City Council - Regular Meeting

In this meeting of the Chatham City Council of Order, would you please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, As required by section 84-1412 subsection A's in Nebraska statutes, notice is hereby given that a copy of the Opens Meeting Act is posted for your examination on the wall inside the door to the city council chambers. We'll welcome our one guest tonight except for city staff. Could we have a roll call please?

George Klein?

Here.

Shane Shepherd?

Here.

Mark Graves? Here. Kevin Alexi?

Here.

Clay Anderson?

Here. Could we have a motion for approval of the agenda, please? I'll make a motion to approve the agenda.

I'll second that.

Motion by Clay, seconded by Shane to approve the agenda. Could we have a roll call, please?

Alexi?

Yes.

Anderson?

Yes.

Klein?

Yes. Shepard? Yes.

Graves? Yes.

I move to approve this consent agenda.

I'll second that.

Motion by Shane, seconded by Mark, which is to approve the consent agenda. which includes minutes for the city council meeting held August 17th. There's correspondence from Gail Kittel, 9-11 supervisor. The item is presented to the council for informational purposes. In accordance with the city's new procurement procedure, Gale obtained five quotes for the replacement of 911 dispatch furniture. After reviewing the quotes, Gale recommends proceeding with Zybex systems at a cost of $57,791.68. The project is budgeted at $60,000, and the budget So if you read that letter, which I assume you all should have, I can find it. Letter of recommendation for 9-11 desk furniture. And he further states that in the event that this option cannot be filled, he would recommend option one from Zybex for $53,177.93, which is a smaller version of the option two without dispatcher comfort equipment. Other items. Minutes from the problem resolution team meeting that were held July 22nd. Special designated licenses that were administratively approved. Wilds Bar and Grill for the CSC Rodeo at the Dawes County Fairgrounds on September 11th. Favorite bar for a writing reception at the Dawes County Fairgrounds on September 19th. And that is all. Any questions about the consent agenda?

Just a note. I noticed for the dispatch furniture, the same company was $10,000 more last year, and they were over budget. So this year they were under budget on both option one and two. So that's nice to see.

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Very good. Okay, could we have a roll call, please?

Oleksiy? Yes. Anderson?

Yes.

Klein?

Yes.

Shepherd? Yes. Grace? Yes.

Item B on the agenda. I'll introduce it. No, you don't do that. Ordinance number, passage of ordinance number 1450 is up for its third and final reading. Ordinance number 1450 is before the council for its third and final reading. Please read ordinance number 1450 by title.

An ordinance to establish the amount of certain fees and taxes charged by the city of Chatham for various services, including but not limited to building and use, zoning, library, occupation licensing and pet licensing, water, sewer, and drainage systems and facilities of the city for residential users and commercial users, including industrial users of the city of Chatham for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. to provide for the repeal of conflicting ordinances, providing for publication of this ordinance in pamphlet form, and to provide for an effective date.

I move that ordinance number 1450 be approved on its third and final reading.

I second the motion.

Motion by Mark, seconded by Kevin. Is there any discussion? We've been kind of over this information. The only thing I had was the water.

I saw that it had gone up just a little bit. It was in red.

Not the water. Sewer. Sewer.

Oh, wastewater.

Yes, wastewater. Water stayed the same.

Which is, we were alternating, but if I remember correctly, this is the second year in a row that we're raising the sewer.

It says water and wastewater are both in red.

Sure enough.

Because I thought, like George said, I thought it alternated.

It did, and it's only the water or wastewater side on it based off of the recommendation from the auditors in which they said that we needed to get more caught up on the wastewater. That's why we decided to do it with wastewater again.

I think your computer interjected color.

Yeah, I don't know. It says 12% to 14% of gross underwater. Oh, that's for the franchise fee.

Oh, okay. Yeah, that's part of the franchise fees, guys.

Yes, this is franchise fees right there. Yeah, okay. Yep.

