City Council - Regular Meeting

To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please. Granquist Arn here. Web here. McCarthy here. Beckman here. Jensen here. Langy here. Hilderbrand here. Mayor here. This time we'll open the public comment period. Who anyone would like to come forward? Please come forward now.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is David. I just want to be really positive tonight and thank all of you for what you do and how hard it is to do your job. Just please remember to think it out before you answer and vote. But again, thank you for doing your job. Can I applaud him, mayor? Go ahead. Thank you so much. Would anyone else like to come forward? All right, going once.

All right, we're moving on. I need to get a approval of the consent agenda minus item number 23, which will be moving to the full agenda. So move your motion second. Please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries. All right. With that, we'll move on to approval of the full agenda adding item number 23. And removing 37 and 38 and removing 37 and 38. Move that say troop 124. Second.

All right. We have a motion to second. Any other discussion? Seeing none, please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

Okay, with that we'll move on to our special presentations. And the first thing up will be uh what we got? Fair housing proclamation. Whereas April 11th, 2026 marks the 58th anniversary of the passage of the U. US Fair Housing Law, excuse me, title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 as amended, which admunicates a national policy for fair housing without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, sex, family status, and handicap and encourages fair housing opportunities for all citizens. And whereas the Norfor Housing Agency and the Norfor Housing Development Division of the City of Norfor are committed to highlight the Fair Housing Law, Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, by continuing to address discrimination in our community to support programs that will educate the public about the right to equal housing opportunities and to plan partnership efforts with other organizations to help ensure every American of their right to fair housing. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Shane Clawson, mayor of the city of Northfor, Nebraska, by the power vested in me, do hereby proclaim April 26 as Fair Housing Month. Anybody here to receive that? Come forward. Okay.

On this one, I will be passing off to Chief Tai. If you'll come forward,

good evening, mayor, council members. Thanks for inviting us here tonight. Tonight, we recognize an officer who truly represents what it means to be dependable, versatile, and committed to this division. Officer of the year is not about one case, not one arrest, or one moment. It's about consistency. It's about showing up day after day, stepping into whatever role is needed, and doing it at a high level without needing recognition or prompting. Officer Joel Vandro is that officer. Since joining the Norfolk Police Division, he has demonstrated an exceptional work ethic, professionalism, a willingness to take on responsibility wherever the division needs him most. He's the kind of officer that supervisors rely on, peers trust him, and the community benefits from, often without realizing it. Joel is what I would call a Swiss Army knife. There really isn't anything he can't do or won't step into. investigations, patrol, specialized assignments, community engagement, staffing shortages. Whatever the challenge, Joel's there. Over the past year, his contributions have gone far beyond normal expectations. He has volunteered time and again to fill open shifts, often working extended periods to ensure minimum staffing levels were met. That willingness did more than fill gaps. It prevented burnout, supported fellow officers, and kept this division functioning when it mattered most. Professionally, Joel has taken on critical assignments that reflect the trust placed in him by this organization. He has been selected for the Nomad Tactical Response Team, honor guard, field training officer, and peer support

counselor. Those assignments are not given out lightly. They require sound judgment, credibility, and the ability to represent the division at the highest level. His investigative work, particularly in domestic violence cases, shows both diligence and compassion. He understands the seriousness of these cases and treats victims with respect and care while aggressively pursuing offenders. His follow-through has led to successful arrests, including multi- agency efforts that extended beyond state lines. Those results are not accidental. They come from persistence, attention to detail, and a commitment to doing the job right. Just as important as what Joel does is how he does it. He consistently reports to duty with a positive attitude, supports those around him, takes pride in how he represents this division to the public. That professionalism matters. It shapes culture. It raises a standard for everyone. Officer of the year should reflect the values we want others to follow. Service, honor, commitment, teamwork, and reliability. Officer Joel Vandereo embodies those values every single day. It's my honor to present the 2025 officer of the year award to Officer Joel Vandereo. Set this up. This is close.

So, thank you for everything and that was quite a job by Chief Tai and Joel, you deserve all of it. Thanks for all your hard work for our community. Right now we're on to u recognition of former Northeast Community College soccer player Adu Nice. Tonight we are proud to recognize an extraordinary achievement by former Northeast Nebraska college student athlete Adu Nice. Du was selected in the second round of the 2025 MLS Superdraft as the 40th overall pick by FC Dallas, the highest professional draft selection in Northeast athletic history. During his time with the Hawks, Hadoo delivered a truly remarkable performance, recording 48 goals and 49 assists in just 48 49 games. here in first team all region honors twice was two-time NJCAA first team all-American and was named Northeast male student athlete of the year twice as team captain he led the Hawks to the first ever NJCAA national championship in 220 2024 and was named national tournament MVP the same year he was recognized as the United Soccer coach's national player of the year and the ICA AC male athlete of the year, an honor awarded to the top athletes across all sports in the conference. Beyond the statistics and accolades, Adu amplifies his dedication, resilience, and leadership. His work ethic and character have left a lasting impact not only on his team but on the entire Northeast community and the city of Northfor. Please join me in create in congratulating Adun Nie on this historic accomplishment and wish him continued

successes as he begins his professional career with the FC Dallas. Thank you. AND this time we have a short video to present or I think it's not quite what maybe you can. Okay, here we go. Thanks, Councilman Webb, for this video.

Hey, um it's Edward here, uh former student, uh I just I just heard that uh I received a prize, uh from the city of Norolk. So, I just wanted to to send you this video to thank you guys um for the price and just just thanking the city and Northeast in general. Um, you know, when when when I when we talk about Northeast, um, people always ask me the same question, like why Nebraska? Um, and they probably won't understand, but for me, uh, the city of Norolk and also the Northeast, the university in general give me a chance on a kid that that that just came from Belgium from nowhere. Uh, and they they took a chance on me and I'm forever grateful for that. Uh, because that that made me who I am today. and also uh where I am today. Um so I just wanted to thank you guys uh for everything for everything that you guys have done for me uh to the city to the people because this is really a special special place. Nor is for me a special place and I will forever call it home. So I just want to thank you guys uh for everything. All right. All right. We move on to item number of the regular agenda. Item number 23, consideration approval of an interlocal agreement between Stanton County Sanitary Improvement District number one of Stanton County and the city of

Northfor to coordinate the delivery of spray application of brine on roadways within the sanitary improvement district number one of Stanton County Woodland Park. Steve Olitus or Will is Will here? Will Will is not here. Can we?

