City Council - Regular Meeting

Welcome everybody to the Northfor City Council meeting April 20th, 2026. Like to call this meeting to order and inform the public about the location of the open meeting act posted in the council chambers and accessible to members of the public. At this time, we'd have to ask for a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. 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 here. Arn here. Webb here. McCarthy here. Begman Jensen here. Langy Hildebrand here. Mayor, I am here. All right. With that being said, I'll ask approval of the consent agenda. Your honor, I'll be abstaining from this vote. We got vote. We got any voters left? I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. Okay. I guess we got a quorum here. So, uh, with no discussion, please vote. Voting in the affirmative. Granquist, Arns, Jensen, Webb, Hilderbrand, Beckman abstaining. McCarthy motion carries.

All right. With that being said, I'd like a motion to approve the full agenda, removing items number 27 and 28. I'll make the motion. Second. We have a motion to second. Please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right, that brings us to our special presentations today. And I believe that's why everybody is here. So we'll start with our prop or proclaim April 24th, 2026 as Arbor Day. And I'll read that now. Whereas in 1872, J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for planting trees. And whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the plant of more than a million trees in Nebraska. And whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and world. And whereas trees can be solutions to combating climate change by reducing erosion of our precious top soil by wind and water, cutting heating and cooling costs, moderating temperature, cleaning the air, producing lifegiving oxygen, and providing habitat for wildlife. And whereas trees are renewable resources, giving us paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires, and countless other wood products. And whereas trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of businesses, business areas, and beautify our community. And whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. Now therefore, I, Shane Clawson, mayor of the city of Norfor, Nebraska, do hereby proclaim Friday, April 24th, 2026 to be Arbor Day in the city of Norfor and urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and support efforts to protect our trees, woodlands, and urge all citizens to plant trees to gladden the hearts and promote the well-being of the present of present and future generations. Anybody here? This Okay, come on up. I'm going sign this quick.

You want to You got a few words or no? Oh, uh, plant a tree. Okay, three words.

All right, we're going to move on to uh recognize the Lutheran High Northeast boys basketball team. Is everybody here? We're all here. Okay, let's get started with that. honoring the Lutheran High Northeast basketball team. Whereas the Lutheran High Northeast basketball team showcased outstanding drive, perseverance, and team unity throughout an excellent memorial memorial memorable 2025 2026 season. And whereas the Eagles complied an impressive 24 and5 record and earned welldeserved trip to Nebraska school activities associated C D1 class C or class D1 state tournament. And whereas throughout the tournament the team rose to the occasion demonstrating grit, determination, and strong competitive spirits against some of the top teams in the state. And whereas their hard work and commitment turned into remarkable third place finish in the 2026 class D1 state tournament, making the program's first state tournament appearance in nine years. And whereas this achievement is a testament to the dedication of the student athletes, coaches, schools, staff, families, and supporters, and stands a proud moment for the entire community while inspiring future generation of Eagle athletes. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Shane Claus, the mayor of the city of Norfork, along with the Northfor City Council, do hereby proudly recognize and commend the Lutheran High Northeast boys basketball team for their outstanding season and celebrate exceptional accomplishments and a third place finish at the 2026 Class D1 state basketball tournament. I see we've got some guys here to receive this. So, come on up here and stand up here and I'll come out there with you. Congratulations.

Let's hold this.

Quite enough lens here. Yep, we do. Three, two, one. All right. I think we're missing a couple guys from Northfor Catholic team. We're just going to wait till they get here. We got a couple more things you were talking.

You got it ready. I thought there was some bit golf yet. Yeah. I just I don't think he's going to make it. Really? Okay. I was told he was. We We'll ask. Let me check on that. We'll go to something else. We'll We'll come back to you. All righty. Here we go. We're on to our Northfor public safety and annual reports. Oh, there he is.

Good evening, mayor, council. Um, I'll keep this short tonight. I know the council and the mayor especially probably hoping I yield the rest of my time back over to Randy for round two of that fiscal report. You read our minds. Seriously, uh, thank you for all you've done, Randy, and congratulations on your retirement. Thank you, Brian.