Which means water staying the same, but the city for the general administration is taking more of it, so the water department will actually end up with less.

That is correct.

So turn your spigot on and let it run. Better yet, water your yard instead of just letting it run down the sewer.

That would be a good choice.

You're still going to pay for it.

There is one other thing that I don't remember seeing before. Plumber drain layer surety bond, maybe it was there, but I.

It's always been there, but we've never had it in the fee ordinance, if that's not correct, Janet. But we put it in there, so it was more transparency for our public to understand.

It's in the municipal code.

I assume this is a commercial bond and not a cash bond.

You're correct.

Any other questions about any of the changes? If not, could we have roll call on the motion to approve ordinance number 1450 on its third and final reading?

Alexi?

Yes.

Anderson?

Yes.

Klein?

Yes.

Shepherd? Yes. Grace? Yes.

Ordinance number 1450 is hereby passed and adopted on its third and final reading.

Okay, item C on your agenda. I'll introduce resolution 2026-77 and move for its approval.

I'll second.

Motion by Clay, seconded by Kevin, I believe, to approve for Resolution 2026-77, which is to establish the following funds for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. Anyone have any questions about any of the funds? Accounting joke was when somebody talked about funds and someone didn't hear them correctly and they thought it was fun accounting instead of fun accounting. If there are no questions, can we have a roll call, please?

Alexi?

Yes.

Anderson?

Yes.

Fine?

Yes.

Shepard? Yes. Graves?

Yes.

Item D on the agenda. I'll introduce resolution 2026-78, move for its approval.

I'll second.

Motion by Shane, second by Kevin for resolution number 2026-78, which is to improve an increase in the Nebraska Public Power District lease payment from 13.5% to 14% effective January 1st, 2027. And this 14% is the maximum that we can go to, And it's on your MPPD bill, and so the users pay for it.

Anyone have any questions about it? It's currently at 13.5%. Yeah. Okay.

If there are no questions. Probably affects, since I have an all electric home, probably affects me more than the average Joe. If there's such thing as an average Joe. So could we have a roll call, please?

Alexi?

Yes.

Anderson?

No.

Klein?

Yes.

Shepherd?

Yes.

Graves? Yes.

Okay, item E on the agenda.

I'll introduce resolution 2026-79 before its approval.

I'll second that.

Motion by Shane, second by Mark for Resolution 2026-79, which is to amend the salary scale for fiscal year 2026-2027 under the agreement between the Fraternal Order of Police, Northern Panhandle Lodge number 69 and the City of Chadron for the period of October 1st, 2025 through September 30th, 2027. Chief, would you care to come up and tell us something about this?

Absolutely. Mayor, City Council, good evening. Rick Hickstein, representing the Shettering Police Department, 125 Main Street. This agreement between the FOP, which I want to make very clear I am not part of. I'm not part of their bargaining unit, nor am I allowed to be part of their bargaining unit. I actually am with the city working with Tom on this, the city manager, but I can tell you Officer Dynas would have been here tonight. He's on an assault investigation right now and is unable to make it. Otherwise, he would have been at this meeting. We worked hard on this for numerous months with the FOP bargaining unit and the city bargaining unit. to come to a mutual agreement, which I believe the city and the officers are both happy with. It's my understanding from the FOP members, they voted in favor of this with a majority. I believe on the city side, this matches midpoint in our array of studies. Is that correct, Mr. Manager?

Yes.

Okay. So I think this is amenable to both sides. I think it works well for both parties.

Now, I'm the only one with a hard copy, and I got a new hard copy, and the only thing that was changed was the correction of the year. Or is that right?

That is correct. It's only a one-year agreement. And on the resolution, it does say from the period of October 1st, 2025, it should be 2026 through September 30th of 2027.

Well, the reason it says that's the title of the agreement.

Okay.

So that's why.

Yep. This is a one-year agreement, is basically this. For the salary. For the salary part.

