City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. Welcome to the North Flat City Council meeting here on Tuesday, August 18th, 2026 at 530 PM. Of course, we're here in the Council Chambers calling the meeting to order. We have an invocation by Daniel Ramsey from Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. Does not look like Mr. Ramsey is with us. Is he? No? Okay. Ed, would you do the service please?

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. I give you thanks, Almighty God, for this wonderful country you've given us to live in. Our country is a unique land. You carved it for us out of the wilderness. It's by our efforts in following you that we've attained this country. I pray, Lord, that you give us wisdom in all of our deliberations and our actions and our votes. We strive always to please you and to do what's proper. We only think of what's good for our people and in accordance with your will, not so much as what we want as individuals. We give you thanks, Lord, for the mercy that you show to us in every day, the beautiful rains that you've given us the last few days. Thank you for all of the people here tonight and give us the grace to follow your will. Amen.

And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you for pinch hitting there, Ed. Angie, the roll call please.

Here, here, here, here. Here here here here.

Thank you a current copy of the open meetings act of Nebraska excuse me, Nebraska is located at the back of the council chambers meeting procedure. The public may address specific agenda items at the pleasure of the mayor. If recognized by the mayor, please identify yourself by stating your name and address. Please address the council through the mayor and limit your remarks. We respect our city employees requested any complaints or criticisms of employees not be here in a public meeting. Concerns about the employee should be brought to the attention of the city administrator or the mayor. Individuals of violation will be declared out of order. Consent agenda all matters under the consent agenda are considered by the city council to be routine and will be enacted by 1 motion. Any city council member may however, remove an item from consent by request. Number 1A, approve the minutes of August 4, 2026. B, adopt the resolution consenting the sale and consumption of alcoholic liquor on September 12, 2026 from 3 p.m. to 12 a.m. on East 5th Street and North Dewey Street during the Viva North Platte Festival and approve the application by Las Mananitas for the special designated license. C. Approve the application by Fraternal Order of Eagles 2839 for a special designated license on September 12, 2026 from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. at 620 North Chestnut Street for their end-of-summer bash. D. Approve the application by Niobrara Valley Vineyards LLC for special designated licenses on November 7, 2026 from 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. and November 8, 2026 from 9 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. at the D&N Events Center 501 East Walker Road for the Cowboy Christmas Craft Show. He approved the application by, I believe it's Bocos LLC, DBA San Pedro, Mexican restaurant for a change of location to their Class C liquor license, beer, wine, spirits on sale only from 1002 South Jeffers Street to their new premise at 1318 South Chestnut Street. F, send the application of Charles Berwick as liquor license manager at McCabe's LLC located at 402 North Dewey Street to the Liquor Control Commission with no recommendation. G, approve the request for a one-time event to discharge fireworks by a licensed technician on September 9, 2026 at 7.30 p.m. at 235 East 6th Street with a rain date of September 10, 2026 at the same time and location for North Platte High School's Homecoming Parade. h authorized the mayor to execute the high density drug trafficking area hidta initiative cooperative operation for drug enforcement or code grant required certified assurances and other application documents i authorized the mayor to execute the consent of the city of north north platte nebraska consenting to the addition of cody kino inc's kino lottery at unreal events llc dba last chance bar and grill at 4684 rodeo road

Mr. Mayor, I move that we approve the consent agenda as presented with the exception of letter H. Second.

Motion by Reker, second by Volz. Calling the question on the consent agenda less letter H. Agenda is passed last letter H. Mr. Eaker item H. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor. Um, I can't the chief maybe tell us what that is about.

Mayor, council members, uh, we, we've been a part of the code task force for 1015 years, but North flat has agreed to serve as the fiduciary for it. So that. It's kind of a little bit complicated. It's federal grant money. That's awarded to the state patrol, but we have to have some signatures because we're the financial fiduciary of the.

So, how does this play out? I mean, what's what does this grant?