The report's probably in front of you, so I will not get into all the numbers and graphs tonight. If there are detailed questions I can't answer off the top of my head, I'll be happy to email you. The main point I want to highlight is that we are very close to being fully staffed in 2026. And I believe this is the closest we've been since about 2020. That's a big deal for the division and for this community. I also want to point out that our people continue to invest heavily in professionalism. In 2025, our officers averaged 133 hours of training, well above the 32 required by the state. That matters. It makes us better prepared, better supervised, and better able to serve the public the right way. Another example of the of that investment paying off is our firearms program. In 2025, the council approved replacing our 10-year-old handguns with new pistols equipped with optics. That upgrade along with training produced uh measurable results on our 250 point division qualification course. The division average prior in n in 2024 was 190. In 2025, our score was 213 on average. So that 23 points is nearly 12% increase in accuracy. That's a big deal on a 250 point course. That's real improvement. So thank you. In 2025, we also developed six new field training officers. All supervisors attended three sessions of Julie Yonan leadership training through the city. Our command staff and

lieutenants also attended multiple FBI LITA courses. In fact, our agency is being recognized by that organization for the leadership training we obtained from them. Beyond enforcement, there is also a lot of quiet work that matters. That includes our school resource officers, building relationships with kids, project lifesaver, helping protect vulnerable community members, and our prescription drug box, removing unused medications from homes, keeping them out of the hands of children, and help preventing misuse. I'm proud of the progress made in 2025. I'm grateful for the support of the mayor, city council, city administration, and all the city staff and community partners who help us do this work. Thank you. If anybody's got any questions, otherwise I'll get Raggy up here.

Thanks, Chief. Thank you.

Yep. All right. Good evening, Mayor and Council. I appreciate you giving Chief T and I the opportunity to to speak to you once a year here. Um, I know we talk a lot more, but it's just nice to be able to get out in front of you and recognize the efforts of the folks that that truly are making a difference in the community. Uh, we have we're able to have a shift with us here tonight. A shift is on duty and some of our support staff. Uh this report's far more about them than it is me. So I'm glad they're we're able to be here to help support. Uh 2025 uh looked a little bit different. Um the call volume was down a little bit. Actually when I came to you last year a year ago, we were ahead 40 calls at that time in April and the the call volume actually dropped down to 33.88 uh from 3512. Uh last year when the calls were up, I was asked what to attribute that to and I had a few things. Um but it was really hard to pinpoint. When asked if I was asked what the calls were down or the reason for that, uh we can pinpoint a few things. There are some things he implemented over the last year. Uh there were some things with facility lift assists um where that absolutely made an impact. There were a couple other situations with uh frequent type responses that we've been working hard to help get those individuals um better support and to try to find different options and those things happen in every community and uh we work really hard and pride ourselves in giving everybody the best treatment we can. Uh so uh that is would be my answer to why the calls are down slightly. our call backs, the amount of times we rely on our offduty personnel, we were still well over 400 times that we're calling in people off duty. Um, so 338 of those are level two call backs where we have backto-back type rescue calls. Uh, we are still one and four 25% uh carryover rate to where if we have

one rig out, there's another simultaneous call. So we have two rigs out 25% of the time. uh which was reported back in 2024 and that didn't really change as far as our multip multiple calls. We're able to hire three new firefighters. Those folks are going to uh conclude their academy in June. Very excited about those three. Uh it was a big boost for us to get that staff and they're doing great things. Uh two of them are paramedics coming in. One is an EMT who's currently in paramedic school and they're doing awesome and they're right on track. Our minimum staffing once they are done with their academy will go from eight per shift to 9ine. And what that does for us is a lot of things. It helps us comply with NFPA702, the standard uh for filling engines. Um it also helps us comply with the amount of people you need to have on scene in the first 10 minutes of a working fire 80% of the time. And that number is 10. So if you take at least our nine person minimum staffing and some administrative staff, myself, Chief O'Brien, our fire marshall, we get to 10 a lot more likely uh when that minimum staffing is nine. And we could be at 10, 11, or even 12 on some shifts uh depending upon who's off on certain days. Uh we did have one departure, had an individual return home to what he calls home, uh Colorado. He and his wife moved back to Colorado and he joined a department there. very happy for him, proud of him for taking that next step in his his life. And we're able to fill that position with a uh a young man from the Panka area that'll be starting toward the end of the month. So, again, very proud of uh the folks that we have and the things that they're doing here. Our reserve staff is at 27. The number there, the Chief O'Brien's doing an amazing job with them, and our full-time sworn positions on shift is 34. This past January, we started a different shift schedule. It turned into a trial basically that was driven largely in part by our boots on the