Yeah. No. A couple months ago, Woodland Park, the some of the administration over at Woodland Park reached out to our street department and asked if if we would provide uh apply and provide the brine uh for a couple streets there. It's it started out as a function of some issues directly around the school. Um Will and I talked about it. I said certainly explore it. I'm not opposed to this. Uh so he went over there and met with uh several individuals as a function of that meeting. They did expand it from one street to to what you see here in this agreement. Um this is secondary to to the city of Norfork and and our needs here. Uh that comes first. This would be second secondary to that. Um, we anticipate a fairly small cost on this. Uh, our plow and drivers about 155 an hour plus the brine, uh, which is a fairly small cost. Um, we don't see this really being more than $3 $400 um, per significant event. I don't think that this would be required on all events, but we want to be a um, certainly recognize some of the needs over there. um and feel very confident that we can support this. Uh we have a we now operate u the street department under an asset management system. Um so everybody's activity every day is built into the u an asset management system in terms of where they are and what they're working on. Whether it's a street break for a utility connection, uh we build those back now based on actual time and materials. Um, this would be the same way. The costs associated this would be built into our asset management system and we'd be billing them for actual time and materials.

Jumped the gun a little bit on this discussion. Can I get a motion in a second to consider this, please? Second. Thank you. All right. Now, Steve, you can make a

Okay. Rinse and repeat. Right. But yeah, so again, Woodland Park had reached out to us probably about six weeks ago, maybe a little bit or maybe maybe a little further back, but engaged this in a conversation. Um, we have no issues uh being able to meet their needs without without any impact on what the city of Northfor requires from us. Steve. Um, what bothers me is we don't have a cost involved in the enclosure. So, when uh Chief Rocky was going into Stanton County to provide ambulance service, um, it was a cost and then some. So, in the enclosure, I would like to see a cost and possibly then some. if we're going to go into a different county and use our man force, our equipment and our product to serve their community that we actually have a cost associated in the in the enclosure. And I'm not so sure that we have to say, well, we just have to cover our cost because there's a depreciation value there too with our equipment. So, I think with the enclosure, I would like to see in a cost with it.

Okay. So, we know that that's what we're charging. That's what we're doing. That's the reason. So, And what is the time frame of the contract? I I don't believe there's a time frame on the contract. It would it would be um going forward and unless it was counsledled by either us or or the Woodland Park folks, it would just exist.

That was kind of my question along with Justin's because as costs increase or or rates increase, you know, if do we have to new do a new contract every single time or how do we cover our costs? We again it's it's our it's our our our hourly rates are what's built into the system. So as our hourly rates go up the the numbers that are in our asset management system would go up automatically. Okay. Okay. Thank you. So we would always be recovering that cost.

Actual cost. I just see how more and more, you know, whether it's public transportation, ambulance services, now our road crews are going into Stanton County. So, I just like if we're going to start doing this, um I don't think it's a break even situation. You know, we're taking citizen assets out of Norolk, applying them to citizens that don't live in Norfolk. I just feel like we should have that in the enclosure as far as cost and pricing. Do you want to make a recommendation on what you want to see as a plus? I think that that's way above my pay grade.

I do think though Justin mentioned I think Steve, we probably we we do need to put a depreciation cost in here. I mean, if we add on if we're adding on 20 miles every event, I mean, still 20 miles every event, I get I get paid for, you know, I I mean, I get a tax credit for that for all my mileage. So, I think it's only fair that we would get something to for that appreciation piece. Okay. We'll we'll take it back and visit with visit with our CFO and and um take those items into consideration and bring a revised contract back or agreement back.

So, we want to see a billable rate. I guess I'm hearing this right. A billable rate and then depreciation and brine usage estimate I suppose. Yeah. trying to pinpoint where we're all going. Well, we'll we'll sit down and run through, you know, run through those calculations, depreciation calculations, and you I couldn't tell you sitting here right now whether that $100 includes that or not. Or would that be a per per linear foot of road usage deal? I'd say it's just by it's based on it's based on actual brine used. I understand

whether it's a gallon, you know, are we measure the gallons in our rigs. We know how many gallons we put in

so that if we have a cost put in there, uh do we have to have some kind of a term limit on the contract or something in there as costs rise for us that we're able to increase those costs to pass it on? the the cost the costs the the perpetuality of the contract would should recognize you know again it's if we're using our asset management system and we we modify those costs every year as costs go up. So the dollars coming the dollars coming out of that system that we would use to invoice Woodland Park would reflect current current cost and as long as they're Yeah. So,

we're going to table this. You want to table this then and we'll bring it back. Well, or you just want to vote it down? I was just going to say it'd be better to vote it down. If we know that this is not the version, we are going to approve because if we table it the same version, we'll come back. I agree with that. I'm I'm I'm Yeah. Okay. Fine. So, any more discussion? Any member of the public? Any thing? Okay. Please vote. All council members present voting in opposition. Motion fails. Okay. Moving to our regular agenda. Item number 30. 28. 28. What?

28. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Sorry. Thinking of that national championship game tonight. 7 o'clock. All right. Public hearing and related action item number 28. Uh this is a public hearing. Need to open a hearing to discuss the uh request from Elliot Zach to consider zoning change from agricultural district to RRidential District on a property address at 1917 North 49th Street.

Okay. So, I'll introduce Start and probably call you out. Okay. Yeah. Go ahead.