Going into next year, we will be beginning the process. In the next couple months, actually reviewing the entire contract. Every article within it will be reviewed and negotiated back out with the bargaining unit.

Okay. Any other questions for? Chief Hickstein, if not career roll call, please.

Oh, Lexi.

Yes.

Anderson.

Yes.

Klein.

Yes.

Shepherd. Yes. Grace. Yes.

Okay. Item F on the agenda.

I'll move to, uh, introduce the resolution 2026 dash 80 and move for its adoption.

I'll second.

motion by shane second by kevin for resolution 2026-80 to just to adopt the fiscal year 2026-2027 salary scale Last meeting, we had a brief discussion about it with no action taken, and this is to formalize that.

And then the additional of the sergeant and police officer and the communication service officer was not part of that initially. We were still in negotiations at that time, and that's why we delayed it. But the rest of the information was what was presented once before.

Any discussion about any of the minimums, midpoints, maximums?

So are we keeping up with most of the state?

Well, we don't have to keep up with most of the state. What we have to do is keep up with nine of our sister cities that match us up as close as possible on this. We are lagging in a few spots, and otherwise we're at midpoint or less is what I'm going to tell the council. I know I've had several discussions with my staff and such as to when and where we should start getting this back more into a line. This is something that's been working on for three years, and I still don't have a good grasp of everything that we need to do for something like this. It's a very difficult situation when we start looking at what the other cities are doing for their comparability. And due to the state statute of 48.818, we're still required to make sure that we're following that based on those information. We are within the parameters of it. but it is something that we are lacking in and it is something that we will be working more diligently on, I'm hoping, this next 12 months to see if we can rectify more of it.

I would caution that about trying to get too much ahead of the game. I see these rates and I compare it to what I have invested in what I can earn. And I think the world is turned upside down from the time that I graduated from college. But I guess it's my own fault for choosing a direction in life.

Well, it looked like the pay increase or the increase was about 2% on a lot of these, which is fairly nominal.

That was on a lot of them as far as some of those things. And it is one of those things that we're trying to keep our salary scale. This is a hiring scale. for us. And so when we looked at how we're doing for our personnel themselves, we looked at a little bit of different criteria for some of that stuff so that they'd have a little bit more of those that are excelling to try to reward those a little bit. It's not a lot, but it is something. But it's still one of those things that we struggle with as a city.

Any other questions, comments? Could we have a roll call, please?

Alexi?

Yes.

Anderson?

Yes.

Klein?

Yes.

Shepard?

Yes.

Grace? Yes.

Item G on the agenda. I'll introduce Resolution 2026-81 and move for its approval.

I'll second that.

Motion by Shane, second by Mark for resolution 2026-81, which is to approve an additional 1% increase in the city restricted funds authority for fiscal year 2026-2027.

I didn't know what that was. There may be some people that could explain that.

If you work through, and Michelle, if you want to go to the podium and chime in or something, but included in the budgeting process using the forms from the state auditor, there's one page that says you get a certain percentage increase for inflation, and then if the council wants to vote and gets an 80% or 75% positive vote, you can add an additional 1% to those restricted funds. And the restricted funds is probably best defined as your general operating funds, but or the total amount that you budgeted, but you get to subtract things for like debt service from it so that you don't go over on the restricted funds. And unless you've worked through the forms, it's somewhat hard to fathom.

Kind of like tax returns. If you don't work through the form, you don't really know.

No. The note on here states this increases the cushion for the lid of that. So it's not necessarily increasing that fund. It can have 1% more in it if that revenue is there. Am I correct on that?

I'm going to say yes and no. Because the way it was explained to me was just a little bit different on that. But it's one of those things that allows us to have that capability of having that additional. It is something that the city's always recommended doing, and that's what the auditors suggest to do, and that's what our attorney, Adam Edmond, suggested that we would do as well. So that if we have the capability of doing those things, now's the time to do it. Not saying that we're raising anything, It is just saying so that we have the capability of having that additional.

