a second. Roll call. Ron.

[1:33:12] » Yes. >> Motion for

[1:33:16] » Dean second

[1:33:22] for

[1:33:29] » Thank you so much. >> Yes.

[1:33:39] We're just

[1:33:50] okay.

2026-0414 City Council and Special Hearing Meeting

Transcript