So, I've brought up the highlighted piece of property here. It is approximately 35 acres and I'll bring up the zoning map here. So, we are looking at this piece right here on uh 49th Street. Um this approximately 35 acre property is located in the northwest area of our ETJ. This is the second request to reszone the property from agricultural to RR. The same request was submitted by the previous owners in October of 2021 with the intent of creating creating three large residential parcels. That request was not approved by city council at that time. The intent of RR zoning is to be located within the last half mile of the ETJ line with larger lots located farther from the city limits. This approach helps support a more efficient pattern of growth for the city and also for the residents of larger RR lots to remain undisturbed and without very significant assessments for as long as possible. This concept is also indicated in the comprehensive plan for the area called west entrance district which says that this that large lot residential development should be discouraged so that the extension of city services can proceed and facilitate future development within the district with the intent of RR zoning and the guidance provided in the comprehensive plan. This request does not align with the plan. The new owner said their current intent is to split off a 10 plus acre lot. So there would be two large lot residential parcels. One house is currently under construction on the property which is permitted as it is a lot of record of 35 acres in a zoning even though it is slightly below the minimum lot size of 40 acres. if there's any questions for me or the owners are here for any questions. Also,

Val, before before did you I believe when this was first presented to planning commission, you did advise as as the planning director, you did advise that this was going to be a difficult move forward or that I don't remember your exact words, but I do think you provided some advice to the before they bought the property relative to is

yes. They asked me prior to purchasing the property about putting a second residence on there and it was not allowed at the time and I did give them direction that this was uh a denial for the same essentially request a few years before they bought it. And Val, could you just kind of for the public um can you explain some of the coloring uh on your map and identify the location of this property? So the green is all agriculturally zoned. And so the lightest RR, the lightest yellow is RR. And then you get into the darker yellow and that is like the R1 standard city zoning. And this piece of property is right up in here. Bill, can you switch that back to that um the assessor's map that way that shows a bunch of the other properties that are hanging around in there that way?

As I I looked at the assessor's map u and saw that, you know, there's those ones that are noted as cups. There's a bunch of those are single family residentials from what I'm seeing

on the property owners on that and directly north of it is a couple single family residentials that are smaller in smaller in size than even the purported and to the south of it is a is a single family residential area. So even though it it's not recommended, I'm I'm just seeing for some reason a lot of that's developed on out that way. Am I I mean that's

those most likely developed when egg had a smaller lot size associated with it and when it was probably in not in our jurisdiction potentially too. So that's how probably most of them got out there cuz at one point I believe a was even down to a lot of years ago like 15,000 square feet or something back in like the 70s. So that's probably how a lot of them ended up out there and still in egg would be my assumption. Okay. because that that's what I was I mean that's what I was noticing in that in that half mile area or you know um going lots to the east and to the west there's there's a ton of single family situations in there.

Yeah. And as the time progressed, we kind of learned probably how fast we were growing, not how fast we were growing. And it agricultural minimum lot sizes have grown over the years from that 15,000 up to 10 acres to 20 to to 40. Thank you.

All right. Anybody else want to come forward now? I'm sorry. Anybody else come forward? Tell me the time. Val, what constitutes as agricultural? What do you mean? Sorry. I mean I mean the ground out there is anything but farmable. Pasture crops. I mean you can do pretty much anything in egg. I mean if you Yeah. So, not just crops, but if you want animals and and things like that, you can do that in egg also. Okay. Thank you.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Elliot Zach. Uh, this is my father, Ron, Zach. Um, this is my property here. Um, I know I got to meet a lot of you one-on-one over the last couple weeks. Um, so I appreciate all your time. Um, basically what I want to do here is I just want to split off a small part for my parents to build on. Um, I work here in town. I own Northfor Specialties, Inc. I employ about 18 or 20 local people here. Um, a year and a half ago, my father and I purchased a business out of Columbus. Uh, we temporarily moved it up here into my building. Um, so both just kind of looking to get closer into Northfor, put our roots here. Um, I would say that if we are able to put that second business here, we're looking at between four and six families that are looking to move to Northfor uh, and settle down here as well. Um, part of this also is, uh, I provide some secondary care next to my parents for one of my younger brothers, um, who has some disabilities, some social anxiety, things like that. Looking to get closer to Northfor, services for him. Um, this property is really ideal for that within walking distance of each other. Um, being a quieter rural setting is definitely a beneficial deal for all of us. Um, basically, we're just wanting to get into Norfork and put our roots down here and, uh, grow our families.

Yep. And I'm Ron Vak again. Elliot stated I'm Elliot's dad. So, uh, one thing I want to say is, uh, yeah, I mean, we want you to make room for one more family. That's us. We want to be part of Northfor. We want to contribute to the community. We are progressively already. My goal is to grow our business, which we already doubled in one year, to double it again if if we can. And uh, right now I I have two options left. We need a secondary caregiver. We've noticed that in the last 6 months it's going to be my son Elliot or my daughter who's talking about moving to Columbus and putting an acreage there. I prefer to be in Northwork cuz it works together. Me and Elliot working together with his business is working great for us right now. I've been here since a year ago July. And uh my hope is that uh we go with option A that's moving to Northfor. We want to be part of the community. We want to keep contributing to the community. And that being said, I think my daughter says if you're going to Northwork, I'm going to Northfor and her husband. So, uh, like Elliot said, we are expanding rapidly. We want to grow his business and mine together. We're already talking about expansions and I see nothing but positive in the community. I have brother that works here. He works for Northfor High as a teacher. And I got one brother that's here. He works for the Northfor Police Department. So, we're very aware of Northfor, what's going on here. We're very familiar with it and we want to be part of it. Uh again, the rural area is best for our family close to Elliot or my daughter, but rural is the best for my son. You know, out of the city limits would make it much better for us. Um again, we've learned that more in the last 6 months to a year than we have two years ago when Elliot bought the property. So, that's really a big reason we want to be here and be part of the community.