I think that sums it up.

Basically, what I see is it's not that you're going to use those additional funds, but you have the option. It opens up the door.

It opens it up.

Any other questions? If not, could we have a roll call, please?

Alexi?

Yes.

Anderson?

Yes.

Klein?

Yes.

Shepard?

Yes.

Graves? Yes.

Item H on the agenda.

I'll introduce Resolution 2026-82 and move for its approval.

I'll second.

Motion by Clay, seconded by Kevin for resolution 2026-82, which is to approve the annual certification of program compliance to the Nebraska Board of Public Roads classifications and standards. I believe that probably pretty well self-explained in your... information that it's an annual certification that we have to do with the Board of Public Roads classifications and standards and that we will comply with the statutes that are applicable in this maintaining our streets and roads in the city.

Something that comes up every year. Correct.

So any other questions? If not, could we have roll call, please?

Alexi? Yes. Anderson?

Yes.

Klein?

Yes. Shepard? Yes.

Graves? Yes.

Okay, item I on the agenda. I'll introduce resolution 2026-83 and move for its approval.

I'll second that.

Motion by Shane, seconded by Mark for resolution 2026-83, which is to approve change order number one to infinity constructioning for the East Sixth Street Cedar Street to Spruce Street improvement project. And the actual total in the Total change order has decreased by $1,052.50. And Janet?

So this is just an actual decrease in quantities. Not a lot, but a little bit. So I guess we're gonna have to get used to MC Schaff is gonna do a change order every time the quantities change. Dave Coe didn't do that. He just would change the quantities and it just shook out on the pay estimate. But MC Schaff & Associates does a change order every time the quantities don't match the original quantities on the bid document. So that's what we have here is just the quantities changed marginally and we're going to save $1,000. in the total of the bid.

I looked at the change order breakdown and it seemed kind of strange to me that we needed virtually 25% more of the crushed rock base cores. which is the increase of $6,375, but all the other things went down, including the sodding and stuff.

So when they were doing their fine grading, needed a little more rock to get it to the right elevation for the concrete. I'd rather pay for the rock than the concrete. So that's where that was. And if you remember, everything's estimates anyway when they're first doing it.

So if we hadn't had those decreases in those other things, we would have been looking at a marginal increase.

Yes, it's true.

But we're only paying for what was used.

We only pay for what is used, correct.

Boy, it's sure a nice street.

It's a wonderful street.

Like the nicest street in town.

One of the nicest, you're absolutely correct. Did they find anything underneath that was concerning, that was causing?

No. When I had them over-escavate that corner there at Spruce, where Spruce actually hit 6th Street, because it was really spongy there, when they actually took the... the street off and they excavated down about four feet and there was nothing there. So it was just sprinkler systems that had gotten down into the, well sprinkler systems, the little bit of moisture that we'd had that had gotten underneath the surface of the street. But no, they investigated it for me.

By sprinkler systems adjoining

Property owners had links in their system No, or just when you when you water your lawn and you over spray into the curb and gutter Now Janet maybe the council would also like to know if

why the waves in the street was there before? Was that because of lack of base before?

Yes. That street, when they pulled it up, there was no sub-base at all. And there were portions of that street that was only two inches thick. And it wasn't continuously two inches thick. It was just in certain areas. So over time and with the heat and traffic pushes and that's how you have the waviness of the street so and garbage trucks and garbage trucks and cement trucks anything that that explains some of the things that we're seeing in other areas of the town is what we're starting to suspect into yeah our streets are overloaded for the way they were originally constructed in a lot of areas

Okay. Any other questions? If not, could we have a roll call, please?

Alexi?

Yes.

Anderson?

Yes.

Klein?

Yes. Pepper? Yes.

Braves?

Yes.

Okay. Item J on the agenda.

I'll introduce Resolution 2026-84 and move for its approval.