ground, the shift personnel to go from a 24 on, 48 off to a 48 on, 96 off. Um, that's been received very, very well. We have quarterly committee meetings where there's representatives from each shift and we talk about what that shift has looked like and how that has u impacted them. And I think going in there were some people pretty nervous about working those 48 hour shifts, but the four off in between has been has been a great thing for families and and mental health in general, which is largely what drove that. So, we haven't made a final decision as to whether or not we're going to stick to it, but I would say things are looking like we will. Um, something else that's exciting going on with us is we're doing a a bunk room living space remodel right now. That's something that we had in the budget for the last few years. Um, we had to bump it. Um, it just didn't fit in the big picture. As that time got closer, we knew what we were budgeting wasn't going to cut it. U, we had a couple individuals uh, come forth and ask if they could go to the community and see if we could get some donations. And the support was overwhelming. Um, we were able to to gather just short of $100,000 in donations. And this project's going to be a 40 to 50 year project uh that's going to last just like the projects they did 1987 to fire station one um that we're redoing now. And it's uh it's a testament to our team. Uh not all the work being done has been hired out. We're going to have our crew do some painting. Uh they've done some demo and we have some great local contractors that we're working with to help make that happen. So, we're excited to to mention those donors here as we get closer to our completion date and and acknowledge them for everything that they've done for us and the project in general. We have six of our full-time staff in the paramedic program right now at Northeast Community College. All six are going to be wrapping up this fall. And once they're done, 32 of our 34 full-time shift staff will be paramedics, which is remarkable. Uh the

other two are EMTs and we'll be hoping to get their paramedics at some point in time in their careers as well. Um what this does for us and our ability to rotate shifts on and off the ambulance is how you create longevity in employees. Um doing things like acknowledging mental health and family life and making those changes when your team comes to you and says, "Hey, how about we do this a little differently?" is is ultimately what it's all about. I want people to stay here 20 years minimum before they decide to go elsewhere. And if they do go elsewhere um for a second, I want them to regret it. Um because I want them to know how life is here and how good it can be. But ultimately, if people choose to leave and it's the right thing for them, then I'll support them 100%. So, as far as apparatus, we have a couple different pieces of equipment coming this fall. We are due to receive an ambulance that was ordered around two years ago and a fire engine in a similar time frame. The funding for the fire engine will come at the hands of our rural fire contract and the ambulance will come in public safety tax anticipation. So, um those will both be here this fall. We're pretty excited about that. The fire truck that the rural fire contract is purchasing is replacing an apparatus that's actually going to end up right down the road in her. Uh and it's hopefully going to serve them well for years to come. So, we're pretty excited about that. Just like the last several years, emergency medicine continues to be our bread and butter. Uh, it's 86% of what we do as far as calls, and I brag a bit because I feel like we do it better than anybody. Uh, this last year, we were received the American Heart Association Mission Gold Award. We had previously received the silver award, and we're one of two departments in the state that um that actually have earned that certification. So, you can't do that if you can't throw people at a call when you have a stroke or a heart attack or a trauma. You have to be able to provide superior care. In order to do that, you

have to have multiple sets of hands. And not only do you have to have multiple sets of hands, but they got to know what the heck they're doing and trust one another. And we do it very well with the response time of 3 minutes 50 seconds inside our response area. Uh, not counting in the rural, but 3 minutes 50 seconds uh is pretty good. and great relationships with our local hospital uh makes our job much easier. Uh lastly, I just want to make sure I get some thank yous on record. Um, I too want to to very much thank our members, the folks that are running the calls, the folks who helped put this report together, um, our full-time staff, our reserve staff, all the other divisions within the city of Northfor as Chief Tai mentioned, um, our leadership, mayor, city council, our city administrator, the entire team of administration, we all walk this journey together and and, uh, every decision that each one of us makes affects the other department. And as long as we're collectively on the same page, uh, we're going to go places and I I'm certain we will continue to do that. Our rural fire board, all of our mutual aid partners and the citizens of Norfolk. And lastly, our families. I want to make sure I go on record is thanking them. Uh, because ultimately, like I say every year, that's what helps us be successful is we have to have a supportive structure, whether that's family, friends, significant others, and we have a lot of great families that are part of ours. So with that, I would ask if there are any questions and appreciate the opportunity.

