City Council - Regular Meeting

Is there any public comments on close session items? No. Okay. So then uh council is adjourning to close session at 6:17

Mayor, we are ready. All right, we're ready. Okay. Council returning from close session at 7:04 p.m. City attorney, can you please report on close session? Yes, Mr. Mayor. Council convened in close session regarding items C2 A through C and there is no reportable action at this time. Thank you so much. So now we're going to move to the invocation call to civic responsibility. Uh Reverend Tim Brow from pastor of St. Peter's Lutheran Church will lead us

on behalf of St. Peter Lutheran Church that's been around 128 years in this city and the school 102. Thank you for this opportunity and your service. Let's pray as I get my phone back up. Heavenly Father, thank you for this week, a historic week called Holy Week. This week we remember how your Christmas gift to the world, your son, grew up to sacrifice himself to save the world. The ultimate Easter victory celebration. Lord, your wonderful design of unconditional love and sacrifice is displayed in this room throughout the year for the greater good of the community of Loi. Lord, we thank you for the wisdom, vision, and leadership of our city council members, the bravery of our police and firemen, the gentle, precise care of the medical first responders, and the service of all the hardworking city workers who take care of our homes, our neighborhood, and our communities in various ways. Heavenly Father, the community of St. Peter Lutheran Church and School. The staff, the parents, the students, the members give thanks to you for these wonderful servants of our city for their guidance, protection, care of the community. Lord, we give thanks how they gather us together to hear and work these issues that we have in our community. Lord, protect them and their families. And thank you for their God-given talents to use to serve us in this community. bless this evening and also the safe and good night's sleep when we get home tonight. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Thank you so much. Now we will do the flag salute. This is the regular meeting for April 1st, 2026 convening at 7:06 p.m. City Clerk, can you please do roll call? Council member Bregman here. Council member Nakanishi, Council Member Craig Hensley,

Mayor Poti, Mayor

here. All right, we have uh three presentations. So, first we're going to do the uh three L proclamation. We'll invite tree loai and our parks, recreation, cultural services. All right. So this proclamation is for Arbor Day. In 1872, Jay Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees which is known today as Arbor Day. And the first Arbor Day was observed by the planting of more than a million trees and now is observed throughout the nation and the world. And the city of Lor has officially rec has officially been recognized by the national arbor foundation as a three city USA for the 23rd consecutive year. And trees can reduce erosion at precious stop soil, lower heating and cooling cost, moderate temp temperature, clean the air and water, produce oxygen and provide aesthetic and habitat value. And three Lorai has been a long-term partner of the city in its advocacy for Lorai's urban forest through our education stewardship and community involvement. And the city of Lora celebrates and congratulates three Lorai for 23 years of dedicated service. And on Saturday, April 4, 2026, starting at 7:00 a.m., Lorai will be celebrating Arbor Day at Legion Park. This year celebration will be facilitated by the city of Lorai staff, three lorai with support from local partners including Lorai Art Foundation, Lorai Unified School

District, West Coast Arrest A&W, Hollywood Cafe, Cow Fire, Kona Ice, Omega Mu Lorai, Blue Cross of California, CSU San Laos, Master Gardeners, Girl Scouts USA, Boy Scouts of America, Humanitarian Club, and RJQ landscaping design. Now therefore be resolved that I, Rammon, mayor of the city of Lurai, do hereby proclaim Saturday, April 4, 2026 as Arbor Day in the city of L. Residents, I encouraged to join and to support efforts throughout the year to protect our trees and goodlands for the enjoyment and well-being of this and future generations. Sign on the 1 of April 206. Thank you so much. Uh so I invite people to come on Saturday plant trees with me is we are going to have do you know how roughly how many people we're going to have on Saturday? Probably a couple of hundred. So I invite anyone we everybody loves trees and I even an advocate of increasing an urban forest especially in the east side because it's a older area and some trees were removed and they were never planted back. So I will continue with the advocacy. So, thank you so much. And now I will present the work to three.

Thank you so much. And I will let you guys. Just a huge thank you to Tree Loi and to all of our other partners that are putting on the event for Saturday in celebration of our Tree City Award and for all of the stewardship and education that you provide to the community to ensure the sustainability of our urban forest. We really appreciate you. Steve, you want to say a few words? Well, thank you, mayor and director Christina.