I'll second. motion by mark second by clay for resolution 2026-84 to approve contractors application for payment number two final to infinity construction inc for these six streets cedar street to spruce street improvement project.

Okay, so this reflects that $1,052.50 change order that you just approved. So we owe the contractor $162,240.35. As we just discussed, very, very nice street. So I would recommend we pay Infinity Construction what we owe them.

And this is the final, correct?

And this is the final.

Any questions?

When you say David Coe would just apply that to the final?

Yeah, he would just figure out the quantities and adjust the numbers, and he wouldn't do a change order.

Is there... Is there a reason you see?

Is there a right or wrong formal or that's just how the engineers will usually allow up to 25% difference in the quantities before they actually will have to do a change order. MC shaft just does it for clean accounting, I would say. I don't think there's a right or wrong. It's just that we were used to the way Dave did it, and now MC Schaff has done this, I think this is the third time, so this is what we're gonna see.

I don't mind it. I kinda like it having its own item if it's not necessarily.

Well, the first time it happened, I was on board for it because it was definitely a change to the contract because it was something that we didn't have in the contract. The second time it happened, it was just changed in quantities, and I'm going, Why? But now we've got another change in the quantities, and that's just the way it's going to be. Our next one is going to be a change in the quantities also, and it's going to be a negative change in the quantities on 4th Street. So we've already got that for your next agenda.

But just as a note that for one block, $285,000. Yes. Nice street. Nice street.

Nice street. $285,000.

OK.

But it's not asphalt, so we don't have that much maintenance. Thank you.

Thank you, Janet.

OK. Could we have a roll call, please?

Alexi?

Yes.

Anderson?

Yes.

Klein?

Yes.

Shepard? Yes. Graves? Yes.

Item K on the agenda.

I'll introduce Resolution 2026-85 and move for its approval.

I'll second that.

Motion by Kevin, seconded by Mark. Resolution 2026-85, which is to approve to write off an outstanding utility account. Total amount of the bill is in the amount of $60.58, which does include some penalty. of $16.50, so the actual write-off of actually what we billed for usage, which might not even been usage, because it was probably vacant at the time, but those are the minimum charges. So anyone have any questions? Normally, I believe in the closing process, we like to be asked by the title company if there's anything out there, but I assume this slipped through the cracks. I don't know. Yeah.

Lori does a good job trying to keep track of all those things, but this one did slip through the cracks on it. And the auditors do suggest that we clean this up on a regular basis as opposed to allowing it to compound.

Okay. Any other questions on it? If not, could we have a roll call, please?

Alexi?

Yes.

Anderson?

Yes.

Klein? Yes. Shepard? Yes. Grace? Yes.

Okay, item L on the agenda.

Someone can introduce, L. Oh, yeah, I'll, Introduce the ordinance 1552 or 1452.

Ordinance number 1452 has been introduced. Please read ordinance number 1452 by title.

An ordinance enacting a code of ordinances for the city of Shatter, Nebraska, revising, amending, restating, codifying, and compiling certain existing general ordinances of the political subdivision dealing with subjects embraced in such code of or ordinances providing for publication of this ordinance and pamphlet form and to provide for an effective date.

I move that the statutory rules in regard to the passage and adoption of the ordinance number 1452 be suspended so that ordinance number 1452 might be introduced and approved and passed at the same time meeting.

I second the motion.

Motion by Shane, seconded by Kevin. to suspend the rules and adopted the ordinance in one reading. Is there any discussion?

mayor if i might um i would like to just let the council know the amount of time and effort that katie in particular was along with several of the staff members here spent numerous hours getting this prepared and process done this has been something that's been needed to be done for numerous years and katie just took this project by the horns and and really went after it and got it done in a relatively short period of time. Uh, considering that it was a little over 14 months, maybe, uh, with process being all completed on this process. Um, she did have help from a lot of the other staff members here at the city hall. Uh, but, uh, Katie was the one that spearheaded this project and it's much needed and much appreciated as far as keeping things clean for what we have.