I do have to say one thing. I have to apologize. This more this morning I was uh heading down Northwork Avenue. I was heading west and there was a fire call. They were coming down 13th and heading getting ready to turn west. And I no then all of a sudden I noticed there was an idiot out in the middle of the intersection while they were trying to make a turn. That idiot happened to be me. So, if any of you were on that call, we made eye contact and I could tell the severity of my action by the look on the face and I got the heck out of the way as fast as I could. But I did not hear of that. You did not hear that. So, but I appreciate that. So, pay attention. That's all I got to say.

Thanks for the support. Very much appreciate it.

FIREFIGHTERS AROUND OKAY, I think we're ready to go for the next special presentation. This time we'll be honoring the Northfor Catholic boys basketball team. Whereas the Northfor Catholic boys basketball team demonstrated relentless effort, perseverance, and camaraderie throughout the 2025 2026 season. And whereas the Knights compiled an impressive 24-5 record and powered their way to the Nebraska School Activities Association Class C2 state championship game. And whereas determination and momentum, the team pres represented the Norfor community with pride, battling through tough competition and earning decisive victories to reach the championship stage in Lincoln. And whereas the Knights showcased heart, intensity, sportsmanship in the championship game, finishing as the 2026 class C2 state runnerup after a hard hard-fought contest against Archbishop Bergen Catholic. And whereas the rem remarkable season reflects the passion and dedication of the student athletes, coaches, school staff, families, and fans, and stands the proud achievement for the entire community while energizing and inspiring future night athletes. Now therefore, be resolved that I, Shane Clawson, mayor of the city of Northfor, along with the city council, do hereby recognize and celebrate the Northfor Catholic boys basketball team for their outstanding 2025 season 2025 2026 season and proudly congratulate them as their class C2 state runnerup finished team. So, if you guys would like to come forward now,

you got the real deal there. Here we go. Three, two, one. These two teams are highly competitive. I'm surprised to see them sitting so close to each other. And I watched them play a couple times and those were some games, I'll tell you that. All right, that being said, we'll move on to our regular agenda or I'm sorry, public hearing and related action. Uh, obviously number 27 and 28 are off the agenda, so we're on to number 29. Okay, we have a public hearing at the request of Marvin and tomorrow May to consider a zoning change from a agriculture district to I1 light industrial district on property addressed as 83664 highway 81 and Val will lead us in this open meeting or this sorry.

Yes. So, I've brought this up so you can tell where this is. So, it's southeast of the airport. The airport would be this blue area right here. So, it is some of our newer jurisdiction from the large annexation. This was part of the ETJ expansion. So, they've only been in our jurisdiction here uh a few years. Uh they have a total of 80. This parcel up here is also theirs, but the highlighted 30 acres is what is asking for a zone change from a to I1 currently tonight. And the applicants are here. And I believe they wanted to do like uh storage units there.

Any questions? Any questions? Sorry. Well, seeing none, thanks for coming out tonight. Yeah, I don't know what else to tell you. So, all good. Yeah, I suppose. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else from the public have anything here? All right. Well, with no other discussion, can I get a planning commission report, please?

The Northfor Planning Commission held a public hearing on April 7th, 2026 to consider a zoning change from A, agricultural district to I1, Light Industrial District, on property addressed as 83664, Highway 81. The planning commission recommends approval of the request with a 9 to0 vote. All right. Okay. We'll close the hearing and now we'll move on to item number 30. Consideration of ordinance 5981 approving a zoning change from a agriculture to I1 light industrial on a property addressed at 83664 highway 81. I'll offer for consideration ordinance number 5981. Second.

