City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. All right. Okay. Good evening everyone and welcome to the February 24th, 2026 city council meeting and rede redevelopment agency. Uh let's see invocation, please.

Just a little reminder. Um good evening and welcome to the city of Lincoln's regular meeting of the city council. Tonight's meeting will be televised and available on cable channel 18 and via Zoom. This evening's invocation will be given by Pastor Eric Long of Salt Mine Church. Once the invocation has concluded, Mayor Pearl will call the meeting to order.

Fantastic. Thank you. It's an honor, a priv privilege to be here tonight. Uh um thank you, Holly, for asking. I just want to say I commend you all. First of all, uh hey, you know, we we uh had about 500 people take showers last year in our shower facility. So, whoop. Kudos to you guys because we couldn't have done it without you guys. So, you guys are a blessing and uh thank you again. Uh

so, let's pray. Father, we just thank you for this day, this uh time and space that you have placed us. You've perfectly placed us here to do your will to uh do the hard things uh even when uh very few or maybe approve. And some just don't even like it at all. And that's kind of the the the the shoulders you've given us to carry hard stuff and do hard things. So I'm asking and asking all of us join together that you give us uh discernment and wisdom, courage to do what's best for the whole our community. We thank you Jesus for being able to serve in this community. Amen. Amen. Thank you pastor. Thank you. Uh reports from close session.

I do we want to do uh the call to order and roll call first? I'm sorry. Items five and six. Out of order a little bit. Okay, good. Uh, roll call, please. Thank you. Council member Rei here. Council member Brown here. Council member Andrea here. Mayor Pro Tim Ecklund here. Mayor Pearl here. And there is no reportable action from close session this evening.

Thank you. Uh, public comment. There's no close session. Okay, that's good. We've gone through that over here. Pledge of Allegiance. I know. I'm just getting over there. Let's see. Uh Scott Boon, would you please lead us in the Okay. Agenda modifications.

We have anything from the staff? We have one from staff. Just a note of clarification that the item 12A agenda title should reflect the approval of meeting minutes for the February 10th meeting.

Okay. Very good. Thank you very much. Okay. Presentations, we have none today. Okay. A public comment on non-aggenda items within the subject matter jurisdiction of the council. All speakers time we are limited to three minutes unless extended by the mayor. All comments or questions should be addressed to the mayor and in most cases the city council law is prohibited from discussing or taking action on any item not appearing on the posted agenda but may engage in brief discussion provide directions uh to city staff or schedule items for future meetings. Do we have any cards today?

I do Mr. Mayor. Uh first card only card is from Ross Snider. Good evening. Um, my name is Ross Snder. I'm from 846 Virginia Town Road and um, I'm a retired senior engineer and an organic farmer. I've been 38 years at that location and I have a history of civic engagement. Um, the crux of the matter is a traffic speed and delineation on Virginia Town between McCortney and Hungry Hollow. Um the developments of Lincoln Meadows and KB Homes um have added to the uh the traffic flow and the volume and unfortunately the speed too. Uh of course everyone understands that's an art arterial route to highway 65 and 80 from the northeast section of the county or this area. Um the current posted speed is 45 miles an hour on that section and that's from Courtourtney all the way out to Hungry Hollow and from Hungry Hollow all the way in it's 45 mph. Um there are some ali alignment fluctuations which is because of the uh the age of the properties. Okay. And that's understandable um mine included. Um, there are no bike lanes on the westbound direction and parts of the eastbound direction. Um, I understand the long-term solution will be perhaps a bridge at Hungary Hol or the continuation of Hungary Hollow to Oak Tree Lane. I understand funding is an issue. I get it. Um, that's probably a long-term thing. Um, what I'm suggesting

is, and I understand some things are in the works, um, revisit the posted speed limits, uh, and take a look at the lane delineation and slow the traffic down. And I say that, uh, the justification is people have become more aggressive drivers. Um, I don't think anybody will deny that. And I think that there's a lot more kids now walking to school and and I'm retired. I have the time to go out and see what's going on. About a month ago, I talked to Officer Brett Schneider, very professional and compliments to the Lincoln Police Department. Um, he was had everything I he heard everything I had to say. Um, he told me that he had placed his traffic uh radar uh trailer out there a couple of times. He has data points. He would be more than willing to get more data points um to justify you the effort. He asked me to come speak and I had what spurred my complaint was I went out to get my trash can on a Tuesday morning and a cement truck was west or was eastbound and had to be doing 65 to 70 miles an hour going out. So um a lot of seniors on bicycles uh it's difficult to get in and out for the people that live there. So thank you for your time. Appreciate it. I understand some things are in the works.

Thank you very much and thank you for the compliments for staff without a doubt. Uh, anyone else in the audience wish me to speak at this point? Do we have anyone on Oops, I'm sorry. Tell

on. Okay.

Hi, Mr. Mayor. Uh, Cella Greenhouse. to live at uh on East Street here in Lincoln. And I'm coming because I saw that there was a close session in regards to the city of Lincoln versus the gathering in. And if you might remember because I I don't think you were on council at that time actually, but um that's something that I um was not in the mass majority of in understanding of what our decision is to um handle the gathering in. But the time that I learned about the gathering in a debacle, I'll call it. Um we were already about already filed I think the lawsuit. Um so I have been uh doing the best I can with my time allotted to um read the paperwork that has been filed on the gathering in and um what I'd like to ask from our city council and from our staff is an update on the cost of it. There was a part in time that um I was looking at our financials and um when Nita was presenting and it was talking about the amount of money we were over budget in the legal category in the legal line item and so I'm questioning on how much money we're spending plus um there is close session conversations with you and the council but there's not anything the city of Lincoln to understand as residents of what we are happening to do as a strategy. Um, yes, someone can go online and open up the 50 probably plus documents and try to catch up on it, but it'd be nice if we had a report and understanding what it's costing our city as well as um maybe the history of what's happened so that us as a city of residents can either support or give feedback back to the city council so that you can give direction to our staff on which way we should take it. But I noticed there was a fence that was put around the gathering in building. Um, so I know that in the city, um, in the Plaster County, there's a thing that I'm learning that's like kick the can down the road, let's deal with it later. And plus in legal services, let's stall it out as much as possible. And so I want to make sure that we're being financially prudent and that we know that our strategy is going to get us to