Thank you, Katie.

And the reason that we want to suspend the rules and approve it at the same meeting?

We've got our books. Everything's done. So if we approve it at this meeting, then we can go ahead with the book and use those rules.

Okay. Everyone here, Katie? Yep. Okay. Okay. And could we have roll call on the suspension of the rules?

Alexi?

Yes.

Anderson?

Yes.

Klein?

Yes.

Shepherd? Yes. Graves? Yes.

I declare that the statutory rules in regard to the passage and adoption of ordinance number 1452 be suspended so that ordinance number 1452 may be approved and passed at the same meeting.

I move for final passage of ordinance number 1452.

I'll second the motion.

Motion by Clay, seconded by Kevin. Is there any discussion for the final passage of ordinance number 1452? There appears to be none. Ordinance number 1452 has been read by title and moved for passage. The question is, shall ordinance number 1452 of the City of Chatham, Nebraska finally pass? Could we have a roll call, please?

Alexi?

Yes.

Anderson?

Yes.

Klein?

Yes. Shepherd? Yes.

Graves? Yes.

Ordinance number 1452 is hereby passed and adopted. Awesome. Okay, discussions. Motion to schedule a special meeting. The city is looking to hold a special meeting to hold a hearing for the tax levy, approve the levy, and approve the budget. As discussed in the agenda meeting, it was recommended to hold the special meeting after the joint public meeting, which is currently scheduled for September 23rd at 6.05 p.m. That would mean if the special meeting, the joint public meeting takes a half hour, then that will be held at, I believe, the school?

Yes, the school auditorium.

The school auditorium, and then we would meet here. After that's adjourned, come back here and have our special meeting.

And at that time, we would do the final budget approval, the mill levy, and the three things.

We'd do the hearing for the levy. Oh, yes.

There you go. Thank you.

That would be the 23rd.

Yeah, it's a Wednesday.

Tom, is there anybody else on that meeting on the 23rd?

What I've heard so far is Crawford Public Schools were on the fence the last I heard. Katie, did you have anything else from them yet?

I haven't seen anything, no.

Dawes County and the City of Crawford is the two. Two that are for sure.

Do we know what order?

That'll be set by the Dawes County County Clerk, Casey Klein.

So is everybody in agreement that after that's over, about 10 minutes later, we meet down here?

Yeah.

And if it takes you 11, we won't start without you.

The one thing the council, I may or may not be able to get a person to help us record it that night. I was hoping that... If I can't get a staff member to be here at that night because of the unknown times and because of the lateness of the meeting, that we may not record that one. Or we might just record it, but not have. Is that what I heard earlier? I don't know. Kelsey, is that correct? Well, we might be able to still record it. Never mind what I was saying. I thought you were talking about not having it recorded. So we will get it recorded then.

OK. So I think we probably need a motion to have that meeting on September 23. Can we word it 10 minutes after the joint public meeting is adjourned?

Yeah, I asked Adam about this. I do have to have a time put into the notice. Approximately. Or as soon thereafter the meeting. Okay.

It would probably be at least, it would certainly be no earlier than 6.30. Okay. I would think. can we say our meeting was over that are ten minutes after that's adjourned whichever is later what if it goes past 630 well whichever is later so what if it's still later like if it's 640 in the meetings still going at the high school well yeah our meeting would start at the early race at 630 and or 10 minutes after that's adjourned, whichever is later. So if that meeting lasted five minutes, we've got out of there I guess 615 we won't start until 630 but if it lasts until seven o'clock we would start this at 710.

Because the way I have it worded now is I've got like a time in there, and then I just said or as soon thereafter the joint meeting, if that works.

That sounds about the same, yeah.

So are you making that motion, Mayor, or asking for it?

I would make that motion. I'll second. Okay. Can I have a roll call, please?

Who seconded that one?

