City Council - Regular Meeting

Mr. Mayor, make motion to approve the consent calendar. Second, we have a motion and second. Is there any discussion? Yes. Um I know there's a gentleman here from you synopsis. Sure. Yeah. State your name and address, please.

I'm Parker Wix. I'm the vice president of marketing. West Highway Administration Rocky Mountain Region office in Colorado at 555 Crossroad Boulevard, Colorado. Um, yeah. So, this the uh agreement amendment is to change the point of delivery. Main reason for the amendments to change the point of delivery for the city of Alliance is lap area projects power allocation. the area projects delivered to three Nebraska cities, city of Julesburg, Alliance, and Chapel that are all on directly off of WA transmission line with the only customers in the eastern extension that are delivered off of the WA transmission line. And traditionally these these have been served city of Alliance served through a displacement agreement. Um due to the fact that the delivery from the resources western intersection eastern interation passed across the city which has traditionally been uh somewhat unreliable. So the amendment here updates the the exhibits point of delivery to reflect it's not the city of Alliance substation. Uh it will be in the the western interconnection at a point of delivery that we determines. So that's what we've been doing historically. It just matches that paper trail up to match that what's actually happening. Um, in terms of contract changes for the city, the contract remains in the the city's all the rights and responsibilities that the city had remain the same. Nothing changes there. Just simply point with the amendment. There are a couple

other things that have been changed that administratively updated its general power contract provisions. Those are new GPCs are included in that amendment as well as a provision uh to one of our equal employment provisions to be in current law. That's all that's also had a question for Ros. We're replacing a 2004 model. Correct. Correct. Um how many did we this process we didn't come in about $25,000 determines in this market what it's going to be. So we guess

in all of our current service agreement. So we don't usually purchase a service agreement. So the manufactured agreement is what we stick with. We don't buy an extended warranty. So usually it's a one year power you know full powertrain and the only service agreements we really take advantage of are length of equipment because there's so much harder to work on because so on like this other than factory

yes unless it's something outside of before they send anything else. I will comment we are accepting um Jay Wise purpose resignation from the council. I want to thank Jay for his service to the council. He stepped at a time when we had uh someone leave town and we had a vacancy and I think he did a very nice job. His were always the best for the city of Alliance while he was on the council. So, I want give my my thanks to Jay for his service to the council and to the city. There's other discussion. Will clerk, please call.

Councilman Yates, yes. Councilman, yes. Vice Mayor Masher, yes. And Mayor McGee,

yes. The next item on tonight's agenda is ordinance number 3006, school zone speed restrictions, chapter 26 through 52 title school zones, second reading. Ordinance number 30006 of the four city council on second reading which will approve and amend city of alliance municipal code section 26-52 titled school zones. The amendments will allow for speed limits within all school zones which 15 miles hour between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and school is in session with the exception of school zones on BU Avenue and East 10th Street which shall be 20 miles hour between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. in session. Staff is requesting the third and final way. Mr. Mayor,

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to approve the res. Second. We have a motion and a second. Mr. Mayor, I move that the statuto rules requiring reading of ordinance number 30006 on three different dates be suspended. Second. Okay. Moved and seconded that the statuto rules require reading on three different dates be suspended. Any discussion? Please call the Vice Mayor Mashford. Yes. Councilman Yates, yes. Councilman Turman, yes. And Mayor McGee,

yes. Four votes in favor of the motion have been received. That being more than 34 of the council present. The motion has declared pass. The council now has ordinance number 306, which is final. Is there any discussion? Did you have questions that I weren't able to answer? Yeah, feel free to Yeah, this is this is the right time.

Just give your name. Okay. Um on the uh I I was I was on the agenda here like like a year ago and how I wanted to talk about stuff about the stroll homes and stuff like that, but then they said that there was a guy that was taking care of it, but nothing got changed and the deal with u my my biggest deal was like the Lutheran school on 10th Street there. Uh I today I actually followed the truck. They're hauling bean something out there by the railroad but they're going down that you know I mean 35 m an hour down that street. It's a 20 mile hour and this is semis that are doing this and it doesn't seem like we can get it under control. Uh they they used to go out like like a patrol car on on side of the road. They didn't do much. They didn't issue any tickets. They did turn over. Uh they told her one lady that was taking her kids to school. She was you know but uh I mean I think they could sit where that sit. I could sit right there on the parking lot of rec center and they would have to sit on the side of the road to park there any need to try to divorce it but it's one of the worst things I ever seen in my life. The other thing that that I wanted to bring up too was the uh people don't