what we're getting after. Um, or when we know we need to throw our hands up or we need to take a different strategy to ensure what kind of accountability we want for the gathering and to happen. Um, when I was at the the count board of supervisors meeting, um, I was there for the public comment and I talked to five public people that had been using the gathering in in regards to um, their services and they spoke about the monopolization that the gathering in has across the county. They spoke to me personally, not on public comment, about some of the things that they had concerns about. And so I do know that as a public person, I'd like an update on our plan so I can provide some feedback of what I've talked to of neighbors as well as people that are actually using the services from the gathering in. So I asked Mr. Mayor if we can find some way that would be legal and also not um hurting the confidentiality of the situation to give an update to the public on what we're doing for the gathering in. Thank you.

Thank you. You touched on two words, legality and confidentiality. So we'll have to take that under adisement. Thank you. Anyone else in the audience? Anyone on Zoom? I think Fran is on Zoom. You I'll go ahead and unmute. Fran, you are free to provide public comments. Hi. Uh hope everybody's doing well tonight. I just wanted to say that uh Sean Skully came and visited the women's club today and we he gave a wonderful talk of the city. Um, it's probably the fourth time he's been there. And, uh, I just wanted you all to know what a great job he did. I can't see him right now, but I know he's there, right?

Yes. And he's smiling. Oh, good. Hi, Sean. And guess what? That's all I got to say tonight. [laughter] What? What? Mayor, if I may, are you okay, Fran? Don't Don't hang me up yet. I still got time. Well, there are two street lights on Oak Lake. [laughter] You had to open that up, didn't you?

And I wondered if the city could turn them on or something, so we'd have some light up at night. They do have more reflectors down there, but they're not in the area where we need them. We need them in front of the property where the church is from one parking lot to the other because there's nothing there. It's really, really dark at night. Okay. But really, I really just called in because I'm gonna watch the president's speech now. And I just wanted you to know that Sean did a great job the women's club today. We really appreciate it. Thank you, Sean. I'm very today. [laughter] Uh, do we have anyone else on Zoom?

Okay, good. In that case, we'll close public comment. Um, let's see. Consent calendar. Would any of my colleagues like to pull an item? Mayor, I would like to pull 12 F. I said 12F. F is a Frank

also like to pull anything staff. Okay. Any public comments on anyone over here? Nope. Anyone on Zoom? Okay. Good comments from the council. No. Uh, with the exclusion of 12F, I'll accept a motion to approve all of the consent. I move approval. Second. So moved. Well, say I. I. I.

Opposed. Ordered. Very good. Mr. Brown. Yeah, I think that um after reviewing a little bit um wanted to pose possibly talking about um changing some of the some of the wording um based on what it is I think that we're trying to accomplish there. And so maybe a little discussion about that and either get more information before final on that or whatnot. So, I just think that it was a little bit unclear to me exactly what it was we're trying to accomplish with this ordinance and wanted to clarify that. And Okay.

Are there any specific questions though? We just want Christine to respond to that in general. Well, I think that um the what the biggest thing was the impermeable surfaces and was there a permit that was required for that and if not maybe um you know maybe we look at that because anybody then so again my my point is were we just trying to deter uh someone from parking in these places by saying hey it has to be permeable. what what is it we're really looking to do?

As indicated when we did the original read, um code enforcement receives a significant number of complaints regarding people parking on their lawns and not on uh driveways. Um and so it's it's a couple of issues. It's neighborhood blight. It's sort of that broken window theory. Um and so you know in code enforcement we try to balance the rights of the individual with the property values and rights of the individual who's living next door across the street and has to um uh view uh this vehicle parked on the lawn and not in a driveway or on a space on the street. So it goes to property values, it goes to blight, it goes to um what you want your community to look like. Uh and so we did have a robust discussion at the last meeting and per council member Rei's suggestion we changed the language to read instead of paved surface to an impermeable surface. Um and I know that uh there's probably some question on what constitutes an impermeable surface and so that is one that water can't flow through. Um now what the requirements are is going to be based not only on our municipal code and what um rules and requirements we have for the requirement of encroachment permits um in order to access any type of driveway circumstance. We do have an ordinance that says you can't have more than one uh entrance way to a driveway. So there are very limited sort of the U-shaped driveways that you'll see in larger McMansion kind of properties. Um, so not only is there a Lincoln municipal code that's at play, but in most of our neighborhoods that have HOAs, they have requirements as well about the amount of your front yard that can be paved, the amount of your sideyard that can be paved, how it can be accessed. Those are in general plans, specific plans, and there are a lot of rules and regulations that um overlay just our municipal code that are specific to a neighborhood and development. Um, so I this was crafted

given the direction of council at the last meeting. Um, and for those reasons, code enforcement is requesting a more specific statement so that we're not just using sort of the general nuisance uh statute Lincoln municipal code section to site individuals for um what is neighborhood blight. And we get a lot of complaints from the neighbors

kind maybe using trying to use this as a tool for code enforcement to help with this. I just part of the reason that I'm um having cause for concern is after we had our discussions um there are other residents that in opposition to the ordinance just for the sake of having an ordinance because somebody somebody complained a bunch of people complained want to make sure we're doing the right thing for both people. This was brought to me at the request of code enforcement. That's I mean