I would also add to that as well. um on the property currently. Um I'm about halfway through building a house on the middle of it as we speak. Um I know that development is kind of a concern with it. Um you know, as long as I'm here, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that I own that property until I die. But we are setting it up in a way that uh the lot we would do for them is set up so that other lots could be sold next to them. If in 50 years from now when I'm gone and they want to if somebody wants to sell it and develop it, it's easy for that. Um, I also know another concern was uh the assessment of utilities running through. Um, that was brought up a couple times. Um, I guess on that I do understand that. Um, regardless of whether this gets passed or not, if that comes through, I'm going to have to pay that assessment. So, um, that is also an understanding that we have of this whole whole project.

Yeah, and I agree with that, Elliot. I mean, if we both do share and the utilities come through, we don't have a say anyway. We're going to pay for the we're going to we're going to be asked by the city to pay for those utilities anyway, and we're both in agreement. If that comes to that, that's what we're going to do. I mean, that can be stated right now in black and white and it'll be the cost of what it is when that happens. So, we're good with that. Yep. But again, yeah, regardless if it comes through, I'm going to have to to uh take that assessment on whether he's there or not. So, yeah. Any questions? Okay. Thank you for having us. Thank you.

Any more questions? Any questions from anybody else in the public this evening? Any more questions from council? I do have a question. U Val, so this particular property is more than a mile outside of our city limits. Is that right? It is.

It's about a mile and a half away from RETJ. So this is where they are right up against this road. These red lines are the miles. So this would be your mile and then there's your half. Any more questions? All right. I need the planning commission report.

The Norfor Planning Commission held a public hearing on March 17, 2026 to consider a zoning change from a agricultural district to RRidential District on property addressed as 1917 North 49th Street. The planning commission recommends approval of the request with the 5 to3 vote. So that was an approval at 5 to three. Correct. Okay.

Nope. We should be one until 28 29. Yeah, we'll close the hearing. Move on. Item number 29, consideration of ordinance number 5975, approving a zoning change from a property agricultural district to RR rural residential district on a property addressed as 1917 North 49th Street. I would move for approval of ordinance number 5975. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. And any more discussion? Okay. Anything? Anyone? Okay. Short title, please.

An ordinance of the city of Norfor, Madison County, Nebraska, amending the zoning district map of the city of Norfor, Nebraska, providing when this ordinance shall be in full force in effect, and providing for the publication of this ordinance in pamphlet form. All right. Please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5975 carries on first reading. Seeing no opposition, I'll make a motion that we suspend the rules and pass on second and third. I'll second that. We have a motion to second. Any discussion?

Seeing none, please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5975 carries on second and third. Okay. On to our regular agenda. Item number 30. Consideration approval of a change order number one with Russians construction for the west for the water pollution control plant screw pump lift station and flood berm project resulting in a net increase of $20,69924. I'll offer consideration the approval of change order number one with Rutens Construction.

All right, we have a motion to second um on discussion. Rob will be leading us. Good evening, mayor and councel. Uh I'm asking for approval of change order uh number one with regrets construction for the WPC screw pump lift station and flood broom for the sum of $20,69924. On February 3rd, 2025, the mayor council awarded a 2,513,1 or $77 contract with Russians construction for WPC um plant, screw pump, lift station, and flood burn project. Change order number one provides for the addition of tariffs on the screw pump and gear reducers after the project was bidded. And um for that's $15,29746 and for the over excavation of unsuitable fill uh installing of geog grid and crushed concrete for the pumping stations. Um the structure this was unknown at the time. Uh the soil was unknown at the time for uh $5,324.78 resulting in a revised contract amount for 2,533,69924. Be happy to answer any questions you have about uh the change or the project.

Can you give us an update on the project, Rob? How's it going? I was out there the other day. It looks like the project's coming along very good. uh wretches have been great to work with. We've been able to work through a lot of different things out there. Um the probably target date to finish would be probably right in June. So, they're moving along really good. This project's gone very smooth. So, uh again, I can't say enough about Reg has been great to work with. We've worked through a lot of different things. There's been a lot of different things that popped up. I think uh the charging for the over excavation was way under. So, um yeah. Super happy with them. Rob, the uh crushed concrete, are we taking it out of our pile or we haven't paid for it?

This we didn't at that particular time when we're doing we did not have any crushed concrete available. The pile have been used up. Now we do have crushed concrete otherwise we would be using and we've been utilizing on some of the other projects. So a little bit here and there. Any other questions or any other discussion? Any members from the public have anything on this? All right. Seeing none, please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

That's where you guys get it snagged up over the 24 cents. All right. On to now. Item number 31. Consideration approval. Tough crowd by the way. Approval of the change order number one with um Sheil, was it Sheilleton. Sheila Kaitton Construction LLC for the Northfor Police Facility renovation and expansion. Um the project resulting in net increase $35,634.

Motion a motion for Sheille Kaden. I sold move your second. I motion second. Steve, would you please leave this discussion here?

Yep. Mayor and Council, I know this was in the agenda pack as part of the summary, but I'll go ahead and read this um just for for the public as as well as yourselves. Um this is a change order uh change order number one on a police station renovation and expansion for $35,634. It consists of multiple change order requests. I'll kind of run through those. Um, number one, uh, when we opened up the sanitary sewer system on the outside of the building to tie the, uh, the renovation and expansion to, uh, this the existing sewer was collapsing. And so, we made, uh, we wanted to go ahead and replace that all the way to the sewer main so we didn't have to come back in the future and fight additional collapses. Uh number two, uh we added a stair nose to the stair treads and I think Captain or Chief Tai is here. He can probably answer more questions around that. But um the architectural the architect team and build team brought a conversation to us. um visiting with Chief Tai, Captain Bower, and myself, we felt more comfortable going ahead and adding the stair nose as a function of future wear and tear um by the heavier shoes and boots worn by the police department. Um the next one, concrete sealer on the new concrete parking lot on the south side of the building. Uh that was set up as as a traditional concrete pour with uh curing compound. We wanted to be able to access that parking lot uh as soon as it was ready, which was going to be during the winter and just to protect protect the new concrete from the salts uh and deicing chemicals. Uh we wanted to seal that up uh so we didn't have future issues with