Appreciate it very much. Uh, I want to let everybody know the public program starts at 9:00. So, mayor, I look forward to seeing you there. And we'll repeat this if you don't mind for those that will be there that aren't here tonight.

Also, we'll have the arts commission announcing uh post Arbor Day poster winners. We will also with the mayor's help receive hopefully for the 24th year Tree City USA. So we'll see what Calire says about that. I also want to introduce Bill Natt. He's our vice president of tree loi and Bill just received an honorary award. So some of us in the room are certified arborists. You have to take a state exam. nothing like the attorneys or whatever, but it's pretty prestigious. There's about 50,000 worldwide, so that doesn't sound that big a deal, right, for that many. But Bill just received the the uh urban forester professional award. There's only 1,300 worldwide. So, I want to recognize Bill for that status in our profession. So, give him a hand. Bill will be leading the uh planting. So, Mayor, if you want to bring your favorite shovel, but if you think you're going to get away with not planting because you don't bring your shovel, Bill's going to make sure you have one.

Okay. Okay. Bill, you want to say anything? Say a couple things. Well, I hope uh many of you can make it Saturday. We have a a little different uh approach this year. That's more of a wildlife aspect. We're going to plant 19 trees, but we're also going to put up an owl box. And uh there's going to be somebody there with an owl and what else? A raptor.

A raptor of some sort and another bird. So uh that'll be interesting. Get your picture taken with an owl. I'm sure you'll all appreciate that. Um but hope to all see you all there on Saturday. Thank you. So the next item on our presentations is the presentation of the nonprofit allocation check to the LOI Boys and Girls Club and I will invite U mayor and council member Nakanishi to come present it to the Loai uh Boys and Girls Club. Mr. I want to say something about the Boys and Girls Club. When I first became the city councilman many years ago, uh the city really embraced the Boys and Girls Club. The police chief was the chairman and so forth. They would have banquet every year, fundraiser. And do you know what they did? They would auction a dinner from some made by the city council members. So one of my first job was to uh serve uh here with the city council members, the staff. We have dinner, good wine, and so forth. and Boys and Girls Club has always been in the heart of city loi and Roger Cooper was a publisher of Stock and Record. He's the CEO now. So, if you can say a few words. I just want on behalf of all nonprofits to say during this kind of tough

economic time, uh while a lot of people struggle, the city may economically uh nonprofits feel the reduction in donations. And so we truly appreciate that the city has set aside an allocation for nonprofits in general to uh keep us all going because we we employ a lot of people in the community, but we also provide a lot of services um that may fall through the cracks elsewhere. So we just are very grateful uh as part of the nonprofit alliance here in Lai and thank you very much. Don't try and

for item B3. I'll invite Council Member Craig Hensley um and Mr. and Mrs. Thank you.

I am so pleased. I think a number of you know of the tradition of love Loi for the past decade. um has been supporting efforts throughout the community to clean up, to brighten up, to provide their faith and their feelings, their strong feelings of support for the community. And that has um basically had a engendered a lot of return back. Thousands actually of volunteers show up on that day and we truly appreciate them for that. But the other thing they do that sometimes people aren't aware of is they provide direct assistance to some of our school children. uh whether it's through the backpack drive or whether it's simple things in some of the schools in town where parents and PTAs can't afford to provide um the types of services and symbols that those kids need so much to demonstrate their um uh desire to um connect and be part of their school communities and be part of a team. And so um that's what Love Loi is doing. and that's what Tim and Tara and all of the volunteers uh and the schools are doing together to support our young people. So that's what this funding is for. So thank you guys both. Okay. Um this is such an honor. So good evening um mayor and council members. Um for those of you that may not I moved to Loi um during the COVID time in 2020 and um when we're new here and people move here you you do feel like an outsider and in fact I remember the first time I was called a transplant. Um I didn't even know what that word meant. I had to go look it up and the feeling was real. I felt like an outsider. But Timothy and I carry a deep conviction rooted in our faith that we really truly believe that we were to move to this city and love this city and be in the city for the