All right. And if there are any questions, Val will be answering those. Any questions from the council? All right. Any questions from the public? All right. Val, nothing for you. So, with that being stated, we will uh we've got a motion to second, so I'm going to ask the vote. Short title. Oh, sorry. Short title, please. An ordinance of the city of Norfork, Madison County, Nebraska, amending the zoning district map of the city of Norfork, 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. Now you can vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries or excuse me, ordinance number 5981 carries on first reading. Seeing opposition, I'll make a motion that we suspend the rules and pass on second and third. Second. All right, we have a motion to second. Any discussion? Discussion from the public. Seeing none, uh, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5981 carries on second and third. Right, moves on to item number 31. We're going to open a public hearing at the request of Norfork 140 LLC to consider zoning change from Agriculture to I1 Light Industrial on a property generally located southwest at the intersection of West Madison Avenue and South 40th Street. I can do the introduction. Yes, Val, go ahead and lead us in discussion.

Uh I've I've brought up the two pieces here. It's just over 100 acres. Um, these are the same property owners who platted and zone changed that has the CAT dealership up here. And so the two larger lots, they zone changed to I1 previously and then their third lot over here was C3. And so now they are trying to zone change the rest of their property to I1. And then the next agenda item is also the plat that goes along with it. So if you have any questions and the representative is here also.

All right. It's quiet night for you. Any questions from the anybody here this evening? You're mainly doing this to get these lots ready to be sold. Correct. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. It's just for marketing purposes at this point. Yeah. Yeah. And then once we get some traction, then we'll probably follow this up with a district similar to the first phase. Looks nice. Really does. All right.

No further discussion. Okay. We're going to um Can I get planning commission report, please? The Northfor Planning Commission held a public hearing on April 7th, 2026 to consider a zoning change from a agricultural district to I1 light industrial district on property generally located southwest of the intersection of West Madison Avenue and South 40th Street. The planning commission recommends approval of the request with a 9 to0 vote. All right, with that we'll close the hearing and consideration of ordinance number 5982 approving the zoning change from agricultural to I1 light industrial district on a property generally located southwest of the intersection of West Madison Avenue and South 40th Street.

I'll make a motion for consideration of ordinance number 5982. Second. We have a motion to second. Uh Val, would you like to lead us in any I'm sorry. If any discussion here, we'll ask Val. So is there any discussion? There is none here. So is there any discussion from the members here this evening? All right. Seeing none. Short title, please.

An ordinance of the city of Norfork, 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 5982 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 discussion? Seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5982 carries on second and third. Okay. With that, we're on to item number 33, consideration of resolution 2026-12, approving the final plat and subdivision agreement of Nor of Norfor 140, the second subdivision. I'll make a motion for consideration resolution 2026-12. Second. All right. A motion to second. Any discussion?

I'll just mention a little bit here. So, as was previously discussed, they're wanting to plat this so that they can market the lots. They're not allowed to market them until they are final final plat. The subdivision agreement simply states that when they're ready to construct infrastructure, there would be an amendment to the subdivision agreement required that would spell out the um various public infrastructure components of the project. Any questions for me? Any questions for Steve? Question of the public. Okay, seeing none, please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Resolution 2026-12 is adopted. All right, that brings us to the regular agenda to item number 34. Consideration approval of an engineering construction design service contract with Olsson, Inc. for the 2026 affluent reuse utility development project for an amount not to succeed exceed, I'm sorry, exceed $25,536. I'll make a motion for consideration of approval.

Second. We have a motion and a second and Steve will lead us in discussion.

Yeah, mayor and council, both 34 and 35 are related. Um 34 in front of you is is the contract with Olsson Associates for uh study. We're we're currently in a preliminary study related to that system. Um this is all relative to that methane n uh emethane facility that is looking to construct in the northeast corner south of the ethanol plant. Um item 35 would be a reimbursement agreement with test towel energies um to pay us back for this. The reason they've wanted us in involved in this and are and are um really wanting to move forward in this structure is they want us they want to be sure that we as a city are at the table um and working with them and working with their engineer uh to work through all the all the components of this design and and the study. So, um, you know, they could do this without us, just hire Olsson, do the work, pay Olsen. Um, but they feel that that removes us, uh, from the table, and at the end of this project, this would be our system that we would own, and we would charge them, uh, a rate for for the effluent reuse. The project is moving forward. um will be uh the test to tell energy group will be back in town late May. Uh there will be some activity an announcement related to that here in a couple weeks. But uh there's uh right now everything's everything's pointing forward for the project. And like I say, why Olsen? Olsen is the engineer that's doing their environmental and site work for them. So, they just like to keep that all tied together. Okay.