seem to know where the school starts and stops. I mean, you got your sign, but at the other end, if you if you put like an in school zone on the back side of that, then everybody would know, okay, I'm supposed to go all this way. But they don't know because they're they can't see the sign this way. So, that would tell them, okay, you're supposed to go 20 mph up to that's about all I talk about. Uh signs out there aren't very very well done. They when they when they put them up, they put a amber light on the top and they change batteries out once a year or something like that, but it's not very long. I don't know. I I I see on some of the other where they have the solar charging deal, you know, they have like yellow lights throughout your little devices or whatever, you know, and I like to see something like that looked at for that area because of the fact there's so much that kids there. And like I say, the guy that you have running this, he didn't realize that They actually put it in the paper. The reason they extended that the reach on that zone covered the Rex. That's because at that time we do not have the sidewalk. Now we have that sidewalk. I don't know if they want to shorten that up now or leave it the same. I I think it's fine like it is, but I think we need to put a little more interest in two scient

out of town this week, but I think these are legitimate questions to ask. Maybe we can improve the signings there and um you know maybe some targeted enforcement in that area just to remind people. I know we put up this is your speed type sign but maybe remind people what we can do. Any other discussion on that please call a roll. Council German. Yes. Vice Mayor Masher. Yes. Councilman Yates. Yes. and Mayor McGee. Yes. Yes.

The passage and ordinance of ordinance number 306 306 having been concurred by majority of all members elected to the council and declared pass adopted and ordered published. That's all right.

Next item on the agenda is ordinance number 30007. Bicycle electric bicycles electric scooters bikes and golf cart operations and regulations on first reading. which will approve and amend the city of Alliance's municipal code section 26 through 1-161 through 26-166 regarding bicycles, electric bicycles, electric scooters, minibikes, and golf cart operations and regulations. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to approve ordinance 30007. We have a motion to second. Is there any discussion? I

um this section 266 some of the language in there could do some cleaning up first line bikes, go-karts, riding lawnmowers, garden tractors and snowmobiles and all off road design vehicles shall not be operated on any street or in the city. We need to get rid of all vehicles. We already can't disallow it. We can take it out. I think that just refer back to the other ordinance which allows those other one riding lawnmowers. I do know there's some high school ambitious high school people that mow lawn from time to time. So I don't know job.

So that's not by state law anyway. But yeah, so we can take it out of the ordinance and still be legal under state law. I think you don't think the intent is down. Any other discussion on the ordinance

other than defining you know what bicycle mini bikes electric bikes what they are what is the intent or how are we able to enforce this or take care of any issues that is currently on bikes I mean it iss also parents responsibility to make sure that they are being respectful and know proper.

Yeah, I think it 263 164 165 prohibit them Chief work with you on this,

right? Because I know these things could enforce. So this mirrors what's already in state law. I mean the I think the police department and the rise of elected rights has been fairly recent anticipated in our current so I think we're just trying to bring it up to it more like reading through all the definition

any questions from your audience. Yeah.

Uh 33 for I'm an avid bike rider. We ride all over. We ride a lot of trails outside of Alliance as well. So I'm pretty familiar with some of the different classes of e bikes. And so I When I read through a lot of this, I was hoping for some verbiage on the classes of ebikes because there are some big differences when you go to the bigger classes of ebikes that are not pedal assist bikes. So, I'm seeing some nodding of heads that you understand that because that's when you get into some more dangers and like the path that we have here that we can ride on is clearly not big enough for some of the bigger class bikes. So, I was hoping that we would see some of that into this um policy that they're putting in place here. So that that would allow for some more, you know, guidance within the city because some of those bikes just are not, you know, what we have available for in our small area town. Some of those bikes are more geared for, you know, trail riding and h riding where there's not a lot of pedestrians. when you're coming up on a pedest and you don't have a pedal assist those bikes can go over 25 miles an hour somebody just got in Colorado so I mean that's some safety issues that I would so I would maybe if there's more research that work or something there's even some signings on trail if you've ever done that trail about the class of bikes that are allowed on that trail that are noted That would be nice if we had some of that here on our trees just so that they're aware that on this we have a lot of

So the definition refers to output of less than 3 horsepower. Do you think that would just addresses that pedals for propulsion biking power and maximum electric motor 750 watts.