Okay. Well, my my questions are answered. Thank you. Okay. Very good. Uh, anyone else has questions on three on it? Well, Fox truck. Nope. Did you want to say anything, John? No. I was just going to ask if you we had some offline conversations about I'm just making sure that you feel like you like it meets the parameters you're thinking or or not and you need more meat around. I think when and I don't want to speak out of turn, but one of the the I think the the thought process was it still doesn't control where the impermanmeable surface is. Right. And I think that was the

if you felt like you needed to expand on that definition or not. Well, didn't when you were speaking you said that there is a code already that says you can't have more than one entrance to um so it would this be then a consideration let's say if somebody wanted to pave that whole area because it's imperial at that point is that any different than one entrance. Can they still go up over the curb on the side and park in front of their front window if they want? Uh no. So, they would have to obtain an encroachment permit and build a a driveway apron so that they weren't damaging the city's infrastructure and sidewalk. Okay. Well, that's more

But I think I think what you're getting to though is like does the would the code allow somebody to hardscape their entire front yard, right? Pull up their driveway that's already cut and then pull in front of their home and park, right? Um and I that would depend on the neighborhood. Yeah. CCNRs. So, so but in but absent that like if they don't exist and you're in an area that doesn't have that like for example where I live you you could technically do that I guess per go I don't know that that would happen very often it's very expensive thing to do to concrete your whole

it's expensive and there's other um considerations that have to be take a lot of times in our older neighborhoods the meter box is contained in the lawn area and so if they were going to pave surrounding that meter box. There are new requirements for a meter lid that can actually take the weight of a vehicle driving over it. Um, and access accessibility of meters for when our readers come around.

And [clears throat] Christina and I talked a little bit about this earlier today and one of the things that I think is kind of important is the interpretation of what we mean by impermeable here. So, one of the questions you and I were discussing is like what if you don't want a concrete, you have a an area adjacent to your driveway, let's say that's just dirt right now and it would be fine for a place to park a vehicle, assuming you can do that with all the other rules. Um, what is impermeable really mean? Well, it really means that you're avoiding runoff into the subs soil to the greatest extent you can. So, I think we both kind of felt like if you had some sort of treatment that you were doing to pavers or to to to uh you know, rock or granite or whatever you wanted to use that's not concrete. You know, I actually just sprayed some in my backyard because one of my kids throws rocks everywhere. Um that kind of thing would probably suffice to be a permeable uh so that you could do that. So, it's not just you can only pay park on straight up paved perfect asphalt. I don't think that's the intent either. Okay. Verification. One thing that I'm trying to avoid is just, you know, trying to restrict people from doing things just because one person views it one way versus another person viewing another way.

Um, and but do we think that this is a a problem looking for a solution? I mean, do we think that this is going to be a big a big issue or is it just be a one-off and it' be so expensive for someone to do that that there are other alternatives, you know, for them? Okay. Guess we'll live with it and find out would be a complaints. We'll address it at that point. Good. I'm good. Okay. Good. Thank you. In that case, do I have a motion to accept uh this? What is that? 12f 12 foxtrot. I'll move to jobs 12f. Okay, I'll second. Okay. Uh, all in favor say I. I opposed.

Carried. Very good. Thank you very much. Consent is closed. Okay. Public hearings 13A. Wave first read first reading and introduce an ordinance of the city of Lincoln repealing Lincoln Municipal Code Chapter 6.28 and amending Lincoln Municipal Code sections. I'll go through that. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. K9 and feline kennel uses. Christine, really wanted you to read all those numbers. Uh, no. I choose not to. You can read them if you'd like, John, just just to get them into the record.

Thank you. So, as opposed to an ordinance that's making it more restrictive, this is making it less restrictive in the city of Lincoln. Um, we had several months ago a resident come forward to us indicating that they were interested in leasing a property in the downtown area and having sort of a doggy daycare services, doggy um, training, kenneling, overnight uh, types of services. But our Lincoln Municipal Code, as it's currently written, only allows a licensed veterinarian to operate a kennel. Um we kind of looked around at other communities and as you know after COVID almost everybody has a dog or two or three or four as is allowed in Plaster County and um the demand for these services is significant. There are doggy daycarees in Roseville and Rockland um that provide these types of services and some of the planning commissioners even commented at the planning commission hearing how they wondered why Lincoln didn't have this service because they were tired of having to drive to Roseville and Rockland to drop the dogs off every day. So, um, what this basically does, it's already permissible to have a kennel if you're in an agriculturally zoned property. This would open it up to kenneling services in a commercial zone or a light industrial zone. And in the commercial zone, it would be you would be limited to 20 dogs or cats. And in the uh light industrial, it would be 30 dogs or cats. The only dist distinction really is that if you want to do only interior kenneling and training and doggy daycare type services, then it would be a byright use in both of those zones. If you wanted to expand the business to have outdoor facilities so that the dogs could go outside and play, then it would require a conditional use permit um particularly in light of the fact that uh some of these properties in specifically even the one that the resident was coming forward interested in leasing butts up right next to a residential area. So, we want to make

sure that if dogs are going to be outside and playing and perhaps barking that there are restrictions on the hours so that the neighboring properties aren't disturbed any more so than need be. So, with that, I am open to any questions, but other than that, um that's pretty much the heart of this ordinance change. And so, I would recommend that council after asking me any questions open this for public hearing and then wave first reading and introduce by title only this ordinance. question from my co colleagues.

No questions. Just um a comment that um thanks for doing this. I think that it's um a good idea for Lincoln to have a facility like this and as long as it um can be um structured so it's not a nuisance to the neighbors around whatever. I think it's great and I'm I'm excited about this. Thank you.