Any questions for Steve? Any questions from the public? All right. Seeing none, please vote. All

all council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries. All right. That brings us to item number 35. consideration approval of the phase 100 cost sharing agreement between the city of Northfor and Total Energies Hydrogen Holding USA LLC for the reimbursement of the engineering services to evaluate the feasibility of the city of Northfor or the city's supplying treated affluent. I'll make a motion for consideration of approval. Second.

Yeah, mayor and council. I don't have too much more to add to that. This was on the previous agenda as well as the last uh item 34. it was pulled from that agenda. The only reason it was pulled is we were still working through just a couple minor um language pieces in this particular agreement. Um, Tatal and Tess Energy been working uh with the city attorney's office and they are both um good to go on this agreement and they did I know we did not get a signed one in time for the agenda, but a signed copy of this has been provided um for your signature. All right, any questions for Steve? Any questions from the public? All right, seeing none, please vote.

All council members present, voting in the affirmative. Motion carries. All right, we're on to item number 36, consideration of ordinance number 5983 authorizing the assurance of combined utilities revenue bonds in the principal amount not to exceed 2.7 million to fund improvements to the sanitary sewer plant. This is a uh Hold on Randy one second Randy. I'll offer for consideration ordinance number 5983. Second. Go ahead, Randy. Jumping ahead of myself here. You've only been here a few times.

Um, this is a budgeted bond issue. We have 2,620,000 in the sewer fund budget to finish improvements on the grit removal facility. We've also got 3.8 million in the water fund. Um that was the finished improvements to the west uh water plant and the collector well and 2 million gallon uh finished water tank. We had significant savings on that project and we don't believe we'll need that 3.8 million. So this is just approving the bonds that were budgeted in the sewer fund. Page 262 of the agenda packet gives a good summary of the issue. It shows at the top what we're actually expecting to have happen based on current market conditions. Towards the bottom gives the parameters that are included in the ordinance. Uh we tried to make this a flexible ordinance for several reasons. Uh markets could change between now and the time we will be marketing these bonds in the first week of May. Um we also give flexibility to any potential buyers if they want to buy these bonds at a discount or a premium. This parameters ordinance uh gives them that flexibility and we would still be able to get our uh 2 million the um 2 million.6 million of cash proceeds we need to go into the project. Um the uh mayor myself will be authorized after the bonds are sold to um sign the um final written designation that would include the actual interest rates and

other uh parameters of the issue. Uh this is a bond with a 5-year call provision and um I'd be happy to answer any questions. And we also have a representative from Piper Sandler here tonight. Most of you probably remember Bruce Leeler. He's been the city's financial advisor for many years. He retired last year. and uh Scott Kees worked for Piper Sandler and he's who will be replacing um Bruce as the city's financial advisor. I'd like to have Scott come up and he can answer any questions you might have along with myself and and give a brief introduction to himself.

Thank you, Randy. Mayor Council Scott Keane with Piper Sandler. Randy covered everything in the ordinance so perfectly there's not much for me to say but just by way of introduction um I've been with Piper Sandler. Bruce and I were at ameritus together for 20 years and Piper Sandler for six years as Randy mentioned. Bruce retired last year. I've done the work for the city of Lincoln for more than 20 years. I represent cities of South City, Fremont, Rston, uh Scotsluff, York, uh cities across the state. I look very much forward to working with the city of Norfor. I'm happy to answer any questions about the ordinance that may not have been covered by Randy.

Thank you very much.

All right. Any other discussion? If not, um, short title, please. an ordinance authorizing the issuance of combined utilities revenue bonds series 2026 of the city of Norfor, Nebraska in the principal amount of not to exceed $2,700,000 for the purpose of paying the cost of maintaining, extending, enlarging, and improving the waterworks plant and water system, sanitary sewer plant and sewer system, and solid waste transfer facilities owned by the city. pledging an and hypothecating the revenues and earnings of the waterworks plant and water system, sanitary sewer plant and sewer system, and solid waste transfer facilities owned by the city for the payment of said bonds. Authorizing officers of the city to make arrangements for the sale of the bonds and to designate the final terms, rates, and maturity schedule for said bonds within stated parameters in order ordering the ordinance published in pamphlet form. Okay, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5983 carries on first reading. Staff recommend that rules be suspended. This passed on all three readings tonight. I'll make a motion to suspend the rules and pass on second and third. I have a motion to second. Any discussion? None. All right. Seeing none, please vote. All council members present voting in the affirmative. Ordinance number 5983 carries on second and third.

