Council Summaries - Jan. 2 and 16, 2024

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 on Tuesday, Feb. 6. 

Summary for Crete City Council regular meeting - Tuesday, Jan. 16
View this Meeting Agenda and attachments

The council approved the Consent Agenda items:

• Minutes of the following meetings: City Council Jan. 2, Public Works Committee Jan. 2
• Treasurer’s Report 
• Payment of claims against the City
  • Approve Invoices No. 378566-378567 for legal services provided by Cline Williams in the amount of $1,398.00. 
• Approve Ethan Cornish, Shane Parker, and Hayden Peterson as new volunteer members of the Fire Department. 
• Approve to apply for the Tree City USA designation.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Contractor Agreement with Jerry Wilcox.

• City Administrator Tom Ourada explained this agreement with retired City Clerk Treasurer Jerry Wilcox. There were some subjects he did not get to finish staff training on and several other things staff may rely on him for further clarification. There is an end date on this agreement.
• Kyle Frans, Council Member Ward 3, said the committee reviewed and took note of the limited number of hours specified and recognized the amount of city knowledge Jerry has that may be needed in certain areas.

The Council voted 5-0 (Papik abstained) to approve payment of claims to Crete Ace Hardware in the amount of $973.68.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Amendment to the Sick Leave Policy. Ourada said this asked for simple updates to the policy and to change language referring to the City Clerk’s Office as the Human Resources Office and the fact that leave requests are now made online.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Lease Renewal Agreement from ALLO Crete, LLC. Ourada explained ALLO is currently occupying some property jointly with the city and the city agreed that to help facilitate their continued work the lease should be renewed.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Amendment to the Application For Special Exception Permit SEP23-01 from Tillman Infrastructures for a Telecommunications tower. Ourada clarified this item was acted on a year ago with the application for a 180-foot tower; they meant to ask for a 195-foot tower. The city sought clarification on the crumple zone and the Public Works Committee recommended to amend the application for the originally intended 195-foot tower.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Airport CIP Data Sheets. Ourada said these are Capital Improvement Project data sheets due to the Department of Aeronautics at end of the month. The Airport Advisory Board and Public Works Committee reviewed them and recommended them for approval.

Petition - Communication - Citizen Concern:

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:
  • this is generally a quiet time after the holidays, though there were several cars stolen in Crete this weekend, but also in Beatrice and Wymore; the department is working this with those agencies to pool resources; one was warming up with the keys in it, the other left open and unattended; one vehicle was located in Crete, the other on I-80 near Waverly;
  • we have new people starting Wednesday and next week;
• Tod Allan, Fire Chief:
  • reported on the year end call totals - 908 calls, including almost 600 911 calls and 300 transfers;
  • introduced new department members: Hayden Peterson - an EMT associate member, out of Lincoln and SCC; Ethan Cornish - local member who will start EMT classes on Jan. 22; Shane Parker, a DeWitt native, who now lives in Crete;
  • Mayor Dave Bauer extended a welcome too all new members saying they’ll learn a lot from the department as well as make their own contributions.
• Liz Cody, Parks and Recreation Director, reported the city was approached by a  UNL professor who would like to create a community forestry tool kit and have students learn about forestry and Crete; this project could also help state forestry personnel create a community tree inventory in Crete and work with local arboretums and ‘Tree City’ program campuses.
• Savannah Anderson - HR coordinator, introduced the new facilities janitor, Maria Arias, who started about a week ago; Arias thanked the city for the opportunity and said she is very happy to be here.
• Dale Strehle, Council Member Ward 2,  said the city has done a very good job with snow removal and coordinating services throughout all departments, offices, police and fire personnel, as well as Public Works; he said it’s not perfect, but it never is, and appreciates all the hard work.
• Dan Papik, Council Member Ward 1, echoed the snow situation comments, saying a lot of work goes into those situations city-wide.
• Anthony Fitzgerald, Council Member Ward 1, commented on a recent work-related trip he took to an area of central Nebraska where he sat in on county commissioners meetings; he said he appreciates how well we communicate as a team in Crete, compared to groups he witnessed elsewhere; he complimented the professionalism here and said people deserve some kudos.
• Tom Ourada, City Administrator:
  • a lot of people were involved in snow removal as it was an all hands on deck situation; crews and equipment were running 24 hours a day, in 12-hour shifts, until work was done; every piece of equipment was running continuously;
  • the city received a Thriving Community Grant notice of finalist awarded to only 45-60 entities in the nation; the grant the city applied for makes other grant writing professionals available to help write more grants; 
  • received information about rural community economics department students who would like to come to Crete and work on an economic review of the city and how we do what we do; we are also interested in what the students know and what we can learn from them; this will be a semester-long project;
  • the Crete High School Grassroots Leadership student organization met with three city officials last Monday on city functions and we shared upcoming projects; they are extremely excited with the property purchase to the south of town for a sports complex; there were a lot of conversations at the school over what the future looks like; this group meets with a number of city leaders each year.
  • we have proposals with Confluence and JEO on park planning and will be back with the committee and council next month;
  • we don’t know what the end of January looks like yet, but Utilities may not do disconnects for non-payment; it wouldn’t be very conducive to the community to do that; the city does have a disconnect policy, however, we can probably waive that through the end of the month due to extreme cold temperatures in the forecast;
• Mayor Dave Bauer said city crews did a great job with snow removal and this may be the first year to see downtown be as clean as it has been after an event like this - sidewalks were cleaned into the street and snow moved away; this is not just the street department, but all departments helping out. 