There's a Yeah, there's a different way that they're classified. Maybe we can do a little research in that class because you can still have pedal assist, but then you can still have throttle where you can still not pedal and run throttle. But again, they're based on that wattage of how much they're going to put out and how fast they can go. So I think we need to do a little more look at that to define what do we want to allow on our path here because it's not very big right you know when we when we write our rights to clear out maybe art we go out there it's a little bit different but we want to in town and kind of what are those rules what are the rules we try to site but I didn't see any verbage in here for how do we alert people when we're riding our bikes we require them to have some type of bell system or an alert system you know what are we going to require them to do I think that's something that should be put in there too. We have bells on ours. We always ring the bell. We always tell them on the right there's two riders, you know, something like that. I think that's just some kids just don't know that if you're on a scooter, they need to have something like that, too. A lot of them have that probably sometimes. The other thing that I um had a question about was on the golf and I don't know if there's more to this um policy that you guys and this is an amendment to it. My question about this was that we have a UTV uh code in place, right? And there's restrictions where those UT go. This doesn't seem to have any restrictions as far as 18 street box and on the third street. It does stay on a high but we already have a problem keeping off of Box View and Third Street. So, we're going to allow golf carts to be on Box View because that's not written anymore.

If it doesn't say they can't be on box, then we would allow I know, but don't you think that's going to be confusing? We're going to allow golf, then we're going to allow that to be any class of driver over 16 years of age with passengers, but we're not going to allow to do that. So, to me, this seems a little confusing. Just a good Thank you.

Um, so I want your guidance on what you want. Um, I I kind of get the impression that we want UTV rules and golf rules to be comparable as far [Music] similar. And then you want to restrict mics. They don't need mics. Let's let's see if we can find out this whether this classification would be a easier way to identify what's allowed and what's not allowed. You're referring to so state statute has three different types of classification. These are just generally I guess I don't know about the ones that are that are not pedal power. Um but I guess question would be where do you want to restrict them from you want us restrict I I think the point was that the different classes refer to how much power they have and how fast they could go and maybe that's a simpler way to identify whether your ebike is allowed under this or not allowed trail.

Yeah. I mean I think you want to on the street versus you want to dis I don't want to disow so because we got the bicycle path on 10th street people ride bik the city park system you want to dislo certain classes in certain areas let's research what those other classes are and see if they because you got in um that designed a speed no more than 28 miles per hour on level ground and not exceeding 750 watts of power. There may be a class that you can refer to that says this classified fits under that is that Mrs. Sicy. Is that kind of what you're saying?

Exactly. But when you're looking at the trail, that's where that differentiation is not a lot, but they could be allowed on the street.

Yeah. And the walking path has more pedestrian traffic. So it's riskier to have a fast moving ebike walking path versus um what I was going to ask was this is all really confusing with all of this. I was wondering if you can make a plain English just what the rules are for all of these things, the ATVs, the golf carts, the bikes, the mini bikes, all I think it would be real helpful to people if they knew what the rules were for each different thing research This one [Music] else [Music] I guess my question is on the mini bikes. The only thing I could find is that driver. They have to be 16 to drive a motorized vehicle.

I guess so. And anybody under I can't remember what the age they changed it, but now you know anybody under 16 I believe they have a lot of these kids. So if you're going to let it go, if it's motorized, then all the ones I've seen don't have brake lights or anything like that. Okay. So you the the ordinance says that mini bikes will not be allowed. Oh, okay.

And on sidewalks. That's 26-16. There's a lot here. It's kind of like what was saying? Um, we can get you a copy of the orbits. Yeah, absolutely.

That way I do. We have copies, Seth, and did we were they with the packets or just ages? They're reviewing all right. So I drive around town a lot just as part of my green effort. Something smaller doesn't use much much emissions. I think if we're going to address the issue, the biggest problem I have is traveling down Third Street. I mean, there's no way to access cars. A lot of businesses are out of town without driving street. Uh, I know the ordinance says something about it being an off-road status, but the one that I have been upgraded as far as all that kind of stuff to make it pretty much similar to a car. The third street is a high.