scaling. Um the south sidewalk removal, I I apologize here. I I say it's along Fifth Street. It's actually a long brush, but um we were the original plans, we did not feel when we were doing the working with the architectural team and reviewing those, we did not feel it was going to be necessary to remove the entire sidewalk between the new approach and the existing east approach. Uh once we got in there and um started working on demo and and clearing the trees, um it was you could see that there was uh clearly some some cracking inside the existing concrete. And so um again with the contractor on site um now would now was the appropriate time to go ahead and replace that so we didn't have to come back and deal with heaving or or anything else in the future. um door strikes and uh and position switches. Originally, as we structured the contract, um we had the door switch mechanisms outside of the Sheilei Kaitton contract. We were going to bring that in as part of our security uh improvements to the facility. working with Sheila Kaitton, um it was highly desirable to combine the door strikes with the door frames and uh accomplish all that within within the contract. Um it just within the contract we have all the right people at the table at the right time and so it really streamlines that conversation and uh the the interconnection that has to be done with that. Um, finally, uh, there's a backflow pre that needs to be added. Uh, when apparently when this building was built, uh, it did not have a backflow pre on the sprinkler system that was not, uh, apparently not

recognized during the design process. Um, but as a function of new code with the expansion, uh, we needed to add that backflow pre. So, those items uh again add up to $35,634. And if you have questions, be happy to answer those. So, Steve, the uh nosings are are they cast iron or are they vinyl? I'm going to have to I don't know. Do you know, Chief? Yeah. Okay.

I I don't know. He doesn't I mean the cast iron would last a lot. It would outlast vinyl but and then the only other thing that I was wondering about so um the um A&E firm didn't pick up on the fact that there was no backflow preenter in there. I'm going to I'm going to say no in that um apparently when we when we visited with our water department about that at one time the back pre was not required either that was a function of square footage or or what it was uh we did not catch that during the review process that is a function of current code and the expansion that it would be required. So,

right, we missed it. The architect missed it. That's not considered underneath their error omissions.

So, in the architect world, we we monitor change orders throughout the project. Uh, your AIA contracts um start to flag that. If those start to exceed about a percent, percent and a half, you really start to question that. But um with this being the first one uh and at this this size um it's not really a red flag to us yet. Um, so if we were to see other other errors that you know that are errors um by the architect, you know, we do track those throughout the project and again

they start to hit that percent and a half um we have more serious conversations with them. But what what what I tell people what one of the comments,

you know, your AIA contract documents, your CJCDC contract documents very recognizes you can't afford to get a project to 100% correct. You just can't afford it. That last percent and a half is going to cost you as much in design as the first 98%. Right? So when we build projects and build projects budgets, that's why we have contingency. We know we're going to find things. Do we want them to go much above a percent and a half on the errors and omission side? No. Um, but we recognize that they're probably going to be some errors in there.

But I guess that was the only thing I was getting at is that we are tracking that u again because this will be, you know, we're we probably two years yet before this wraps up. So, you know, we are I would say we have made based on where we are, we're out of the ground um because of the old rail yard that went through there. We know based on other projects, the parking lot expansion, uh which which you were part of, um we know there's a potential for a lot of stuff there and unknown conditions today. They're known because we've been through there with other projects recently. Um, but there still is an unknown component to exactly what you're going to hit in there. At one point we are trying to figure out is the old well still on site. Is the old well capped and abandoned? Is it still there? Um, so those things those things happen and uh again we we're beyond a lot of the unknown on this. The building's open. We've made connections. Uh, you know, we know at this point were the asbuilts accurate or not in terms of how the building was put together. Um, so this being our first change order, many of these being um requested by the owner just for quality control on the project, I I think we're in pretty good shape. Again, we are tracking um with this change order. We still have 440,866 in project contingency. I would say probably here um midsummer I expect we'll be able to cut that contingency in half even if we haven't used any and you know pull that aside. So I I think I think we're the projects really proceeded well uh and positioned well to come in um significantly under our our current budget. And I didn't really have a problem with any of it as as long as we were tracking

it. And and uh yeah, that's if you've been along around here a long time, you know what was on that site. And I would say, you know, what we bring is the stuff that we really want to move forward with. What you don't see is all the all the conversations that we do have with the contractor. Um, you know, they cut a door on in on the north side, relocated the door for us for for prisoner purposes. Uh, they did all that work at no charge. I was probably 20 $25,000 worth of work and laid new sidewalk to to access that site. And those things, you know, those are some of the things we just worked through with the contractor and they happen.

Any other questions? public. Anybody? Okay. Seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries. All right. On to item number 32. Consideration ordinance number 5976 creating paving district number 524 providing for paving for South Chestnut Street. I'll offer for consideration ordinance number 5976.

Second. Your honor, at this time I'd like to advise you that since the Chestnut Street is adjacent to my property and we're going to be seeing some assessment on that that I will not be I will be abstaining from voting on items 32, 33, 34, and 35. Yeah. So, okay. All right, Steve. Wait, did we get a motion second? We did. Okay. Is it We have a second. Yep.

Mayor and Council, uh 32 here is a paving district. So, about a year ago, we were contacted by a company wanting to build a truck wash uh on South Chestnut uh on the map associated with the back of this. That would be parcel 4, HH LLC, directly south of Road Builders. um as a function of buying that property, they requested uh sent in a letter requesting a pavement district, water district, and sewer district. And so based on that, we we've put those three districts together and have them on the agenda tonight. This is the paving district. This particular district would have two parcels participating. Uh parcel one uh and parcel four. We would intend to advertise these and have this constructed around midsummer.