city. When we moved to Loi um we first felt called to revitalize a church and we had no idea that the calling was going to be much bigger that it involved the city. Love Loi was something that was already here. came in 2014 and it was had momentum and then the baton was passed to Timothy and I in 2022 and and as Love Loai day approached Timothy and I were educated that the love Loi across the nation actually it's under an umbrella called love your cities it impacts the city in tremendous way with yearround initiatives that are happening and so therefore our attention turned to the schools and as somebody in this city I saw the real need of our schools in particular title one schools. Um it wasn't we saw the impact of of those schools and not just academically but in the intangible things like school pride, culture and a sense of belonging was lacking. And I'll be honest, it forced me to wrestle with something deeper. There are students and even entire campuses that feel like outsiders, forgotten, overlooked, and unseen. And that's just not okay. Council members, you each represent different districts across our city, and I carry a dream that every student in every district would feel loved, that they would experience the same opportunities, whether that's a house shirt, a graduation celebration, a beautiful courtyard, or simply the dignity of having what they need to succeed. Because no student in Loi should feel like an outsider just because they don't have the backpack or the simple supplies or even just to be able to have the pride to walk on campus and see a beautiful courtyard. And that only happens when all of us come together and love our city. And the real love is not just a feeling. It's a decision. A decision to champion the

good of someone else. to save my life for yours. That's what Love Loai is and that's why volunteers at the heart of the city because love is what turns outsiders into insiders. So tonight, I just want to say thank you to Councilwoman Lisa Craig Hinsley. Thank you for believing in this program and seeing the vision and for investing in our adopt a school program. We are committed to working tirelessly so that in every district on every campus, no student feels like an outsider. And when we walk onto a campus and say this school needs a little love, we do it with deep gratitude because partners like you. Every school that is strengthened, every spirit that is lifted, every student who finds belonging happens because a city chose to love. So thank you for helping us love Loi. And at this moment, I I wanted to introduce two principles that we have made an impact in our city. And so at this time, I'd like to introduce Christine from Lawrence Elementary School. if you like to say a couple words.

Hi, good evening. Hope you guys are doing well. Um, I just wanted to share I think it's important when we're supporting um, organizations like Love Loi that you understand the impact and from a different perspective. So, my name is Christine Alberg. I am the proud principal of Lawrence Elementary and I have had the privilege of serving as an administrator for Lawrence for the past five years. During that time, I've developed a deeply meaningful partnership with Love Loai and one that I'm honored to share with you guys tonight. Our connection began with Tara from Love Loai who recognized that some schools in our community, including ours, did not have active PTAs. She saw not just what was missing, but what was possible? She reached out with a simple but powerful question. How can we help? That question sparked a partnership that has made a lasting impact on our students, families, and our staff. One of our earliest wishes was to host a family bingo night, an opportunity to bring our community together in a fun and welcoming way. But due to restrictions on public school funding, events like that can be difficult to support. But Love Loai stepped in without hesitation. Tara, Tim, and their team went above and beyond providing an incredible array of prizes, bikes, helmets, Legos, dolls, fidgets. So many items that were we were able to host multiple bingo nights from that. More importantly, they created moments of joy and connection for our families. Moments that our students still talk about. Their generosity didn't stop there. Because of the abundance of donations, we were also able to support families in need. This past Christmas, we became aware of students who may not awaken to any gifts come Christmas morning. So, quietly and compassionately, our site was able to ensure that those children woke up with something special under their tree. And that is the kind of impact that goes far beyond what we can measure with a dollar sign. Love Loi has also shown up in a hands-on way, beautifying our campus, laying bark, pulling weeds, helping us create a space that reflects the pride that we have in our school. They've helped ensure that every student and family who walks on our campus feel welcomed and valued. A few years ago, we introduced a house system at Lawrence to build community