Well, this doesn't know, but I think And we are talking about this ordinance right now. It's not about UTV or so. So um we'd have to address that separately. So to answer your question, I don't know like for golf for example, I know that's separate, but you can't golf state. I don't know if that'll research that.

Yeah, this is why we did three rec ordinances. I remember. Yeah, it may have to do with the the state rules on state highways because you know you've got two state highways street and then highway 385. We may hands may tight research that I'm having a little trouble. I'm having a little bit of trouble here.

Well, bikes. No,

right. refers to gas.

Yeah, it does. It prohibits that does not have those. Anybody else? Hearing no other discussion will please call the vote. Councilman Yates. Yes. Councilman German. Yes. Vice Mayor Masher. Yes. And Mayor McGee.

Yes. Next item item on agenda agenda is table resolution number 25-117 which is a microchip application for 424 Missouri Avenue. Right before I I get into this I just want to give a real quick um explanation what the microchiff does. So first of all the the property has to be in a glided and substandard area of town. Second it has to be at least 60 years old. The property has to be at least 60 years old to qualify for this expedited tiff application process. The finished value of a property can't exceed $350,000. So, got all those things right. So, let's take an example. If you have a a house that you want to remodel and the current assessed value is $100,000 and after you get done you think it's going to increase the value by $30,000. The difference between the difference in tax between 100,000 and 130,000 is the incre the tax increment. So the tax on that 30,000 can go to repay the developer of that property for part of the cost to develop it. So on a $30,000 tax increase, the additional tax would be about $500 a year on that 30,000 $30,000. And that's all taxes unless schools, county, city, that's all taxes about $500 a year. And the developer can collect that for up to 15 years. So $500 a year. 15 years. It can help defay the cost of

development by about $7,500. So that's what the tiff does. So it probably cost a lot more to improve the value from 100,000 to 130,000 but that developer and it's an incentive to get people to improve their properties because once that 15 years is up everybody starts collecting the higher tax the higher tax amount that the improved value is has gained. So I hope that kind of gives a whole explanation of how that t that micro tiff works. So with that can I add something as well as you may I think it's going forward the city does not have a pot of tip money the tip is all generated from the property owner paying their taxes then it's part of them that 75 $500 a year the regular taxes that they pay from the base from the base value that goes to all the tax the additional tax isn't for back to the property owner through the city but that the city It doesn't ever have that money other than they collect it for the county pay. The city doesn't have tip money that it's choosing. Yes, the higher tax amount is being paid by the property owner. It just part of that gets funneled back to re repay or reimburse him or her for that development cost. Thank you for coming back. That's really important. Additional taxes being paid by the property owner. Okay. So, resolution 25-17 will approve the plan and project for Wildflower Haven LLC at 424 Mississippi Avenue, which has been determined that the plan meets the requirements of section 18-2155 subar 2 of the community development law and is consistent with the city's comprehensive plan. Um, I will point out

that Mr. Gates that is associated with Wildflower Haven and so he will be abstaining from the discussion and the vote on the next two uh tip applications. Um is there anyone here to speak in favor of the application? No, no, he just and he has signed a conflict of interest statement. Okay. Anybody any any other discussion on it council? I make a motion to approve resolution number 25- 2017.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Is there any other discussion? Councilman German. Yes. Vice Mayor Mashford. Yes. Councilman Yates and Mayor McGee. Yes.

The next item on the res tonight's agenda is resolution table item resolution number 25118 micro tip application for 507 Avenue. Resolution number 25118 which will approve the plan and project for Wildflower Haven LLC of 507 Palooa Avenue which has been determined that the plan meets the requirement of section 18-21552 of the community development law and is consistent with the city's comprehensive plan. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve resolution number 25-18 or 118.

Second. We have a motion, a second. Is there any discussion? And please call. Vice Mayor Mash. Yes. Councilman Yates. Councilman Chairman. Yes. And Mayor McGee.