Any anyone else? Okay. So, we're all barking in unison. Okay. Okay. Uh, very good. Uh, let me see. P, pardon me. Yep. Open up public hearing. Um, questions from the audience first. Anyone? All right. Very good. On Zoom. Okay. Bringing it back to the counsel. Any comments? since happened over the year. I'll accept a motion. I move approval. Second. Second. Okay. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed.

Excellent. Good. Thank you. Done. Okay. General business. Um, Miss Racker, uh, adopt a resolution authorizing amendment to the 25 2025 2027 bianium budget at fiscal years 2526. evening and thank you. So once again, we're here for our uh quarterly bienium budget update. Uh as a reminder, the purpose of these updates is really just to take into consideration those items that uh weren't included in the original budget request or changes that have been made since then. uh as well as uh uh perhaps uh miscalculations or misestimates in revenue adjustments uh due to uh increased activity in in our various departments. So the honor before you this evening is to uh propose the or propose the adoption of a resolution for those changes to the budget. Uh specifically this affects uh several funds throughout the city but the general fund as well. There are increases in revenues as well as increases in expenses which have been laid out for you in the staff report as well as the detailed attachments and I am happy to answer any specific questions you may have about this.

Okay, any questions for my colleagues? Okay, I just like I started going through this and I started marking it up, marking it up, marking up and then I remembered that you always have explanations in the back and so I went through those. Very good. I think that's very good for the public to be able to see exactly what they what the changes are were, why they were. Uh, but I thought that it was very well addressed. So, thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, I will patch pass that on to our finance manager, Ruthan Cordina. She and her team do an excellent job.

Excellent. Okay. Any uh public comments? Anyone here in the audience? Nope. Anyone on Zoom? Okay. Bring it back to council. Anyone have any specific questions? Okay. Very good. Uh I move to adopt the resolution authorizing amendment to the bianium budget. Thank you very much. Do we hear a second? I second. Thank you very much. All in favor say I. I. I. Thank you.

Very good. Thank you. That was probably the quickest one you've gone through, Nita. Okay. General business. [laughter] Uh 14. Bravo. Authorized augmentation for the fiscal year 2526 budget of $125,000 from fund 2850 and adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute a contract with integra intergraasers for citywide grazing services. Mr. Medel.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, and members of the public. Matthew Medil, your public works director. I'm here with Scott Boon, our maintenance services manager, who's eager to speak tonight. Um, see, can I advance this? Uh tonight we're going to be asking you uh to adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to augment the 2526 budget by 125,000 for the fund 2850 which is one of the local CFD funds. execute a fiveyear contract for services with intergrazers for grazing services for a total five-year contract cost of 2.1 million and authorize uh the public works director or his design to execute change orders within the approved budget. uh the the managed grazing overview. Um you could see that picture is a aerial photo we got from the fire department of the ranch fire which was approximately 140 acres

advance. Not not advancing. Oh, my slides advance.

Maybe I'm hitting the wrong button. What's this? Are we still on the title slide? Okay, let's see.

Actually, we're not anywhere. There we go. Staff recommendations. Back to the recommendation slide. All right.

We're going to be recommending that the city council adopt a resolution authorizing the city manager to augment the budget for the CFD local CFD by 125,000. Execute a 5-year service contract for grazing for a total 5-year contract value not to exceed the 2.1 million. and authorize the public works director to execute any change orders within within the approved budget for added areas or any miscellaneous changes we need to make sure to get the work done. Uh the managed grazing program, this is the picture I was describing and you were mentally visualizing earlier. Um this is of the ranch fire aerial photo. Um it was a total of 140 acres and I know Chief Mahia has provided a robust uh presentation on that. Um so the city manage uses managed grazing to control vegetation in the open space areas and along the streetscape. Um this reduces wildfire risk, protects natural habitats and mitigates our need for other uh methods of mechanical or chemical controls. Um and then fun fact, herds may clear two to four acres per day depending on the vegetation. So the RFP process uh Scott Boon prepared a very thorough RFP process. It was very successful. We got six proposals. Um, we evaluated those on completeness, experience, financial stability, and the lowest responsive responsible bidder was integr, um, that's who we're recommending tonight. Again, contract highlights, five-year contract. Uh, it's a built-in 3% annual maximum annual uh, CPI adjustment based on the San Francisco Urban Index, and that's to be negotiated per the contract. um city controlled

supplemental contingency budget built in for each year. Um again for the out of scope new areas or other authorized changes and then we have a 30day termination clause and effectively you continue to see five-year contracts recommended. It saves a lot of administrative time and if we're happy with the service um it's a lot less burden for us rather than coming back every year or every three years. That's why we continue to make those recommendations and we've had success um in that regard. This is a grazing map. We actually uh advertise this with three options. One was a limited 100 foot grazing. Last year we did a mixed where some areas were a full graze and some were a 100 foot buffer. Um this again is the most expensive option when it comes to grazing costs. But if you ask Chief Mahia the the amount of property that was saved because of the grazing that was done and how the fire stopped when it hit the grazing limit, um an ounce of prevention is worth, you know, a ton of uh response. So, I think we've talked with um the city manager and Chief Mahia and felt this, you know, we're all unified and strongly recommending we provide this um service to the community just to provide the maximum amount of fire prevention possible. Um, one of the the fun elements the community likes is there is a goat tracker and I know our awesome IT department helps us with that. Um so everyone can stay tuned on where the goats are. This does have a cost again um that's the annual breakdown as well as well as the funding breakdown. And one of the things I'll mention again we all are

familiar with the landscaping line district that 2700 fund that that fund is um I would say under strain. a lot of the contributing districts don't have C cost escalators and that's on one of those long-term um goals I think for at least at the staff level and maybe the council level that we we revisit that because those um funds that the the revenues the city collect are not keeping up with the cost of providing the services we provide and this is one of those really important services that the city is providing the residents. Um, so again, revisiting, um, we're recommending that, um, we adjust the budget for that local CFD. We request that we approve this 5-year contract for the full graze and authorize, um, the public works director to make necessary um, change orders as we continue to grow and accept new properties and open space. And if we have any questions, um, I did want to give Scott an opportunity. He showed up. I do want him to just say a few words of the importance and he was actually out there with some of the staff that responded to the ranch fire. Could you just make a comment please on the importance of the grazing?