Allow you to do the code task force made up members of federal law enforcement, state law enforcement, our agencies, some. They work. here in North Ladd offsite of any of our facilities. And then they have members from other agencies, say Oglala, McCook, things like that when they have initiatives in that area. But they work investigations that can cover anywhere in the Troop E area, which is pretty much north of where it touches E around Oglala. so it allows it doesn't pay any kind of wage or anything it's largely equipment buildings vehicles things things investigate the investigatory things and equipment that they use all the agencies pay their own wages it's the agency's people they just work together and fosters collaboration amongst the different agencies it does and when you have things where you know, every agency brings something to the table, whether it be financial or equipment or other resources, but it allows us to do some things sometimes with good examples like a forfeiture. Try to do all those through the federal forfeiture process. And if you don't have a friend in federal government sitting at the table with you, it's usually not the time to go find one. So, no, we've been together as a group, different people, but it's been together as a group probably 15 years.

Are you seeing some success those things ebb and flow?

They go break guns and then it's kind of quiet for a while because they tend to make their arrests all at 1 time. So. I can't say that we've released anything here recently, but I know. Last spring, we had a big round of suspects that came off a lot of those cases.

Thank you any other questions on item H. So, would you make a motion?

Mr. Mayor? I moved when we approve letter H of the consent agenda.

2nd, motion by recur 2nd, by was that unique? Oh, Brian. Okay. 2nd, by flanders on the question on item H. I made just passed. Moving on to the regular agenda. Item number 2, approve the North Platte Airport Authority's 2026-2027 Preliminary Levy Allocation Resolution.

Mr. Mayor, I move to approve the North Platte Airport Authority's 2026-2027 Preliminary Levy Allocation Resolution. Second. Motion by Lucas, second by Volz.

Don, you want to talk briefly about what we're doing here and then I'll ask Justin to answer any questions.

Yes, this has been a collaboration with Lane and Justin came together and have been really close partnership over the last year as Council passed the interlocal agreement. So we've been working even more closely than historically, which has been great. based on Justin's projections they are proposing a request that is slightly higher in dollars than last year's but given valuation that we just received yesterday it is proposing a decrease still in the levy by just about 2% year-over-year

Thanks, Don. Lane, do you have anything to add?

I would just say this will go along with our budget discussions as we move on through the rest of the month. But between our tax requests and the airports, the levy should go down about a penny and a half combined between the two. So it's a lever reduction between the two of us together.

Thank you. Justin, do you have anything you'd like to add? He said no. Okay.

Any other comments or questions? Pete? Just a comment. And I know a lot of you are out there, but at the groundbreaking of the new airport, kudos to you and your board and everything. Boy, what a beautiful facility. And had a lot of politicians running around there. And they all wanted to speak. And they all spoke very highly of this. So it was really nice. And it's going to be a nice change for North Platte. Great entrance to the city. So thank you. Ed?

I would second that. It's an impressive facility, so thank you. I do have a question on the numbers here. The bonded indebtedness went up about $70,000, the way it looks. How does the new terminal impact our bonded indebtedness?

Okay, um, so it's really the expression. Yeah. So, when I made the bond, it was kind of an estimate working with Northland on what everything would come into. So that's why it's different now. It's now it's a hard number every year because the bond didn't actually. Issue until November, and we made our budget before that. So that's why it kind of looked like it's at 70 dollars more because we didn't know what the rates were going to come and everything because the bonds weren't sold yet.

He's done last year's budget was a guess on what the bottom out would be and now it's a set number. We know for sure what it's going to be.

So, this is your payment. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Other questions go ahead, Brad.

Uh, I just got 2 things 1, I'm a 3rd, the amazing facility out there. I didn't make the groundbreaking, but Justin gave me a tour before and it's fantastic. Like, you're doing amazing work out there and as a taxpayer, thank you for reducing love. Appreciate that.

Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, uh, we're, we're all team here and I worked with, uh, and, yeah. Sharpened pencils and we made sure we made it work.

Excellent. I appreciate that. Thank you. Yep.

Other questions or comments. Thank you, Justin. Thank you guys for calling the question. I have number 2. Number 2 is passed. Moving on to number 3, approve the 2026, 2027 league association of risk management renewal resolution for property and liability insurance.