and a sense of belonging amongst our students. And each child is placed into one of eight houses and becomes a member of a team working together at house meetings and rallies. And a big part of that is identifying with one another and wearing their house shirts on Wednesdays. Wanting to remove any financial barrier, we shared that hope that every student would have a house shirt. Once again, Love Loai made that hope a reality, providing every student with a house shirt. And because of them, every child can fully participate and feel like they belong. While I've shared specific examples of what Love Lo has done, what stands out to me is something far less tangible, but even more powerful. Love Lo has become a steady presence, a partner, a support system, and a reminder to our school community that we are not alone. Their work has strengthened our culture, lifted our families, and reinforced a sense of connection that every school strives to build. Many people think of Love Lo as a single day of service in April, but from where I stand, Love Loai is so much more. And it's an ongoing commitment to caring for our community, to showing up when it matters, and to investing in the people of LOI in meaningful lasting ways. On behalf of the students, staff, and families of Lawrence Elementary, thank you for supporting these kinds of organizations like Love Loi that truly make a difference. We feel that love every day. I'm happy to take any questions from you guys and thank you for your time. How do I follow that? Oh my gosh. Mayor Eupz and council members, my name is Jamie Moso and I'm the proud principal of Heritage Elementary School and I'm in District 4. I'm here to share my deep appreciation for Love Loi and the incredible impact they've had on both Heritage Elementary and my previous school, Borchard Elementary. Through the leadership of Timothy and Tasha Stewart, Love Loi has modeled what true community partnership looks like, bringing people

together to serve, uplift, and create safe, beautiful spaces for our students. Their efforts have not only improved our campuses, but have also strengthened the sense of pride and connection within our school communities. These are just a few things of what Love Loi has done to to make our school a better place. They've coordinated volunteers to develop and maintain our school rock garden, which the students made rocks, and they made a beautiful area to present those rocks without them being picked up and thrown in at a window. Um, pruning plants, weeding, and organizing landscaping materials such as bark and plants, providing hands-on labor to clean, power wash, and restore play areas. Procuring and installing muchneeded signage for Heritage Elementary and our front office. We didn't even have a sign that said where our office was or what our school name was. Um, organizing a truckload of dirt for Borchard Elementary to enhance field conditions, engaging dedicated volunteers, including our own school resource officer and Loi police officer Gerald Bar, and demonstrating a powerful example of community collaboration and care. When you walk out onto our campus and see the pride, safety, and care reflected in these spaces, you can truly feel what is possible when a community invests its time and heart in our schools. So, I too want to say thank you to the board and thank you to Tara and Timothy.

I just want to share something on behalf of uh Superintendent Neil Young. Uh he couldn't be here, but he did want to offer these words. Mary As city council members, on behalf of Lodi Unified, I want to thank Tim and Terara Stewart and the volunteers of Love Loi. The partnership between Lodi Unified and Love Loi truly highlights why our city is so special. To have volunteers focus on our school sites and support the needs of the campuses and this capacity shines a light on the compassion, connection, and pride that the people of Loi have for our city and our schools. Whether it's through receiving backpacks and school supplies or campus cleanups and landscaping projects, our students have been greatly impacted by love loi initiatives. And we're excited to expand this connection through the new adopt to school program. And so I just want to say thank you on behalf of um Superintendent Young, but also myself. Just thank you council mayor, especially Lisa. Um thank you so much. And Love Loies April 25th, so hope to see you out there. We've got 50 to 60 projects, hundreds of volunteers coming out there. So, thank you I got it. All right, we will now move to the

consent calendar. Uh, city clerk, could you please introduce us consent calendar? Yes, mayor. Tonight on our consent calendar, we have items C1 to C9. Um, at this time, staff is requesting to pull item C3. Uh, but otherwise unchanged and therefore we submit it to council for your review and approval. Okay. Any member of the council would like to pull an item from close um from consent calendar. I'm going to pull C9. I am going to recuse myself from that item.

Okay. Uh any other item uh C8?

Okay. Okay. I think those two. So, um let's go into C8 first. So this is just going to be my dispers elementary school when I was a kid there to the capital and it kind of inspired an interest in public service and I learned at their promotion ceremony when I went a few months ago that they no long I guess the district canled these field trips years ago. So anyways we're going to restart them for Beckman and if it goes well hopefully bring it to other schools on my side of town and if there's anybody interested in doing it on theirs to help We're gonna have Senator McN. He's gonna bring them down to the Senate floor followed by a tour of the capital and lunch and a little picnic outside and send them on their way. That's what these fun.