I did. All right. I write a motion and second a motion.

I would just like to add one thing to it. This is what's going to be happening from now on, too, as far as for the council to understand this is going to be normal procedure going moving forward after this year with the new legislation being passed so that that's regardless of percentage increase that is correct that is correct we will have an additional meeting on top of our workshops and our other meetings that we have that we go through already legislators feel it's necessary to have an additional meeting

Okay, so ready for roll call. Roll call, please.

Alexi?

Yes.

Anderson?

Yes.

Klein?

Yes. Shepard? Yes.

Grace?

Yes.

And we already set up the special meeting to approve claims on September 30th, and that is at, what did we say, 430? 430.

Four four was it four I think it's four four o'clock.

Okay Okay Claims I would make a motion to approve the claims on the first documents, which totals up on our corrected information to $1,153,228.29. I'll second that. Motion by me, second by Shane. Discussion on them. We talked about the codification. The bill in total is $3,013. But 450 of that is a charge for web hosting. The charge there to Butler Ag Equipment, from that Butler Ag Equipment, says it repairs the tractor. Looking at the invoice, it appears that most of the work was done on the mower. But there was a repair to the tractor, which I thought somewhat amusing, but not really. The transmission and hydraulic oil was overfilled, so we had to drain it out, and I don't know, you know, how that happened. There were two people, as they were down two quarts, two people dumped two quarts each in it.

don't have a good answer.

Yeah, yeah. Then Chadron Lumber Company, rebar for First Street. And I probably should know this. $1,648.58 worth of rebar. Where were we building something?

It was in an alley that was taking care of a manhole sinkage that's over in that area that they had to do an approach on it. But that's not just the rebar. There was also some wood that they needed and some... Yeah, a little bit.

But the majority of the bill was... Rebar.

Yes, everything that we do around the manholes anymore, we rebar, we reinforce it all the way around it. Okay. Try to help it, and then we pin it back to the street itself to help it from floating on us again.

And then the intralinks, $7,475, and about $4,127 of that was for two computers and the associated information, and those were for the, I think both of them were for the police department.

Something that was budgeted.

I had one quick question. On the JEO consulting, the water tank warranty work, is that just for the work they did to put that out for bids?

Yes, so far.

Okay. It wasn't for any tank work?

No, the work hasn't been done yet, but that is for the process of getting us going through the whole thing again and for them to reach out to the previous contractors to see if there's anything that could be helped or rectified, which they are still...

Which is the reason you stuck in the word warranty. Yep. Yep. Okay.

Trying, but it's not looking promising.

What do you mean by that?

The warranty expired, but it was relatively soon after it. But they said they'd be more than happy to come back out and work on it some more.

It just won't be warranty work. Okay.

Any other questions about this claims list? If not, could we have roll call, please?

Olexi? Yes. Anderson?

Yes.

Klein?

Yes.

Shepard? Yes. Graves?

Yes.

Okay.

I'd like to make a motion for approval of the claim from Pine Ridge Tree Service in the amount of $425, which is related to removal of the tree for alley repairs. I'll second that. Motion by me, seconded by Shane. Any discussion of the claim?

This particular tree was causing some upheaving of some of our concrete alleys, and that's why we ended up removing it.

Nice. No other questions. Could we have a roll call, please?

Alexi? Yes. Anderson?

Yes.

Applying?

Yes.

Shepherd? Yes. Graves?

Abstain.

Okay. Don't need a resolution to excuse any of the council members. Public comment, anyone wishing to address the council on a matter not on this agenda may now do so. Individuals are allowed a total of three minutes to speak. There are no takers. City Manager report.

I have nothing for tonight, Mayor. Thank you.

Oh, golly. Council closing comments. We'll start with Kevin.