Mr. Mayor, I move to approve the 2026-2027 legal code case of risk management renewal resolution for property and liability insurance with the term of two years. Thank you.

Second. Motion by Reker, second by McNew. Lane, you want to tell us what's going on here?

This is our annual renewal of our property insurance for the city. As you remember last year, we did a 3 year renewal because we did a, um, we went out for bids last year and alarm was the least expensive of those. Um, they give us some discounts based on how many year renewal we're suggesting a 2 year renewal. We could do a 3 year renewal and see a little bit more of a discount, but it's very minor. And so 2 year renewal in the next year, we would ask for a 1 year renewal. So we'd go to bed again on the 3rd year. So, every 3 years we do a bid for the insurance. Um. The rates themselves are no increases, but we are seeing some increases because of some newer automobiles, some additional property, some changes in our property value. As the rec center gets completed in phases that goes on our insurance and so that raises it a little bit. But as far as this is the 1st year in a number of years that we have actually not seen a rate increase. It's the rates have stayed flat this year, which I think it's kind of. What the insurance industry seeing this year, but. Next year is anybody's guess again, but this year they are flat rate. It's just the dollar amounts are changing because of some valuation changes.

Any questions read so, so let me understand this. Last year we did a 3 year commitment. Now we're doing a 2 year commitment. Make sure we do 1. usually when you do a 3 year commitment, you talk about 3 years. Don't you?

We talked about this last year. This is how the state made alarm set their rates back. 30 years ago, and they came into play where they had to have these steps, but you have to renew it each year. Then it's so it's. You know, it's a lock in for 3 years. It's only your only 30, your rate for this year. It's.

So, so it feels like the number of years is kind of arbitrary. It doesn't really count. Why don't we do a 3 year and get the extra discount?

Because then we're saying we're staying with long for 3 years. It's because of it's a pool. It's mainly because of the pool because we can't everybody in the pool. So, it's a stable pool instead of bouncing around to keep the pool rates more flat, more stable.

That answers my question. Thank you.

Other questions, and just analyzing this, you know, looking at it, they're, they're partially right. There is a slight rate increase in liabilities, you know, and that's that's law lawsuits, attorneys fees, things like that. You know, the bulk of your increase is with the commercial property. And the auto physical damage, so that is because of the newer fleet and adding a new evaluation of the of the. value valuation of all of our properties and in the uh in the city but yeah slight increase in g in general liability and in uh automobile liability some stayed kind of the same law enforcement liability good job chief uh evidently didn't have any suits going out there i know to go on to that you know as we have vehicles during the year and other ones come off it we do get little

Great payment, so we have to make because of a new vehicle coming on for a few 100 dollars or whatever is if that new vehicle changes too much. But this is on the bulk of everything that we will have as of October. 1st.

Okay. And it is a good package. We looked at this in depth last year and alarm is putting out a good product for us. So, and they're good with claims. So.

Other questions or comments? Oh, since the 1st, 2 years, I was on the council. I didn't understand this discount thing. I feel it's my broken record obligation to go through it. Can we just play video from last year? I just, I'm, I'm completely in favor with our strategy and I'm pleased with the renewal and everything and I appreciate your analysis Pete. just so everybody understands the discount is one time and then you're locked in so it's not four percent a year it's it's misleading in the way it's written when you look at it the way i look at it yes larm has explained it to us we understand the way the pool's set up i've gone through this every year but i just want to make sure the council realizes that the count the the discount is just on this year's premium and then you remain committed to your commitment level with no discount in other words four for two years is four and zero basically because next year they would like us to then recommit to two or three years if you want a discount but i i think lane's got a great strategy in terms of looking at it i just want to make sure people don't misinterpret the math on that

And just to articulate my understanding, we're locked into a three-year agreement because of last year. So doing a two-year, we're already committed to two more years anyway. We might as well take the discount.

You got it, Brent. Thank you.