Okay. and moves us to item number 37, consideration of approval to award a contract to Gary Construction and ReadyMix of Columbus, Nebraska for paving district number 523 23rd Street project for an amount of $466,364.

I'll make a motion for consideration of approval. Second. All right, we have a motion to second and Steve will lead us in discussion. Yeah, mayor and council. This is the results for bids on the paving district uh 523 for 23rd Street that would connect Omaha Avenue to um I want to say Missouri. That's not Michigan. I'm sorry. It's a state. Uh you're close.

Connect Omaha to Michigan. Uh behind the courtesy Ford building there on back off of 275. We received three bids. The low bid was 466 364 from Gearing out of Columbus. Um the bids moved up at approximately $20,000 a piece. Uh the highest bid was 508 94536. Uh the engineer's estimate was higher than all three of these by about 15%. This is the first bid that we have done since uh our local paving contractor uh shut down. I think this represents uh kind of the competitiveness that we're going to see going forward on our paving contracts. Um again, engineers estimate would have reflected uh probably our last two or three paving districts that that were bid and awarded. So pleased with the results and I'd answer any questions you have. Steve, I got I got one question from um with the current contractor out of Columbus. Are they plan on getting our our materials here as far as the concrete or will they be trucking them from from their plant?

I don't know the answer to that. Is Nick here? He was here. Um I don't have an answer for that. Councilman. Um, they could if they wanted to bring their their mud out of out of Columbus, they sure could. That is uh that distance is not uh that's a fairly common distance. You know, locally obviously you would think transportation would be cheaper locally. Um but uh once we would have the pre-construction meeting, we would know that information. I could certainly share that with you. Okay. In the future. Thank you. Was there any local biders on this, Steve?

There weren't. Um, you know, in terms of biders that are right here in town, there's really no bidder set up for this this magnitude of paving. Um, these would all be slip form type systems. That's what I was wondering. Thanks.

Any discussion? discussion. Any question from the public? Right. Seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries. All right, that moves us on to our administrative reports. And this will be a presentation of the community development ay's CDA's 2025 annual tax increment financing report to governing bodies. Randy will lead us in that report.

Yeah, this is a report you see every year at this time. Uh it has to be filed with the taxing entities that are affected by the city's tip projects. um that's authorized. This report's required by section 18217.02 of the community development law. The report must include the total number of tip projects, total estimated project cost, the estimated amount of outstanding indebtness released for each redevelopment project and the estimated date by which indice is expected to be paid in full. Also included for each project is the initial assessed valuation compared to the assessed value as of January one of the year of the report, number of tip projects approved during the year and specific information on each project that was approved during the year including the project area, project type, amount of TIF approved and total estimated project cost, total number of TI projects paid in full during the year and the percentage of city designated blighted. It was a relatively slow year for TIFF compared to what it has been over the last decade or so. We only authorized one tip project during the year. That was Steve Ray Maker's project on the west side of town and the Fox R for the Fox Ridge development that has a little over a million dollars of Tiff authorized for that project. Um, we didn't pay off any tip bonds during the year. We've got a couple that look like they will get paid off shortly, but nothing got paid off during the year. Um, we also added some things to the agenda packet that aren't

formally a part of the annual report to governing bodies. Uh we showed seven TIF projects uh whose bond issues were paid off in prior years. As you can see, we used to not do much for TIF. We'd have a project averaging probably about every four or five years. Um that picked up substantially this last decade. the amount of the city's uh incremental valuation on tip projects compared to the city's total valuation including the tip projects is in the report. Uh we've got it graphed compared to other first class class cities and also compared to all the cities in Nebraska that levy tiff and our uh incremental project valuation is 5.29% 29% of the city's total assessed value including the incremental valuation. And this is towards the middle of the pack of both the first class cities and all cities. Maybe a little bit on the high side for the first class cities of that middle third and and a little bit lower when you compare it to all cities. But we're in general um right about where the average other cities are in Nebraska. We're not um unusually high by any means. I'd answer any questions. Ry said there were seven tiff projects getting ready to come off here shortly.