Hello everybody. Um, great job Matt. Nice job. My question was my question was which part of that was supposed to be your presentation? Feel like I feel like have you guys ever seen step brothers? [laughter] Feel like that's going to happen right now. Yeah. Um uh very important. Um as the chief can um can uh talk about the the ranch fire um the uh as the fire hit the high came close to the high school. You guys got to stop laughing. As the fire came to the high school um soon as it hit the grazing area it completely stopped. So, um, you know what the cost of that was with all the resources by chance?

What cost for that fire? Yeah. Uh, and resources. Resource cost. I mean, we didn't get build for it, but we had over 20 mutual aid resources with us plus aircraft. So, yeah. Yeah. So, so it was millions of dollars. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know we don't pay for mutual aid, but there's a cost of that to somebody. So, yeah. millions of dollars saved um you know for I think that we didn't graze that field last year to try to save costs and that um that was probably about an $18,000 graze if we were to do that. So that's the importance of doing this. Yeah. Any other questions?

I have one question. Uh your chart showed sheep but you keep on talking about goats. Uh it's it's mixed. It's both. Okay. Yeah. Sheep and goats. Uh last year we had about 12,000 uh head were here when we did it last year. Probably about the same this year. The goats will um we'll utilize goats more in like the Mcbine Park area uh where it's more wooded because they'll they'll eat the blackberries. They they don't care. They'll eat the garbage. It doesn't matter. Yeah.

Yep. and may or may not be um uh it's sort of an appropriate time I think just to talk a little bit about um uh the reality of the finances here. So, um, Nita can speak a little bit more to this, but when we are trying to budget appropriate dollars to do, and I think their contract gives them some flexibility, if we, you saw there was a 30-day out clause, we may get to a place where some of these lighting and landscaping districts and CFDs are continue to struggle to meet even the basic kind of things they should be funding. Um that is one reason why the general fund has become sort of the financial backs stop for many of those districts over the years and and uh that number is becoming um it's almost to a point where it's going to be very difficult to to bear without a structural change to how how they're they're working. Um and we were really sensitive about that. that you know I think the reality is we uh because of the good work of the fire department but also I think there just a reality about luck here where we didn't do full grazing would that have changed the fact that we still had fires maybe not but we got to thinking about all of the things that those districts fund and that this is the one thing that it funds that actually could affect someone's home their life and we just sort of felt that we may need to make structural cuts to some of the costs in those districts at some point, but I'm not sure that we would recommend that this be one of those cuts, if that makes sense. Yeah. I mean, I guess like the seriously the question may be, do you stop landscaping medians and certain shared spaces if you don't have enough resources to do it in exchange for full grazing or close to every year? And I think probably I mean you're the electeds but I would assume

that generally the answer is probably going to be yes on that as it's sort of a a mustave. Um so um it's uh every single thing that we do the first question that I ask Nita or anyone else is what's the impact of the general fund? Um and this is one of the very rare times where we're coming and saying hey we're we're spending more out of that than we we're comfortable doing but I don't see that we have another option at this point. Although we do have some really fun exciting ideas that I promise we are exploring about maybe figuring out a way to bring goat hering in in house. Um and when that's ready for prime time, I promise we will bring it. [laughter] We've been talking about that for a while. That that'll be super

One of our elected officials came up with a really interesting proforma that we should discuss at some point. I wonder which one of us he's talking about. Wasn't looking at you. Okay. [laughter] One one thing we can um look into which I've um had have a lot of interest uh interested parties in um is grazing year round which is renting out our fields with um cattle and other things which would be a great idea also could save us some money.

Yeah. I've lived on a hillside before and it's scary. Yeah. Yeah. So this stuff when the goats and sheep come through, it's really it's comforting, you know, to see that they're grazing it all the way down and it's okay. That's one less problem potential. Yeah. Great. Any other questions?

Any other questions? Okay. Uh any public comment? Anyone in the audience? Two people who are left. Anyone on Nope. Okay. Anyone on Zoom? Okay. Okay, bring it back to uh my colleagues. Any uh any comment based on the comments that we heard, which we didn't hear. Okay, we're very good. I I'll just say I've been silent pretty much all night, so I'll just make a little contribution, but I support this initiative and I think it's more most important that we do as much as we can to mitigate and suppress fires, especially as it's getting worse every year and look into maybe um innovative future forward plans and exploring all of our options to make sure we just keep up with it and do as much as we can, maybe even make a little revenue. You

bet. Is that a motion that I heard? Yes, a motion. We have a second. Second. Okay. Discussion. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. No. Okay. Carries. Very good. Thank you.

Okay. 14. Charlie. Adopt a resolution establishing five reserve fire inspector positions within the fire department and authorize a statement of $150 per month to be funded within uh the fire department operating budget. Miss. True. Good evening, mayor and council members. So before you tonight is a request to establish five reserve fire inspector positions and authorize a $150 per month stipend. Um this will be funded within the department's existing budget. Um and then as outlined in the staff report, continued commercial and residential growth in the city has increased inspection demands under the California Fire Code. Um these reserve positions will help expand the inspection capacity for the fire department, help them to um avoid backlog and allow full-time prevention staff to focus on more complex assignments. These volunteer roles are excluded from CalPERS and city benefits. And the estimated fiscal impact uh for the remainder of the current fiscal year for 2025 and 2026 um is approximately $1,500 and can be absorbed within the fire department's existing budget. Um thank you for your time. This concludes my report. I can now answer any questions you may have.