And next year, even though you're not giving a year by year, if you say we'll give a 180-day notice instead of a 90-day notice if we're going to get out of the pool, there's still a small discount there. And to be clear... When we went to bid last year, we did give the 180 day notice saying that we could leave the pool and that's what we have to do by contract. But then we stayed in the pool. So, basically, you. We get letters all the time from other pool members saying that they're going for bid. And so they're giving that 180 day notice. They could be leaving the pool. That's that's how the state law made that for pool. That's how they had to do things.

I like Mr. excuse me. I like the idea that. That gives us an opportunity to go shop. I think that's important.

Yeah, other questions or comments. Seeing none calling the question I have number 3, please. Number 3 is passed. I have number 6, 1st, reading in action on ordinance number 4, 258 to amend chapter 75 bicycles of the code of the city of North flat lane. The ordinance please.

Ordinance number 4258, an ordinance of the City of North Platte, Lincoln County, Nebraska, to amend the Code of the City of North Platte by revising Chapter 75, Bicycles, to provide that this ordinance shall be made a part of the Code of the City of North Platte, Nebraska, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith, and providing for the effective date and publication thereof.

Mr. Mayor, I move to adopt ordinance number 4258 on 1st reading to amend chapter 75 bicycles of the code of the city of North Platte that's presented in council materials.

2nd.

Motion by Flanders 2nd, by Mcnew. Okay, so. Mr. Mcnew, I believe you requested a while back that we create a. And surround he bikes and generalizing horribly when I say that, but the, the. bicycles that are powered in some way other than by pedaling and also scooters as well. So this is a first shot at this. And this ordinance is kind of a combination of several other ordinances that are by communities around the state. Is that correct, Bill? Okay. And it is most certainly also an edit of our current bicycle ordinance, which largely is a community we were not following. So that's why the edits take quite a bit of it out. I would invite some discussion on this and probably a motion or two to add or subtract something as you guys feel appropriate. Bill, do you have any further comments?

Just bad pun. I wasn't trying to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. So I did borrow a lot. There have been a lot of communities that have been enacting similar types of ordinances to regulate the e-bikes, the e-scooters, those types of things that we're seeing more and more on the streets. And so I really was trying to look at what other communities have done. And so I borrowed a lot from other communities to put this together. And if there were some provisions that I thought were maybe a little bit more far reaching, I didn't include them. So if anybody would like me to expand on what some of those things are, I'm certainly happy to do so. But what I was going for when I drafted this was to get something in response to Councilman McNew's request to find a way to fit it into our city code. And then as I was looking at it, I thought it felt, it felt like it fit well in this chapter 75 and so i as i looked at that i thought it needed some updates to it as well so i thought why not do it kind of all in one fail swoop so if anyone has questions on anything that i've included in here or questions about why things aren't included happy to address those pete you had a comment yeah i i thought you took a pretty good stab at this um

The only thing that I saw in here, and basically as you look through this, I've known the biking rules and regulations, and then we went ahead and defined and tried to evaluate e-bikes, hoverboards, or lightweight e-scooters. The only thing I would like to see, I would like to see the e-bike being evaluated on its own because it does have a gas or an electric powered pedal assist motor. But I would like to, and the only place I'd like to see it considered Is in the area of 25 in the. 72.25 prohibited uses it says no person shall write a lightweight scooter e, bike or hoverboard. Upon a roadway within the corporate limits or extra territorial jurisdiction of the city with a posted speed limit of 25 miles an hour or greater. Um. He bikes a lot of guys, my age start going to E bikes. Just because you like the pedal assist and a lot of guys, my age, like, down, uh, I weighed 3 up Dodge Hill road and then going down to the lake. North of state farm, excuse me South of state farm. So, I would like to pull E bikes out of that. definition or the prohibit abuse there. And that's about the only change I saw to be honest with you. So prohibit e-scooters or hoverboards, but e-bikes can, because bicycles can ride down there. So, and a lot of guys will ride the e-bikes with bicycles and use that. So I think we're a little restrictive there, but that's the only thing that I really saw in here. So we can have more discussion about that. And if anyone has anything else, we can consider another amendment to this motion, possibly. Hold on. Are you making a motion? Not yet. I was going to see if there's anything else, to be honest.