Is that right? Did I hear that right? We had two and then seven more. Right.

Yeah. We've got the if you look at the column on the far right, that's the expected payoff date of the tiff bonds. And that's got some guesswork in it because you're not sure um particularly on uh some of these early projects and particularly on those that are phase projects that haven't been completely divided when those taxes will come on board and how quick the valuation will go up. But we've got a couple projects that we expect to pay off in 2026. And uh then there's a little gap in there before you get to the uh next projects paid off I believe was in 2032 Randy the the Cornusker auto one didn't they is that the Nissan

Oh was that just the cornuser auto one was that the Nissan dealership on Did they pull the bond on that? It's pulled in here. Yeah, I cranked my hearing full bore here. The Cornhusker auto one on the bottom on here. It's not showing any indebtedness. Is that the Nissan dealership that was approved in 2023? Which one? Cornhouse Gado. Second from the Oh, the Sunset Plaza you were talking about. Yeah, just I'm just seeing there's not indebtedness. There's like they didn't Cornesker.

Yeah, Cornesker. Um that project has not had TIP bonds issued. That's when you would expect to um get it first incremental taxes here in 2025. They actually have about 29,000 incremental taxes we've got in our hands now. So, we'll be issuing that tip bond probably here in the next few months. Um, normally developers don't get in a big yank to get their tip bonds unless they're pledging them to a bank. If that's the case, they're usually wanting to get those issued as soon as possible. tip bonds aren't being pledged to the bank. They usually um won't come and ask for the city to issue those tip bonds um by the time they've got some uh significant incremental taxes that the city's holding. So, they want to get that tip bond out there so they can start getting debt service paid to them on that tip bond. Thank you. Any additional questions? Any members? Public want to come forward? Jim McKenzie, I was trying to understand this report to get a a picture of how

many dollars of property taxes that we are going to be redirecting from the public entities who would receive those tax dollars to developers or corporations from what we've already approved. So, I'm trying to get an idea what that picture looks like. And I add up the outstanding indebtedness column and I get a little over 27 million, but I don't think that's a full picture obviously because when I look at for instance Foundry Apartments, it shows the outstanding indebtedness of 1.685 million. But yet the redevelopment plan allows them up to 5.755 million including interest. Is that correct? Foundry Apartments. We just did the last draw on that tiff bond and that tiff bond isn't 5 million. It was like 4 million something. I could look that up, but it was whatever the maximum authorized tip bond was was below 5 million. But

but they actually can collect I mean there are they can collect interest on the bond. Correct. And so those are property tax dollars that are going to pay that interest. So those are property tax dollars that are redirected from the public entities that pay the interest on top of the principal. Correct. Yeah. Almost I think all these tip bonds on here have an interest rate. So they're all paying interest on top of principal.

Okay. And for instance, Fox Ridge is also listed on here and their interest rate was 8 and a4% boundary was 5%. And so when I look at Fox Ridge, it shows one 1 million17,000. But the total potential tax dollars that are redirected from the public entities to the developer is just about 2.3 million including the interest. Correct.

I'm not sure if your number is right, but there is going to be on all these projects more paid than the principal amount of the bonds by the amount of the interest. And I'm guessing you probably have the right number there. Yeah, I've got it right from the redevelopment plan. So, I I just was trying to get a picture of how many tax dollars truly we're redirecting from the public entities to the developers to get a picture of what our impact is on the public entities that rely upon those tax dollars. So, that's what I was trying to get a picture of. And from this report, I can't get that picture unless I go through each individual redevelopment plan. It would be nice to have a column that would show the entire amount of potential tax dollars including interest that are being redirected from the public entities to the developers. It just helps us get a better picture, I think, of what we're looking at. That's all I had. Thank you. Okay. Anything else? Well, I'd like to thank you guys. You got me out of here regular quickly tonight. It's nice. my today's my anniversary. I had to say something cuz I know my wife watches on YouTube. So anyway, happy anniversary, Amy. And I'm not going to say how long. She'd get upset about that, but I know I haven't been a bachelor for 25 years. So

way to hang in there, Amy. Yeah. All right, we are ajourned.