Any questions for my colleagues? Okay, I've got a clear I've got a couple. Um, one, where do we get these people from? Who who are our volunteers? I'll let Chief Mahia answer that question.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council. Um, yes. So, this is a a program that was successful in my last department and so I'm bringing it here. Really, what happens is people go to school for this and they need one year to complete a task before they can actually apply for a full-time job. So that's really where we're going to find them is people that are headed down this prevention track. They've already started these classes and they need to finish that task or get that one year of experience. So they'll come here, get that one year, and then that'll make them ready to get a full-time position somewhere else in another prevention department. Okay. And uh the fire inspection 1A and 1B certifications, is that involved, complicated, expensive?

Yeah, so those two classes are run about $400 a piece. They're they're ran through the state. Um, and you know, they're about only maybe a week worth of classes. So, those those aren't really long. Uh, the CPR certification, another one is is a one-day certification, but if they're going to be going around, they're going to have look like a department, you know, polo on, we want to make sure that they can at least do basic uh medical care if needed. So, that's really all the requirements. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Yeah, no problem. Very good. Any other questions back? Okay. Uh, any question? Do we have any cards? Anyone on Zoom? Nope. Okay. Back to my colleagues. I move approval. Okay. Second. Second.

Okay. All in P say I. I. I. Opposed. Gary. Thank you. Very good. Done with general business. City manager reports. Thank you, Claire. Excellent.

Um, yeah, great job, Claire. Um, so, uh, just a couple quick things. Um I'm sure it'll get spoken about more by others, but um we uh uh a few of us here um a couple city council members and a couple staff and uh then a bunch of community and other members attended the Lincoln Public Safety Foundation first annual gala on Saturday. And um just as an attendee um because as people may get mixed up, this is not a city organization. This is a separate nonprofit, but they support police and fire departments with special needs that they have. And um I thought it went really well for for our first event. It was a lot of fun. They I don't think the full figures are completed yet, but they raised a good chunk of change to go towards supporting those staff. And um he doesn't he probably wouldn't want me to say this, but one of the cool things about being in my position, I don't have to ask the chief for this permission, but you know, he came with this idea about three years ago um to try to figure out a way to stand up this nonprofit. And um it's been a bit of a windy road to try to get it to a place where it's now a bit of a machine. And so, um, it didn't happen the night of, but I think he kind of deserves a lot of credit there because it was, uh, his brainchild to begin with along with some others and and he made it happen. So, it's a huge, it's kind of funny going to it and contributing because in a way we're sort of contributing back to ourselves. Uh but it provides this resource that helps as he puts it, it fits um it contributes dollars to fit in the gaps of the budget that we're where he would you know her chief Mia might request something that they need or a new program they'd like to start up and we're just trying to make basic ends meet and we can't do it. Well, that's where this group comes in and uh so

super proud to be part of it. Um only other um major update is that um we Nita and I met with the building industry association this morning um as we do monthly. Couple takeaways from that. Um the lull of activity between about the end of Thanksgiving through the Super Bowl essentially um and building activity has seems to have ceased. Uh we are back busy again. Um I think we did 45 new units in February. And last year we did somewhere around six or 700 units um citywide. So that's close to sort of what we expect on a regular basis. And then I just read before I came in um this afternoon that um mortgage rates have now dropped below 6%. Uh so we expect to see a little bit more activity. Um the other uh components um that I just want to mention really quickly are that we the next significant workshop we're planning sometime in the next two to three to four weeks is to have a broader discussion on our 40% open space requirement and whether or not that makes sense um at that number. There's a lot to it. How it um braids together with the Flash County Conservation Program and their goals, whether or not we're receiving the kind of open space that actually is a value ad to the community. Um so, in other words, it is usable and uh something that people can use to recreate and enjoy versus just being open land that, as you just saw, is very expensive to graze um for the for the consumer. and and then a variety of other things about incentives and and how do we incentivize our development projects to create open space that's more like a 12 bridges or a Sun City model where their open space truly is a value ad to the to the

subdivision. Um and we have a bunch of ideas and so we solicited some of their ideas as well on on how to address that. Um so that's cool. And then the other two little tidbits is that we are working through and getting close to completing our admin fee analysis. So that we'll be adjusting I think it's very likely we'll be adjusting the administrative charge that we charge on consultant services for community development um and other um outside outsourced work um to be a little bit more in line with what we think is the true cost of managing those consultants. um fee studies moving along and then the um we'll have a broader discussion at some point later but you may recall that the council considered this concept for highdensity market uh housing apartments um where you were think pilot program created to allow them to defer some of their fees for a period of time to get those projects off the ground um uh and the uh BIA they're obviously very interested in the applicability to that elsewhere too and maybe even as it may relate to affordable housing because we kind of stop there with affordable because affordable has a bunch of other tools that markets don't. So, um they're I think they're going to look at it and give us some comments about other things that might be useful. Um, and then, uh, the other component I'll mention is Aaron and, uh, Daniela brought the sales tax incentive program to the EDC, oh man, weeks blend together for me, last week before last, I think, and had a really good discussion, I thought, about um, the usefulness of um, partnering with commercial developers to bring in the special kinds of retail that we're hoping for. um simply waiting for them to show up obviously hasn't really worked all that great. And so we think that's one tool. The other one that

we're thinking through right now is um it's bugged me and I think probably a lot of people in the community that we've had a lot of commercial land that's been entitled and ready to build in some cases for 20 25 years and it's sat there. Some communities have gotten super aggressive and have said they've done things like um if if you don't move forward and build your project within a certain period of time, we tax your parcel at a higher rate or we penalize your parcel until you get rolling on it. So, it's not because in LA in particular, people were locking up land for other reasons and never intended to build the thing. And so, it just creates a problem for the community. We don't really have that issue here. I think it's more of just waiting for the perfect time to go. So, one idea we've been talking about is is tying a a performance timeline to that sales tax incentive program where it says like look, you can have access to some rebates here if you move within a 24-month period or whatever you decide. Um so working on that and um that'll be in front of you here in short order as we get prepared for um a number of commercial projects all of which are jockeying for position at the moment. Uh and then last thing is got a chance with the mayor on Monday to meet the new Sun City executive director. Very nice person. Glad that she's there. Um and hopefully we can have a good working relationship because we have a lot of shared interests. That's what I got.