I saw Brian move for a second ago. I guess reading through this, thank you for including all these, the lightweight scooters and e-bikes, because some of those can move. Um, I guess when I read. 75.23 and 75.29. I guess I see a similarity, I guess what was there a reason to separate those 2 or. I guess.

Um, not not necessarily, I just was trying not to change too much of the existing language from chapter 75 and leaving what I could that related to bicycles. So, um, that there wasn't any major, um, thought process that went into that. It was just. Trying not to over complicated or not change more than what I felt like I needed to. Thank you, Brad.

So, I had a constituent reach out today, so I didn't have a lot of time to research and do thinking. Um, they had basically 3, 3 comments 1, they were worried that this might restrict, you know, in bigger cities. You have the, you can rent the scooters and you just leave them, which reading this. I don't think that would restrict. Hmm.

Um, no, because I think that those would still fall within the definition of the East scooter.

Okay.

So they'd be allowed, they'd be allowed subject to the restrictions that they're set forth.

Gotcha. And their, their other concern was, uh. Safety and then it really after night and on 25 miles an hour, it really doesn't address much. And their, their suggestion was to somehow tie it to on the, the, the higher roads, the higher, like, you're talking about, maybe to a valid driver's license somehow. um where you know if you have a valid driver's license you understand the ways of the road and you know you're allowed to do that now again i had this came across my desk today i'm not prepared to make a motion of any any way shape or form to make sense but just throwing it out for discussion

Hi, I wanted to try to understand where we're at today. So is everything today a bicycle or is everything defined here today? Not a bicycle, or do we not know if it's a bicycle or not? And that's part of the problem.

The problem is that, um. Bicycle is not definitively defined. And so by the term itself, it implies two wheels, yes, but a bicycle and a scooter are very different things. And so... That was, I think, part of my thought process, at least, when I was looking at all of this.

So it's probably hard to figure out today what an e-bike is in our ordinances?

In our ordinances, yes. Because I don't know that it really falls within the definition. Because, you know, a bicycle and something with some sort of a motor on it, in my opinion, are two very different things. Yeah.

Is it a motorcycle or is it a bike or is it... Yeah.

Okay.

The, you know, the point that Pete brought up on the roads of 25 to me, I think that's the real. Debatable issue here, because part of the reason to define all these things separately is probably to have rules that makes the bikes safer in traffic. Right? But. Granted, you have people riding regular bicycles on these roads and you have people with e-bikes with them. That's the thing I'm having trouble understanding what we're trying to accomplish. Are we trying to get the e-bikes to have stricter rules than the regular bikes because they're more dangerous in traffic?

I would say speeds. Yeah, that's kind of the angle I was going at was because of the speeds because they can get up to, I mean, 25, 35 miles an hour.

If I may, I think right now, everything you see in white is what we have and we just talk about bicycles. So now we can break out e-bikes, hoverboards and scooters. So we don't have anything for that. So I think what Bill attempted to do and correct me if I'm wrong, Bill is to try to define what each 1 of these things are and then to say that, hey, if you're driving a scooter around. You've got to adhere, you have to have, you have certain parameters similar to what a bicycle has. You know, you have to maintain the speed limit or under you have to ride on the streets. You can't ride on sidewalks. You have to have lights after. Dusk or after, you know, before dawn and after dusk. So, just kind of put some parameters in there. I think that's what you're trying to do. Just basically get some general rules because right now it's a while while less. and everyone's just going everyone's just doing whatever they want to do so