No, that's a great as far as uh where to put those dollars, but also add there's a nonprofit in LOI got kids. Um this would be right up their alley to actually help with that, too. So, I don't know if you're having additional conversations with the district, but um they know who Got Kids is and that be great way to get some funding. So, just throwing it out there. Okay. Um, so I'm going to now move to the public if um do do you any anyone from the public would like to pull an item from consent? Seeing none, we'll vote and uh and all of them except uh C9, right?

C9 and C3. C3. Okay. So, we entertain a motion now. reason why. Madam City attorney, am I able to give a reason why I don't need to? But you don't have to. You can. It's kind of unusual for me. Someone's I Yes. So, Mr. Chris is actually already filed against me. I don't feel like it's ethical for me to actually vote on appointing him to a position.

Oh, that's that's a good point. Okay. I see. All right. Thank you. Okay. So, we have a motion and a second or I only have a motion. Second. Yeah. Okay. And it passes. So now we are going to move to um I will entertain a motion for C9 now. Second.

Yes, that's correct. Okay, then it passes. All right, so now we will move to

So before um council proceeds, I'm going to call council member Bergman back and then I will do the oath for Mr. Anderson. comag it.

Mayor, I don't have any comment cards for non-aggenda items, but you're welcome to open it up to the audience. Yeah. Anybody would like to say in comment on non-aggenda items right now? Seeing none, I'm going to move to cancel. Okay. So then we can move to regular calendar.

All right. So regular calendar, we have two items tonight. Get my bearings here and get to item uh G1, which is to adopt a resolution appointing John Leber Burke as in city attorney and approving the corresponding legal services agreement with the law firm Herm Crabtree and SUNTC. and I will turn it over to our city attorney to provide that report.

Thank you, madam clerk. So, council has uh been meeting following my notification of resignation and uh they have reviewed candidates for the interim city attorney position, interviewed uh last week during a special meeting and selected Mr. Leber as the chosen candidate. We were then directed to negotiate final agreement terms and that item is before you tonight in the legal services agreement. Um it spe identifies that Mr. Lebert would be appointed as the interim city attorney following um current city attorney Lucesy's last day. Weird speaking in third person there but um following that he would step in become the uh interim city attorney while the permanent recruitment is conducted. The legal services agreement provides that his rate would be $385 an hour um and would report directly to council and um have all the other authority that the typical city attorney position would entail. So other than that, I'm available for questions um and can have specifics on the contract if if you all have questions.

Thank you so much. Um does council have any clarifying questions? Seeing none, uh, city clerk, do we have any public comments? Okay. So, I will open for anyone who would like to give a comment on this item. See none, I will entertain a motion. All right. And it passes. So, next item.

Last item tonight is uh mine. It's to adopt uh four resolutions pertaining to the November 3rd, 2026 general municipal election. And I have a very quick PowerPoint presentation that I will share with council and um those that are watching online and here in person. Good evening, mayor and council. Uh, as you are aware, even years are election years. Um, I'm just going to give a brief PowerPoint presentation on this year's election and then open it up for any questions um that you may have or members of the public may have. So, in even numbered years, uh, the city of Loi holds a general election. Uh on March 7th, 2018, the Lurai City Council adopted uh ordinance 194549 establishing and implementing by district elections. Uh elections for all five districts um are staggered. Uh districts one, two, and three are up for uh reelection or election on the same year. And the the the next election for those districts are 2026. And for districts four and and five, uh it will be in 2028. For this year's election, the date is November 3rd, 2026. And again, uh districts 1, 2, and three are up for election. The nomination filing period will be July 13 to August 7th of this

year. And then if there are any incumbents that don't file that particular district, the candidates uh get an extended filing period of uh 5 days, I believe. And the current action before council today is for four resolutions to adopt four resolutions. The first one is to call for an election on November 3rd, 2026. The second is to consolidate the election with Sanwain County registar of voters office. The third is to set a policy for impartial analysis arguments and rebuttal arguments for measures. And the fourth is to adopt regulations regarding candidate statements. And I'm happy to go into more detail into any of those if you wish. Um but that's kind of the election in a nutshell. Happy to answer any question.