Yes. Next item on the agenda is tabled item resolution number 25-119 micro application for 820 Missouri Avenue which will approve the plan and project for Christina and Scott Scott Yates at 820 Missouri Avenue which has been determined that the plan meets the requirements of section 18-211 excuse me 2155 paragraph 2 of the community development law and is consistent with the city's comprehensive Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to approve resolution 25-119. Second. We have a motion in a second. Is there any discussion?

Uh there is Mr. Yates has a conflict of interest on this item. Please follow. Councilman Yates. Councilman Turman. Yes. Vice Mayor Masher. Yes. And Mayor McGee.

Yes. Next item is resolution number 25-130. Resolution 25-130 will formally accept the resignation of city manager Sorenson for the final employment date of October 31st, 2025. Make a motion to approve resolution number 25-130. We have a motion and second. Is there any discussion? I just want to say um that it is with regret that we accept that your resignation, Seth. I feel that you have been an asset to the city since you came here. I've seen the progress in the city having sat on the council the whole time that you've been here and I just want to thank you for the services you've given and you have already begun helping us with the transition plan for replacing you and I appreciate all the help that you're providing that that done a lot of work to get this city to where it is unfortunate user.

Councilman German. Yes. Vice Mayor Masher. Yes. With regret. Councilman Yates. Yes. And Mayor McGee. Yes. Next item on the agenda, resolution number 25-131, Alliance Police Department fee schedule increase. Resolution number 25-131 will accept and approve the amended fees to the Alliance Police Department fee schedule. Make a motion to approve resolution 425131.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on the proposed schedule?

I had reached out to um Tony to shelter. Unfortunately, she didn't get back to me, but I wanted to read this in because my question was, you know, when was the last time we updated our fees? What is the purpose for it? um how will these improve updated fees improve our shelters and um chief love it sent this in a text email that I'd like to read. Um the fees haven't been increased in almost 20 years. This is just an attempt to try to recover some of our costs, especially for things like animal control where expenses like veterinary costs and food have increased dramatically. Even with these increases, we are still lower than comparable cities that I checked. And I think that is part of the reason and I know that people have abused also our keeping the dogs at our shelters. It's a lot cheaper than going to a vet and having them aborted there. And so I do believe that this is the right, you know, decision for to help owners maintain their animals and keep them where they belong and also to provide, you know, the services, veterinary services of food. You know, some is donated but not all of it. So we'd like to continue the service to our community. I do believe this is required. And I know that nobody likes increases, but I think a fee adjustment and even if it hasn't been 20 and it's only been 10 years, I still think that's an acceptable amount for 10 years with the increases and everything else. So, I just want to agree that my opinion on it.

Any other discussion? Please call the role. Vice Mayor Mashford. Yes. Councilman Yates. Yes. Councilman Turban. Yes. And Mayor Bi. Yes.

Uh, next item is a discussion item. L city council will discuss a potential referendum on the property tax request for resolution number which was resolution number 25-12.4 and the 2025 2026 budget ordinance which was ordinance number 3003 and authorized the city attorney to seek a declaratory judgment on behalf of the city to determine whether the resolution and ordinance are subject to represent. So just give those in the audience u a little update. We have received uh from a citizen a potential petition for a referendum on the property tax increase and um we have referred that to Mr. Selzer, our attorney for review and at this point I will ask you to explain.

Yeah. So the the process is obviously citizens are are entitled to petition which includes gathering signatures to repeal certain actions by the council. Um the process is is and so but there's things that are exempt from that stat pretty clear that tax a resolution for major related to a document proposed budget statement is not subject to referendum but so there's checks and balances of how to determine that the city can't just tell people no they can't reference so the city allows referative forward as far as getting signatures but uh the declaratory judgments, but you must be soft from the court for the court to say, "No, that's not subject to." And so, and I can only assume so not so not to tie up the courts that can't be filed until the petition is actually handed in signatures. And so, but once that's done, we'll need to file that declaratory judgement to get the judges determination on that fairly quickly. And so, I would just ask that the council they that we authorize that to authorize that third equipment if time comes. Can we do that in advance to say if we receive that? That's what I would ask. So maybe put that on to the next council meeting.

I would have it right now. I thought it was just a discussion. No, it says and authoriz city attorney. Okay. All right. Just want to make sure. All right. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion that we authorize the city attorney to seek a declar city to determine whether or not the resolution and ordinance are subject to referendum. Second.