Meeting adjourned.

Summary for Crete City Council regular meeting - Tuesday, Jan. 2
View this Meeting Agenda and attachments

Council Members Dale Strehle and Kyle Frans were absent.

The council approved the Consent Agenda items:

• Minutes of the following meetings: City Council Dec. 19, Finance Committee Dec. 19, Legislative and Economic Development Committee Dec. 19, Parks and Recreation Committee Dec. 19, Personnel Committee Dec. 19, Public Works Committee Dec. 19
• Treasurer’s Report
• Payment of claims against the City 
• Approve the Border States Vista Underground Switchgear.

The Council voted 4-0 to approve the Crete Carrier Room Grant Application from the Asian Community and Cultural Center to hold an orientation for citizenship classes on Saturday, January 6th from 5-7pm.

• City Administrator Tom Ourada said this application was originally for use of the community room multiple times per week for several months. They talked to the applicant sponsor about pairing it down because this would not allow the city to use the room for upcoming events, including the comprehensive plan project. This group will use it for the initial, large meeting, but not for smaller citizenship classes. Community Assistance Director Marilyn Schacht is the sponsoring staff member.

The Council Consider 35 miles per hour speed limit on South Arizona.

• Dan Papik, Council Member Ward 1, said the Public Works Committee held discussion on this item and recommended the change.
• Mayor Dave Bauer explained the majority of Arizona Ave is a county road and the county requested this for the city portion and will change their portion to 35 mph as well.

Agenda Attachment: Charter Communications, upcoming changes, starting January 30, 2024.

Petition - Communication - Citizen Concern:

• David Cooper, 125 Grove, Crete, said he has lived in his house for 6-7 years and was told land across from his house was a park. Recently a hole was dug there and the Building Inspector came and saw it. Today a semi brought in rock for a drive to the site where work is being done.
• Building Inspector Brad Bailey said the rock went down for access to the property adjacent to park space where new owners are digging the foundation for a house they will move in; the property will have a driveway from Grove. They dug the foundation without a permit, but they have a permit now. Part of his issuing a final occupancy, once the project is complete, is making sure the rock on city right-of-way is put in properly, etc.
• Ourada said they rocked on city right-of-way where Grove ends in that block and when complete, the city will maintain it.
• Mayor Bauer said this is a situation where there are empty lots in town and owners are trying to find ways to fill them with new housing; it’s a change for your neighborhood that you guys haven’t seen in a while.

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:
  • staff will be launching the Library of Things before next council meeting and she shared the items that will soon be available to borrow, including a small spot carpet cleaner, ice cream machine, telescope, and roaster oven;
    • items will have a 7-day checkout, and borrowers must be a Crete library card holder for at least 6 months prior and sign a waiver; staff are working on return instructions, accessories, and damage and replacement policy; it is an arduous process;
    • the survey for items to include in this project brought 100 respondents;
    • the city bought several items, one item was donated, the telescope is through the NASA at My Library Program, and the Friends of the Crete Public Library funded others;
• Tom Ourada, City Administrator:
  • the sales tax for the general fund is down 0.9% for October, reported in December. We had a sales tax refund for $9,840, he mentioned the state doesn’t tell the city who it was or what it was for; the budget still looks on track and sales tax is about where it was last year;
  • an update on meter reading with challenging properties included one owner who came in recently inquiring about the process to move their meters; they thought it was a great deal, showing this change in policy is working as intended;
  • the recent snowstorm was a non-event for city crews and a good opportunity for some newer public works staff to work through it without having to be in a crisis or emergency mode;
  • the Street Department was able to replace an operator with an experienced street operator from Lincoln, who will start the third week in January;
  • two new police officers were hired - one will start this month and the other will come in as a code enforcement officer before they go to the academy; learning about the job until they go to the academy; one is bilingual and one returns to the department after working for an area law enforcement agency; both are current Crete residents;
• Mayor Dave Bauer said he hoped everyone had a good new year and he looks forward to a good 2024; things are looking good as we get into the year.

Meeting adjourned.