Okay. Steve or Jim can't say anything, but I bet you're kind of shocked that that's ever was ever going to get paved back there. But anyway, you can't say and I'm just making that. Yeah, it's been that way for a lot of years. Had probably a lot of look at that property over the years, too. There has been. There was a apparently yeah there was one of those pieces of property to the south turned over this summer and yeah there was a lot of interest in that in in all of that area down there. Okay. Any other discussion for Steve on item number 31 or I'm sorry 32? Anybody members of the public? Okay. Seeing none, please vote. Short title

or short title, please. Right. an ordinance creating paving district number 524 in the city of Northfor, Nebraska, ordering the construction of street improvements therein and ordering the publication of this ordinance in pamphlet form. Now you can vote.

Voting in the affirmative, McCarthy, Arn Jensen, Web, Hildebrand, Beckman abstaining, Langy ordinance number 5976 carries on first reading. I'll make a motion to suspend the rules and wave the second and third readings. Second. Okay, we have a motion, a second to spend the rules. Any other discussion? Seeing none, please vote.

Voting in the affirmative. McCarthy, Arns, Jensen, Web, Hildebrand, Beckman abstaining. Langi. Ordinance number 5976 carries on second and third. That moves us on to item number 33, consideration of ordinance number 5977 creating a sanitary sewer extension district number 260, which provides for the extension of sanitary sewer main along South Chestnut Street. All for consideration of ordinance 5977. Second.

Okay, we have a motion to second. Steve, would you leave us some discussion? and council. This would be creating a sewer district to serve parcels four and two on the map. Um, initially we were just going to do a district here for parcel 4 when we visited with parcel two. Uh, they were they were also interested in sewer service and they have provided a letter. It's not in your packet, but we do have a letter. It was dropped off a couple days ago requesting both the water and sewer district. Um, so we will extend sewer um far enough there to the south for them to connect to and then they would be assessed. Parcel five, um, if when that parcel would connect, they would pay a connection fee. Parcels one and three are already connected. Any more discussion? Any questions for Steve? Any members of the public? Questions for Steve? All right, short title, please.

An ordinance creating sanitary sewer extension district number 260 in the city of Norfor, Nebraska, establishing the outer boundaries of the district, designating the size, location, and terminal points, referring to the plans, specifications, and engineers estimate and connection therewith, and to provide when this ordinance shall be in full force in effect, and to provide for publication of this ordinance. Right. Please vote. Voting in the affirmative. McCarthy Arns Jensen Web Hildebrand Beckman abstaining Langy. Ordinance number 55 5977 carries on first reading.

Seeing no opposition, I would ask that we suspend the rules of second and third reading. Second.

All right. A motion to second to spend the rules. Any discussion? Seeing none, please vote. Voting in the affirmative. McCarthy Arns Jensen Web Hildebrand Beckman abstaining Langy. Ordinance number 5977 carries on second and third. This is item number 34, consideration of ordinance number 5978, creating water extension district number 134, which provides the extension of the water main on South Chestnut Street. I would introduce ordinance number 5978. Second.

Motion a second. Steve, would you please lead the discussion?

Mayor and council, this is the water district, water extension district for South Chestnut. Uh I draw your attention to the map. On there, we have three parcels participating in this. Parcel three, roadbuilders, parcel four, HH LLC, and parcel two, U Miguel Fino. Uh again, Miguel Fostinos had submitted a letter requesting uh the connection district as well as parcel 4. Parcel 3 um we have an agreement with them back when sewer water was extended uh to their parcel many years ago. It was only extended about halfway through the parcel. And so they at that time pro um signed an agreement indicating that they would participate in the cost of extending it to the southern boundary of their property when that time came. Um so therefore they are included in the con in the district in the assessment district. Parcel five they'll pay a connection fee uh in the future when they would connect. Any questions?

Any questions for Steve? Any discussion for the audience? All right. Short title, please. An ordinance creating water extension district number 134 in the city of Northfor, Nebraska, establishing the outer boundaries of the district, designating the size, location, and to terminal points, referring to the plans, specifications, and engineers estimate connection therewith to provide for this when this ordinance shall be in full force in effect, and to provide for publication of this ordinance. All right, please vote. Voting in the affirmative. McCarthy Arns Jensen Webb Hild Debrand Beckman abstaining Langy. Ordinance number 5978 carries on first reading.

I'd make a motion that we suspend the rules and pass ordinance number 5978 on second and third. Second. We have a motion and second to suspend the rules. Anybody else have any other discussion on that? All right. Seeing none, please vote. Voting in the affirmative. McCarthy Arns Jensen Web Hildebrand Beckman abstaining Langi ordinance number 5978 carries on second and third.

All right. I move item number 35 consideration approval to advertise for bids for the water extension district number 134, sanitary sewer extension district number 260, and pave paving district number 524. I'll offer for consideration the approval to advertise for bids for the water extension district 134 260 and 524 second. All right, we have a motion to second. I just Steve would lead us in discussion again.

Yeah, mayor and council. This is the permission to advertise for the districts uh just approved paving, water, sewer. Um, this is a combined project, so it's one one bid. Thank you. Any other discussion from anybody out in the public? All right, seeing none, um, please vote.

Voting in the affirmative. McCarthy, Arens, Jensen, Web, Hildebrand, Beckman obstaining. Langy. Motion carries. Okay, that moves us item number 36, uh, consideration of ordinance number 5979 to amend section 2-5 of the city code updating tire disposal fees.

Need a motion. Yes. I move consideration of ordinance um 5979 updating the proposal fees. Second. I have a motion second. Rob Mercer is going to be right there. He's going to lead us in discussion.

Good evening. This is uh for the city code. The solid waste fees currently light car and truck tires are recycled. at a fee of $7.25. We're proposing to raise that to $10 each. And semi trucks, skid loaders, irrigation, race car tires are $20 and we're going to raise that to $35. Um, we're also changing some verbiage in there where there are semi- tires that are twice the size of a normal tire. They're called super savers. So, if a tire is double size, it is double cost. Currently, we also, if it's on a rim, it's a double cost. Uh, that's not going to change. And we're also removing tracks from the verbiage. Tracks can go into the garbage and not a tire. Um, I'll answer any questions.