Thank you so much. Does council have any clarifying questions for the staff? Uh Breman, I do have on number two, consolidate the election with San County register voters. Can you go over what freedoms we would be losing if any?

So really what the reg what consolidating with the ROV does is gives them the authority to hold the election on our behalf. So they are still bound by the elections code that there would be nothing different. It would be um more time uh it would be more of a time restraint and a budget restraint for city of Lai if we were to hold the election because then we would um we would be pulling our limited staff and resources to to conduct the election ourselves. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions? Do they have a chance to come speak to you and get all the information? Yes, absolutely. Everybody does. What is the process? Let's say I'm running for office. What do you tell me? Can do you tell me I have a time to spend with you answering all the questions? Absolutely. Um candidates are welcome to reach out to me whether contacting uh me through phone or by email. I do usually send like um informational email before we start going down all the forms and then once they kind of take a look at the email uh then we set up a time to sit down and speak and I answer any questions that they may have.

Very good. So every candidate will know what the process is. Yes. I just want to know that. Thank you. Any more questions? I have a question. So are we we talked about this before. Uh we're going to have like a little video like a promotional video so people know that we're like that there is like spots available that they can run for and something like that.

I can double check resources that we have and see if that is something that um are in conjunction with other departments if if okay we can do that. I will say though due to the limited time that we have, we'll we'll do our best. Um if and if we don't get to it this year, we can definitely take a look at it for 2028. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, that I think that uh goes with Mr. McI's comment of informing the public and potential candidates. So that kind of Yes. burst into the information.

Yes. And I have already um had um quick conversations with our public information officer to talk about social media and uh website updates to provide preliminary information to candidates. Just kind of general information and then additional information can be uh obtained from me. I do try to be strategic because I don't want candidates to um get all the information online and then they don't speak to me because then I lose kind of that touch with the candidates because I do walk through with the candidates throughout the whole process. So not withholding information but more of information that could get confusing or could be misconstrued. I would like I do like to go through everything to make sure that they have been given um all the information but also they understand the process the deadlines because if you miss a deadline it's it's done you know and I don't want anyone to go through that.

Yeah. No, I appreciate that because it's a very complicated process and you've been always like on it like you when I was so confused in the process you make sure that I knew what I was doing. So thank you. All right. So uh do we have any public May I have one more question? Yeah I'm asking advice I guess to all of you. I had a email by a patient saying customer do you want to speak to me today? I find out that patient or this person we talked about right so what's what's a good process if candidates want to speak to the uh elected official like myself in the past I would speak to them right oneto one and answer the question that you you should answer

yes so what is what is the uh

yes so part part of it that balancing act because you can speak to what it's like being the council member. I can speak to the process to be to file and to go through the election process. And so it really depends on what kind of information they're looking for. So if they reach out to you and they want to get your experience about what it is to be a council member, what it is to represent the district, what are, you know, challenges, what are benefits, you know, like um not benefits, but what can they expect? I wouldn't be able to answer that. That would be something coming from the elected official themselves. But if it's a process related and especially because there are certain changes to the code throughout the years and so we want to make sure that they have the most updated process and and um forms. That's where you can guide them to me if if they are if they are asking you for something that that really should be coming to the clerk's office.

I do have a question for the legal city attorney. If I had these people who want to speak to me and I make an appointment at city hall, is there any difficulty as far as the law laws voting?

No, you you can definitely uh meet with constituents or set meetings with concerned residents uh at city hall. That's something that's uh always an option for a council member. If there's something that a specific count uh staff member or department task that we always recommend reaching out to the city manager and making sure the staff member that's involved uh is coordinated with and they can be the best person to to assist with that. But yes, you can absolutely always set that meeting up and we do have a council office in city hall for those sort of meetings if you need to. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Any other comments? All right. So, sir cler, do we have any public comments or any comments on this item? I do not have any comment cards. Okay. Will anyone would like to speak on this item? Seeing none, we entertain a motion. I'll make a motion.

I'll second it. All right. And it passes. Seeing no more actions in the agenda, I will adjourn this meeting at 7:47 p.m. See, I did it. He was.