Very good. Thank you. Uh council initiated business. Anyone have any items? Okay, very good. Committee reports. Start with Miss Holly. Sure. Oh, well, I do have one question. When are we doing the uh skate park? Yes. U Thank you. [laughter] Okay. Here's here's when it stops raining. I'm going to sell it to you. You tell me if you like it. Okay. Um they they are scheduled to uh literally start work at the beginning of April,

and so dozers, the whole thing. And so, um, our engineering manager came down and said, "Hey, we can do something in between now and then, but do you think that council member Adriata would prefer to have the groundbreaking when we're actually breaking said ground?" And I said, "I don't know. I haven't talked to her about it, and I probably should have talked to you about it before the meeting, but [laughter] but I think for photo ops, it would be nicer to have some big cat dozers behind you or something when you're perfect. That's that's I can wait one more month. That's fine." Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, it's working. I think we're looking like probably lit literally April 1st or something. Oh my gosh, that's so great. And I doubt staff even asked if what I would want to do. You just 100%. Okay. Yeah. Okay. [laughter] They know me so well.

This will be your show. I know it is. It's going to be my It's going to be my show. I'm going to wear the stilts and everything. Better have a skate skateboard.

I was gonna ask. No, but my brother will be here and he's got a lot of skateboards. So, um Okay. I just have one uh committee um had SECOG last week and the only thing that's really of note is that they are the staff is getting ready to launch um an they call it a household uh transportation survey and um the board approved uh going out for an RFP not to exceed $1.2 million. that money is coming from the overall work program budget [clears throat] and the last survey they did was in like 2020 uh right around COVID or right before that. Um and so they they're going to try to recruit people about 3,000 people across the region to to keep a travel diary and it's it's a little bit of work. So that's where the 1.2 2 million comes from the outreach and then pay them depending on how it goes 10 or $20 to do this, you know, this transportation diary. Um, and the and the purpose of it is to be able to have the data to be more aggressive for grants and that sort of thing. And so, um, so they're get they're getting ready to launch that. So, a lot of conversation around that and then just the normal stuff. And so, and I wasn't here for Lisa, so I'll let John do that, but that's really all I have. I just but I did want to say the Gayla was awesome.

Um was it 48,000 that that that everybody raised? Yeah, just about.

Yeah. And I I just have to toot my own horn a little bit. Um we were doing the very end. We were doing the little raise the paddle thing where everybody already bought all the things, but you just raise your paddle for just to give money for trying to fund the the end of watch last alarm. Um which we we got the 25,000 and then whatever is over that they can buy stuff. Anyway, the auctioneer kept looking at me because I'm I'm waiting, right? I'm not a rich person, but I was waiting for my number. And he looked at me and he said, "Well, what do you" and I said, "I'll do $300." And when I did that, about 20 people raised their paddle for $300. I said, "I'm a trends setter." And I and and so it was a lot of fun. Um, but everybody was um very excited to be there. Everybody looked really great. But I want to know who wrote your guys's jokes because [laughter] they they they told jokes and they teased each other all night. But it it was really great and and Chief Alves's wife did such a wonderful job with all the all the staff, too. So, who wrote your jokes? Did you guys sit around and do that to yourself?

Being the consent professionals we are, at least I'm speaking for myself, it was 100% on the fly for me. So, really? Yeah. Yeah. Same here. Unplanned. Oh my gosh. it. Oh, it was great. They had like a whole program. Yes. You knocked it out of the park with And then we had coffee and donuts at the end which was really great. Um, but I just want to say well well done. It was a lot of fun. Um, and it was really great to see the community come together and raise so much money for public safety. It was awesome. Yeah. So, it was amazing. I think there were 82 people there and we got $48,000. That's amazing. Just shows what what how Lincoln steps up without without a doubt. Okay. Good. Whitney, anything?

Okay. Um, I've got Pioneer at Community Energy tomorrow on Thursday and then uh air pollution control district next week. Outside of that, nothing. John,

I I had a few. Um, we had EDC. Sean talked about the um sales tax there. EDC is also working on a strategic plan. We'll have a meeting on that a little later this spring. Um, at Lisa, we were reviewing the finance options for some of the plant improvements that are going to come up um later this year. Next, um, at WattMA, the MURF, which is the which is the big new machine that sorts your trash. Um, they're working on getting their diversion rate right up, which means how much of the trash are they able to keep from going into the landfill. Um, and their goal is to get 75 80%. Um, they expect to reach that at commissioning later this year. That's the new target. We'll see. Yep. Very excited about that.

Um, I attended the Plaster County Economic Development Board. They are working on a strategic plan for economic development at the county level. Uh, and the last was the plaster conservation authority. Um, the big kind of thing out of that is they get a million dollars from the plaster land trust towards the raccoon creek purchase which I think most of us attended that grand. Ben, we had our uh 2 by two pushed meeting um just because there was a couple people that weren't going to be there with the um school board and my class TCPA Plaster County Transportation tomorrow morning.