Rob, is this rate increase because of the the cost that we have to dispose of them? are the people we use are true recyclers. Uh that was set up back in 94 when it was originally when when the transfer station was created. They wanted to recycle tires and so very few tire businesses recycle tires. The people we use uh all your groundup tires on your football stadiums come from them and they put it in asphalt. None of it gets landfilled. And they have uh increased their tonnage price per ton. It was $446 a ton and they've increased that to $517 in January. And it was easier to keep up when they charged us per tire. They quit that. Now they charge us per ton. So, it's harder to keep up with the fees on what it's really costing us.

This is a crazy question, but since they're charging per ton, do we want to charge per ounce or per weight per pound of per tire? That would be pretty tough to do because people, we had a rolloff truck come in today, had five tires in the load that we dug out. Oh. Uh, okay. Yeah. A lot of the tires delivered with garbage. Have you ever had the like a tire taking day set up where people did that in Madison County three years ago? Good turnout and poor turnout. Uh if I had to ask about it, I guess it probably wasn't. Yeah, it it and we went with Madison County. Okay.

Uh probably due for another one. You know, you you have to have an area to do it. To do a citywide one, we really don't have an area to do it. That's why we joined Madison County in doing it. So, we did it at the fairgrounds, but I think we only had like uh short of 30 ton and we were hoping for 60 tons in that collection. Thank you. Any other discussion? Discussion with the public. Right. Seeing none. Short title, please. an ordinance of the city of Norfor, Nebraska to amend section 2-5 of the official city code to update tire disposal fees to provide when this ordinance shall be in full force in effect and to provide for the publication of this ordinance in pamphlet form.

All right, please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5979 carries on first reading. I'll make a motion to suspend the rules and wave the second and third readings. Second.

I have a motion to second. Any other discussion? Seeing none, please vote. See one. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5979 carries on second and third. All right, we are on to the U item number 39, presentation of the annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ended September 30th, 2025 along with the related auditor's letter. Yeah, Randy, you'll be leading the way here.

All right,

turn it over to you. Um, I'm going to focus on the citywide financial statements, and that's on pages 225 and 226 of the agenda packet. These city-wide statements consist of the statement net position, which would be similar to balance sheet for a private business, statement of activity, similar to an income statement for a private business. And like a private business, generally accepted accounting principles require that uh a full acral basis be used. Also included in the agenda packets is the fund level financial statements for the proprietary funds. The fund level statements are prepared on a full acral basis like that in the citywide statements. Um the prop proprietary statements include business type activities of the city's utility funds, water, sewer, solid waste which is our transfer station and storm water utility. Also includes the internal service fund which is where we account for the city's group health insurance fund. Fidiciary funds are also included on the acrruel basis and these primarily consists of the city's four retirement plans, the police plan, fire plan, general employees plan, and 457 deferred comp plan. Everything else including the general fund, special revenues funds, debt service fund, capital projects fund are governmental funds and are reported on a modified acral basis which focuses on measurable spendable resources. It's similar to the cash basis statements except it includes short-term assets and liabilities such as routine receivables and payables. We also report funds on the cash basis.

Since Nebraska law requires budgets re prepared on a cash basis, we have to do our budgetary comparison statements on a cash basis. As I indicated earlier, I'm going to focus on the citywide financial statements. And I'll start with the statement of activities on page 226 of the agenda packet, which is the city's income statement. Essentially on the top part top part of the statement of activities of various government functions are listed down the left hand column such as public safety, library, solid waste. The expenses on a full ac cruel basis including depreciation are in the next column for each of these functions. For instance, public safety expense was 16.7 million and by far the largest activity of the city. This expense is related to the city's police, fire, EMS, emergency management, 911 dispatching. The next three columns are program revenues derived from operation of these functions broken down into three categories. Continuing to use public safety as the example, charges for services include $1.6 $6 million which are ambulance fees, charges for 911 service, uh Stanton County and the village of Hoskins charges the North Fork Rural Fire District and various other public safety related fees such as tow and storage charges and charges for testing blood alcohol. Operation grants and contributions for public safety were 1.1 million. And these are things like Madison County's share of dispatch services, mutual finance organization funding from the state for fire service, Norfolk public schools contribution for school resource officers and various other

small grants such as federal EMP EMPG grants for region 11 and local contributions to region 11, our wireless 911 allocation from the state. We also had 95,000 of capital grants and contributions for equipment grant. Subtracting these program revenues from public safety expenses gives a net cost to public safety last year of 13.9 million compared to 11.8 million in the prior year. This 2.1 million increase is primarily the result of increased police personnel cost. About half of this was the police personnel settlements which were 1,ion35,000 after changing the uh command personnel police division was able to fill positions that have been vacant for years also increasing police personnel cost there. There was a 2 and a half% colon 3% increase in group health insurance premiums that all the departments had. Total program revenues for governmental activities increased 1.1 million, going from 19.5 million last year to 20.6 million this year. Operand grants and contributions increase 3.7 million primarily due to $3.6 million increase and tax increment financing proceeds for the Bradford Business Park and Foundry Apartments redevelopment projects. Partially offsetting this increase is a $2.8 8 million decrease in capital grants and contributions due to funding received in the prior year for Johnson's Park. All the governmental activities had net expense as you would expect. The biggest variances in park and wreck which showed net expense of 4 million compared to only 89,000 last year which is because

of the large amount of c capital contributions in the prior year. The largest part of which was for the Johnson Park project. Program revenues from business type activities were 16.8 million which increased 8 million or almost 5% from the prior year. About 87% of business type activity program revenues as use fees for water, sewer, solid waste and storm water. We had an increase in water rates of 6.25% 25% residential and commercial sewer rates of 3.5% and industrial sewer rates of 8% all effective on October 1 of 2024 at the start of the fiscal year. Expenses for business type activities increase 1.1 million or 10.4% going from 10.5 million last year to 11.6 million this year. This increase is partially due to $221,000 of bond issuance cost and $269,000 of interest expense on the $16 million combined utilities revenue bonds issued to fund improvements. The Westwater treatment plant and water pollution control plant. Personnel costs increase 163,000 due to 2 and a half% cost living adjustment 3% increase in group health premium. As I mentioned earlier, repairs and maintenance increase for 88,000 primarily due to Eastwater plant, chlorine, scrubber maintenance, well electric work, and repairs to the sewer vector. All the city's business activities had net revenue with an increase in net position of 6.3 million. The bottom half of the statement of activity shows the general revenues used to pay for the net expense of the governmental activities. We had 31.4 million of general revenues to pay for the $28 million net program cost of