There's a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Are there any questions about this? Karen Trussell 117 Avenue Alliance. I want to speak tonight about the proposal to have the city attorneys seek that judgment regarding the recent um property tax increase. As a citizen and taxpayer, I'm deeply concerned that the city is considering using public funds to pursue legal action against the citizens right to a referendum. The Nebraska Constitution guarantees the people the power of referendum. The right to vote on legislature decisions that significantly affect our community and our pocketbook. A 10% property tax increase is not a minor administrative adjustment. It's a major policy decision that impacts homeowners, renters, service seniors on income and families already struggling to make ends meet. Decisions like this should not be shielded from public input, they should welcome it. The fact that we are even discussing a referendum shows the level of frustration among citizens who feel their voices are not being heard. While I understand that a referendum can be costly, the greater cost comes from a continued pattern of overspending and from leaders who move forward without truly listening to the people they represent. At some point, taxfires have to stand up and say enough. By moving toward or forward with a declaratory judgment, the city brisk sending the message that citizen votes don't matter, that we aren't trusted to vote on our own tax burden. I urge the council to respect the people's right to petition and to let this pro process move forward lawfully without interference or intimidation. Please allow the citizens

of alliance an opportunity to exercise our constitutional rights to referendum and decide the issue at the ballot box where it belongs. Thank you. Any other discussion?

So if this goes to the voters that even though the state law says that it's not cons should not be considered. So then we're paying for the election for something that's going to be essentially voided because I'm not I'm not

okay. So the the the first part of the process to get the necessary signatures to have the declaratory judgement before the election. So we file that to get a determination of whether it's subject to referendum or law and then if we got a favorable decision for the for the city then the then there would be no election. If the judge decides against it then there would be an election. So that's where that's where it's decided before the actual election happens. So we're not stopping from as a matter of fact they have to gather signatures.

Yeah, the the gathering of signatures all it's just a part of the process where it's determining whether it's so that it's subject to law meaning that they can repeal that can be repealed. So if the judge determines the the judiciary decides that this does not meet requirement, there is no point to proceed further. That's what Okay. But it's not actually stopping the citizens from seeking one. Correct.

It would be the judge deciding whether there is basis for it. It might No. No. Okay. Well, whether the judge decides whether it's subject so the referendum is the process for a referendum and at the end of it says these certain decisions by a public body are not subject to referendum and one of them is okay so the budget already says it's not subject the statute I'm paraphring sorry I'm parap but yeah that says these actions are not

so we're not stopping anybody from doing anything you'll see and we're is asking a judge to make a decision prior to an election to either save value or favorable if we go forward or not. And then we'll either spend or save money on the election cost that go. Yeah, I guess save.

Well, not spend the money because if the judge says you can't or no, then obviously we're not going to spend the money for election. Sure. But if he says yes, even though the executive already says is qualified, then we're going to spend that money for it. The judge will interpret the statute until that's what I want. Anything else? Council Yates. Yes. Councilman German. Yes. Vice Mayor Master. Yes. and Mayor McGee.

Yes. Um, last item on the agenda is a discussion item. Uh, we'll discuss dur staff on how to proceed with filling the upcoming vacancy city manager position. So, um, as I mentioned earlier, Miss Shortson has provided us kind of a set of notes on different aspects of what the search would require. It would be including the actual search for a new city manager and also what we do in the interim. What do we do um to keep the the government moving forward, the city government moving forward um after October 31st and uh assess last day. So I'd like to take this in two steps. Let's talk first of all um about what council uh would like to do in terms of uh securing a new city manager and the options would be we uh do this internally was city staff um doing the public publications and and request for applications and monitoring the process or uh what has been done in the past. I know Mike was coming on the council. We were in uh searching for a new city manager. We use the recruiting firm to try and uh to to do that work for us. So those are two there's also hybrid um method where we can have a consultant kind of monitor the process. We use city staff and consultant to kind of monitor it. So I'm just hoping that discussion

I think it's something The council take her time out. Personally, I think using any outside firm that has experience and has the connections to reach cannabis that would be qualified proper way forward. I prefer a hybrid that will stay involved. We're not city. We still would under present the applications to us and then we'll do the help then determine who the beyond that if we were able to put an outside it's also a wonderful training opportunity for HR department that would be a way keep an eye on the process overall quality control I think I do believe we need resource but how searches um they're critically important for our success. So that was just my

website but also giving us opportunity to train existing staff experience.