So, I'll report on that in two weeks if there's anything. Perfect. Cool. Okay. Uh anything else for the good of the order? information item. Okay. Information item.

Okay. Well, this is uh this is going to be a little long-winded, so uh I apologize, but it's worth it. Uh we have some great news to share, and Sean's probably not going to enjoy this, but um we I should I shouldn't say we. I'm going to give all of the credit to where it's due. Um Daniela Steepic and Aaron Fry, our economic development team and communications team, uh found an award and secretly applied and nominated our city manager, Sean Skully, for the public sector champion award from the International Economic Development Council back in December. And um well, I could I I'm going to let Aaron talk about it, but I want to read um my letter of support before we close. Thanks, Whitney. Uh yeah, we were very h he's shaking his head at me. Um

I'm telling you, you're fired now.

Yes, it's not going to end well. Um these awards honor individuals whose exceptional careers have advanced the field of economic development and more importantly made a meaningful difference in their communities which was our focus. Uh we reached out to a number of community members um including including developers, elected officials here in the city of Lincoln as well as a number of other communities that Shawn has worked in based on the tremendous work that he's done. Um, for those that don't know, before I was hired two years ago, the role of economic development uh was Shaun's uh in addition to many other roles that he held at this time. And we've been able to bring a number of uh very very important projects to the forefront and approval as a result of his work. So, we were very honored uh to uh submit his name for the public se sector champion award. He was the only one that received that award. So Shawn and the other 13 recipients for the other awards will be formally honored um at the 2026 leadership summit in Washington DC next week.

Uh thank you. I think that's sufficient. Don't you think? Yeah. Okay. Let me just let me just get through this.

You don't get to do a rebuttal. I'm sorry. This kind of wraps up um what Erin was saying and um and I just I wanted it to be on the record so that everybody understands exactly how much work Shawn has done in economic development because this is sort of one of those things that I think can fly under the radar and all the hours that are done behind the scenes as well as our our monthly meetings and over the years it's usually an entire um department head that now we have um he was leading as as well as running our entire city. So, it it's really it's a lot. Um, so I just wanted to read this really fast. I'll summarize my letter of recommendation. Throughout his tenure, Shawn has consistently advocated for policies, programs, and initiatives that support an e economic growth, job creation, and community development. He played a central central role in leading and advancing Lincoln's economic development strategic plan. And that was a lot. That was a big undertaking. uh which prioritizes expanding the city's tax base while intentionally attracting high wage tradable sector industries and supporting smart sustainable growth. The strategy has provided clear direction and measurable progress for Lincoln's economic future. During a period when the city did not have a dedicated economic development director, Shawn personally stepped into that role serving as a hands-on liaison with developers, business leaders, and regional partners. He made himself consistently available to advocate for the types of businesses Lincoln seeks to attract, ensuring alignment with our long-term economic goals rather than just short-term gains. His leadership during this time was instrumental in maintaining momentum, credibility, and trust with the economic development community. Defining example of Shaun's leadership is the advancement of the Lincoln airport and aviation technology park including the large-scale hangar

development now moving forward as project full throttle which is currently under construction and going vertical. Shawn devoted hundreds of hours to this effort navigating complex negotiations infrastructure planning and long-term coordination to bring the project to fruition. This development represents a major milestone in positioning Lincoln as a hub for aviation related and advanced manufacturing uses, generating both highquality jobs and long-term revenue for the community. And this is my favorite part. Beyond these tangible achievements, Shawn's leadership style has had a lasting impact on the culture and effectiveness of our organization. His approach is consistently positive, collaborative, and forwardinking. Long before I was elected to the city council, Shawn mentored me during my years on the economic development committee and as a planning commissioner, encouraging the exploration of new ideas and approaching challenges with a yes, we can or how can we make this happen mindset. He's the opposite of a negative or dismissive leader. He's always leading leading the room for thoughtful discussion, innovation, and possibilities. Shawn is widely respected throughout city hall for his integrity, steadiness, and ability to lead through difficult circumstances. There's only two more paragraphs. I'm just kidding. [laughter] Even while shouldering the responsibility of implementing necessary but sometimes unpopular decisions, he's maintained trust, morale, and a collaborative culture within the organization. And throughout periods of heightened public scrutiny, he's remained transparent, professional, and solutionsoriented, demonstrating the resilience and credibility essential to effective public sector leadership. Congratulations.

Yes. I I wish we could all go to DC with you. Oh my god, this legitimate torture. Um [laughter] I So um Okay. Well, I just I'm considering how badly I need to work. Um,

but actually what I just want to say is it it was a real it was really kind. I I walked into the office about a month ago on a Friday, which is our casual day here, and Erin and a few other people had decorated things and say like, "Oh, congratulations. You won." I didn't know what it was or that there was anything. And then when they explained it to me, it took me a few days not to like think that it was some sort of joke. Um, And but what I've come to and I really mean this is that the truth is is that that I've done nothing alone here. Um, it's really been everyone uh that that works here um putting in the effort and I sometimes get some credit for that when really it should be spread across the organization and but the way I look at this is it's a nice individual accolade but what I really want to use it for is to draw attention to Lincoln as a place that deserves credit for really cool work that we've been doing and we we don't spend a lot of time pursuing credit. we're so just busy moving on to the next thing constantly. And so it is nice to have some people step back and say, you know what, we need to put ourselves out there to share with the greater world or at least California that we're doing exciting stuff here. So we have a few more of these coming. Hopefully not so individual, you know, all America City and a couple other awards that we're putting in. And it's nice to have projects that you're super proud of that you can put in and be proud of. So thank you very much. is very honored. Thank you.

Okay. And on that we are adjourned. Okay. Excellent.