governmental activities resulting in a 3.4 million increase in the position for the governmental activities. Our biggest general fund revenue by far is sales tax. increase 1,914,98 or 15.53%. This is due to the uh approval by voters on November 2024 election of a half cent sales tax increase to fund the police station addition and renovation. Any remaining funds after that will go towards street improvements. asset increase went into effect April 1, 2025 and generated $2,56,292 of sales tax revenue this year. The existing 1 and a.5% sales tax actually decreased $141,000. So far in the current fiscal year, which will end September of 2026, receipts for the existing one and a half sales tax are up 121,000 or 3.5% from the same period last year. city's next largest revenue source is property tax which is basically unchanged from fiscal year 2324. We had an increase in incess valuation of 8.1% but we kept the city's property tax asking the same which lowered the levy rate 2.2 cents. The third largest general fund revenue source is from least of our distribution system NPPD that increased 181,000 almost 4%. We get 12% of MPPPD revenues for use of the cityowned electrical distribution system and NPPD increased retail rates 2% effective January 1, 2025. Expenses for business type activities increased 1.1 million or 10.4% going from 10.5 million last year to 11.6

million this year. This increase is partially due to the $221,000 of bond issuance cost and $269,000 of interest expense for the $16 million combined utilities bond issue. the personnel cost increased 163,000 and um we had other cost as I mentioned earlier of repairs and maintenance. The net result of all this is shown at the bottom of the city's um net position statement or statement of activities which shows net position increasing almost 9.8 million. Our net position went from 211.1 million last year to 220.9 million at the end of fiscal year 25. This carries forward the statement of net position on page 225 of the agenda packets which is the city's balance sheet. As you can see at the bottom of the statement of net position, the city's investment in capital act says increased 4.1 million going from 141 48.1 million at the end of fiscal year 24 to 152.3 million at the end of fiscal year 25. Largest project in the current year was completion of Benjamin Avenue reconstruction. This was a multi-year project. White and Benjamin Avenue from four lanes to five from 1st to 13th Street. This project added 17.2 million to infrastructure this year. Most of which was in construction in progress in the prior year. So that increase was uh the amount we added to fixed assets for Benjamin Avenue. We utilize what was already in capital projects. We had another large project completed this year which was a riverfront project that consisted of for street bridge replacement northfork river

rehabilitation improvements of Johnson's park approximately 17 million was added to various capital accounts for this project once again a large part of that was already in construction in progress business type activities had several large projects the largest project is the water treatment plant at the west water treatment plant consists of the west collector oil and pipeline 2 million gallon water storage tank and water treatment plant upgrades. This project added 6.8 million to construction in progress in the current year. The grit removal building improvements at the water pollution control plan added 3.8 million to construction in progress. A $6.2 million increase in restricted net position. The amount is restricted for road projects increase 3.4 4 million due to accumulating highway allocation revenue to be used on future street improvements. Sales tax have just entered 2 million is restricted for the voter approved police station building project. Non-restrictedness assets in decreased slightly going from 46.9 million last year to 46.3 million this year. or either four of us mazars they audit the city financial statements and they are I believe the eighth largest CPA firm in the US for us's opinion on the financial statements is on pages 27 to 29 of the agenda packets a clean report stating our financial statements and compliance with generally accepted accounting principles the single audit section of our act begins on page 318 of the agenda packet The schedule of expenditure of federal awards is the first report in this section shows a total of 4.6 million of federal expenditures with 4.2 million being related to ARPA funding.

2.3 million was the general ARPA funding awarded to the city for city designated ARPA projects. 1.1 million was for the grit facility and 852,000 was for improvements at Johnson's Park in the river. There are several a lot of reports in this section including report on internal control related to financial reporting comp and compliance with laws and regs and reporting on internal compliance control and compliance for a major federal program which was the ARPA funding. Following this section is management letter. All these were clean reports knowing no findings or question caused any answer any questions. Any questions for Randy after his presentation? Thanks for the thorough presentation, Randy. Doing that for a while now. 1982, I believe, right?

Yeah. Yeah. It's been a while. Anybody else have any questions for Randy here this evening? Okay. With that said, I'd like to welcome the Boy Scouts here this evening. There will be a pop quiz on the buzz budget presentation before you leave. So, I hope I hope you are paying attention just like these guys were supposed to be paying attention too. I did see some eyes out in the crowd there that were looking down and maybe not open. But, uh, yeah,

I'm glad you brought that up, Shane. I was kind of waiting to find an opportunity to I believe that's troop 124 that made it here tonight. Um, I hope they do get an extra extra credit or maybe a badge for sitting through a financial report and in the creation of sewer districts. Um, I had the pleasure of talking to that troop um, a couple weeks ago and one of the things I asked them uh, towards the end of the meeting is if they would come to a city council meeting to see how it worked and so I'd give them a little shout out if they did. Well, sure enough, they're here. I just didn't realize that the financial report um, was going to be part of their meeting. So, I apologize. You guys look like you are hanging in there good,

but we might have some future accountants over here, so you never know. Thank you for coming. And also, scouts, just so you know, I I am a I am a merit badge counselor for your citizenship in the community. So, if you have any questions you need answered, I'll make myself available for five or 10 minutes after the after we get done here. I am an Eagle Scout. was scout started in 121 so I can answer all their questions too. There you go. Thanks again for being here guys and thanks everybody who came out this evening and thanks again Randy and we will adjourn.