I my own personal thing because it works so well. I think in the last effort and I I can't speak to previous efforts. I know the city's been through this quite a bit in the last 15 20 years, but I I would um lean towards hiring an outside company just because they have the knowledge of who might be looking for who might be open to an opportunity is in the right area. Maybe they've reached out and this my experience kind of comes from when I was at the bank and we have recruiters who say well I got to keep it going offer you kind of like to get into your area openings you know so working with an outside firm you're going to get access to that that we won't get if we just put an ad in say the statewide newspaper or that type of thing. So they just have the ability to reach out much further. Seth remind me Seth came from Texas when we hired him. One of the applicants that we interviewed one of the finals was from Alaska. So they they have considerable reach and getting hold of people that are looking for opportunities in certain areas. I also think we accept even if it's not someone wants to put in an application by all means that we get through the process.

Can I direct staff then to bring to us maybe two proposals or an executive search fun at the next council meeting. cost timeline that satisfactory second question I think also is uh what we doing again will be here till the end of October so it's not a immediate need but something we need to address probably by the next council meeting and again we have options. One option would be to use uh somebody currently on staff. Um we did that before, right before Seth was hired, we had a couple of uh department heads step up and they kind of took over some of the decision- making process until the city manager was was on board. Uh we can also there's inter city managers that you can hire for criteria period of time uh to get you over that as well. So I just open that up. I think it would terrible idea for us to not consider an internship skills knowing that it is a interim position. I also understand that they may not be qualified on paper, but we are asking them to step up in a position that they may not be fully qualified for, but I believe that I'm speaking for myself

trying not step outside looking at one of the proposals about four times. [Music] I don't think the person referred to I don't think in the health historic I'm going to expect the process to take a minimum of three months and up to five months by the time we public, you know, publish it, get applications in and review the applications for interviews. Um, and if they're already employed, they might have to give anywhere from a two week to four week position, which would slow down things. So, we're looking at probably three to five months. Don't you think it sounds good? I guess my concern or my my thought process about getting in situations I've been around where you have peers and elevated position

if we give temporary title.

I agree that department head should be first, but I'm also not going to force them to take it because doing two jobs at once. So, I'm not going to force my department heads to move into something that they don't want, but we will definitely reach out and ask them, seek their input if that's something that they're interested in, willing to do. And if not then I think it would go to an external candidate

knowing that the the strain that the departments are under council be okay with me working over the next couple weeks and bring a proposal to the next council meeting

for an inter together we're going to try and come up with a proposal. Anything else on that?

Yeah. Just had a quick question in regards to his contract. Did he show it's the contract's not on the agenda? No, no, no. The contract's not on the agenda. It's in regards to finding a new person. I have to refer to it.

So the um the NCMA and the League of Nebraska miscluded municipalities will be transferring over to the new and following. Correct. I don't think it would follow. No, because um

well I I know the um League of Nebraska municipalities is actually for the uh citizens and um the department, but I just want to make sure it was clarified in the contract. Yeah. Did you ever Okay. He hasn't even joined it. Okay. leaving besides announce that Mr. Do you want to announce why you're leaving?

Fair enough. Fair enough. Hey, that was my question regards to that those dues would stay with the city. They're paid by the city.

Yes, sir. Hello, I'm Fergus 230 drive. Um, I'm not saying to do this, I'm just saying it would be an option. I don't know. That's why I was bringing it up. But there's a lot of cities, I mean, not a lot. There's some cities that do not have city managers. They the department heads answer to or discuss with the mayor and they just don't have a city manager at all. They do have more of a workload. They do have, you know, budgets, everything else. There's a lot of tasks and the mayor is a elected official that way and it's not doing a good job for it. Not saying just do it just look discuss.

I'll just point out Alliance is a city manager form of government. So we we don't elect a mayor. We we elect a council and the council hires a city. So that's one. Sure. Yeah. Just to clarify, I think he was that would it be possible legally to change our styles of government?

Yeah, I suppose. Yeah, I think I mean we changed to a city management at some point. Any other discussion on this side? Okay. hearing.