I don't have much this evening. Just a quick comment. more than thrilled to see the sidewalks going in towards the west end of town. I have spoken to a lot of folks that work at McDonald's, Taco John's, Big Bats, other businesses that way, and I'm just getting overwhelming thumbs up. People are really happy to see those sidewalks going in. It's not a ton of people I see walking along the highway that is 3rd Street and 4th Street over there when it makes the curve. But I think that is a big improvement for people that work and shop over that way and may not have... a car and maybe aren't taking city transit or depending on what time they're going that way but um it has been uh interesting to see how they're pulling all that out but I'm glad to see the concrete going in and those sidewalks um in place that's all I got in that regard and I know this is out order but does anyone know that when the contractor levels out

you know you have your street and you have the new sidewalk and then you have this grassy area are they going to take away some of that dirt so that it can be mowed easier and not leave that hanging edge that anybody is afraid to ruin their mower on or and if they're on a riding mower does not get in other words remove that excess dirt so that the dirt will be level with the sidewalk, including in the wintertime when... You mean are they in the back slope, that?

I don't know. I'm waiting for them to back slope by the cemetery. I don't know.

That's what you call that? Back sloping, okay. That's pretty steep by the cemetery, too.

We'll see.

Hey, sorry, Clay. That's all right. Yeah, it is nice to see the sidewalks going up, and it's nice to see progress being made on those apartments over on Maple Street. I see they've got the third story up now. Part of it.

The exterior wall.

Yeah. It's nice seeing the progress being made every time I go to Walmart. Couple notes. We got the Vietnam traveling wall in Crawford this week. They got here today. I encourage everybody to go and see it. If you know anybody that might have no other people that have names on the wall there, you know, try and get with them. Have them show you the names or anything like that. And then thank George for doing the whole agreement with the National Guard on Thursday. It's good to have the National Guard as long as they're not being deployed to unconstitutional conflicts or playing mall cop for parades instead of helping fight fires that are devastating the state. That's all I've got.

Okay, thanks Clay. Well, this past Wednesday and Thursday, the City of Chadron welcomed the Adjutant General of Nebraska, Major General Craig Strong, Lieutenant Governor Joe Kelly, State Senator Tonya Storer, and members of the Nebraska Military Department to Chadron. The group participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Dawes County Courthouse to honor and remember veterans both past and present. In the afternoon of September 3rd, there was a signing ceremony at the Chadron Readiness Center, otherwise known as the National Guard Armory. The signing ceremony was for a community partnership between the Nebraska Military Department and the City of Chadron. The purpose of the partnership is to better support service members, veterans, and members of the community, while also enhancing emergency response capabilities to ensure the safety of all residents. I want to mention that there is still time to see the Spark exhibit at the Dawes County Historical Museum. It highlights small town innovative successes. And as Clay mentioned, the Traveling Vietnam Wall in Crawford, I urge everyone to make a trip to Crawford and view the wall. And also to participate in the activities that are planned. And of course this week, this Friday, the 25th anniversary of September 11th. So you can observe that and Thursday evening at the Dawes County Courthouse, there was a program, Faith, Family, and Freedom, from 5.30 to 7.30, which I think would be important to view or to participate in if you have the time available. That's all I have.

I'd just like to, I don't have a whole lot to say tonight, but I know I just want to say thanks for Katie and the entire staff for rewriting the ordinance. I know that took a long time and it was a lot of work, and I think me and the rest of the council is very appreciative of that. So thank you.

Well, I don't have much to say either, but I do remember an article about Roger Dotson donating, I believe it was $25,000 to the museum. And I just, I think that's commendable for people that will support our local entities like that to help them. Keep on going. It's tough in this day and age to have these museums and organizations viable due to costs. So it's nice to see people stepping up and donating money to things of that nature.

Thanks, Mark. I forgot about that. Okay. Yeah. I make a motion, we adjourn.

Second.

Motion by me, second by Clay. Any discussion? If not, roll call, please.

Alexi? Yes. Anderson?

Yes.

Klein? Yes. Shepherd? Yes. Graves?

Yes.