And if I may, I think that's probably what the intentions were to kind of define what bicycles were, what he bikes were, what scooters were. And to kind of get a grasp and control on them as they get more popular, the town begins to grow. They get to be more of a popular transportation, right? And just, you know, being on East 4th street and Dewey street, I mean. There's all sorts of people on East scooters. We've been in and out on Dewey street. And so just trying to figure out how to get a. starting point to maybe figure out how to I mean, you can't limit people being reckless because people are going to be people at the end of the day. But if we can kind of figure out how to limit some accidents and people being reckless, I think along the lines to on the scooters, there's, you know, kids carrying kids on scooters. And so if we I think one suggestion I would like to see made in here would be, you know, no more than one rider on an e-scooter. Right so that way you don't have a 12 year old and a 5 year old on there. They can become dangerous because of the speeds. That's basically what it is. I see your point on a lot of people using an e bike with the pedal assist. And so. I mean, is that 1 of those situations where it's 18 years or older, or they have to have a valid driver's license? You know, when you, when you go to those. 35 mile an hour speed I think the 35 mile an hour speeds just limits everything from the highway essentially except for, uh, East 4th and. Well, no, yeah, it would include these 4th and front street because that's 35. So. Just trying to get a grasp on everything is the goal.

And honestly, you have two different types of e-bikes. You have the ones coming in from China that can go 40 miles an hour, or you have the ones that guys like me, Jeff won't let me buy one yet because he said I'm not old enough, but I'm getting close.

How old have you got to be?

Evidently older than 62. But, you know, the pedal assist is just nice going up the two very limited hills we have. But as you get north or south, excuse me, of State Farm, you know, those hills get a little tricky, you know, riding down in Dodge Hill and that. So the pedal assist, those guys are just going, you know, 15 to 20 miles an hour, just like you are on a bike. You know, bikes are going 15, 20 miles an hour. a nice road bike. Some guys go faster, you know, and it's just like a crew of guys going out there. Some have e-bikes, have my bike. So, but then you have class one e-bikes that can go 40 miles an hour. And, and that's just crazy, you know?

Well, and to that point, you know, there are some communities like Grand Island that separates out the definition. I know we could where they divided into like a almost like a class 1 class 2 class 3. I felt like that was maybe just getting a little bit too complicated. For what we were wanting to do initially, so I didn't I didn't break it down into separate definitions, but that could be a possibility. Um, you know, 1 thought that I have to to your your point about some of the locations outside of town. Um. Right now I have in here that this would apply to the city limits and the 2 mile extra territorial jurisdiction. So we could always take the 2 mile out of out of this, and then it wouldn't apply to some of the areas like, you know, dodge Hill, that kind of thing. so that it would only apply to city limits. So that could be another option for addressing some of those concerns, too. Yeah, you still have to get there, though. You still have to get there. But we do have some bike trails that can kind of get you down there.

Yeah, true, true. Go ahead, Jim.

Well, my observation, I think the big difference with these e-bikes is that they're riding them faster. You know, with a bicycle, you've got to pump the thing with your legs and go. If you get on the e-bike, boom. You know, that's one thing about those electric motors. They're going. And they're going faster. You see the kids going with them. And if they were on a bicycle, they'd be going a lot slower than what they are on those e-bikes. I mean, they just have more speed. I think that's what the big difference is. If you're pedaling, you may be on a big place.

It's not that much effort to go that fast, you know.

But I think it's a problem. You see these kids on these bikes, and, man, they are flying. I wouldn't go as far as helmets, but, you know, they're going 25 miles an hour. on one of those e-bikes, you do have a wreck, I wouldn't wanna be the parent in that situation.

We have had one fatality, at least one fatality in the community that was related to an e-bike. In that particular situation, it was not the person on the e-bike that died, it was the person who was trying to avoid the e-bike. So lots of things can happen with these traffic situations, which is why we're here ultimately.

go ahead uh I don't want to put anybody on the spot I think we need to do something with the e-bikes and all but I'd like to ask Pete Reeves if he's read over this and what he thinks of it before he's the one that has to uh be the one that uh makes it work is he okay with some of the things we're talking about or does he have some ideas let's ask him I don't want to put you on the spot, but I'd like your input.

I just read it over this afternoon. I don't like it. Well, for some reason states chose not to take this matter up. So. You guys have to, or we can't enforce anything and we get a lot of complaints, but really we have no authority to do much about these kinds of things. And so the bicycles have been in there as long as I've worked there and bicycle bicycle, a lot of these things didn't exist. So I think that's the reason that we need to add them are. or define them, but even when they're defining a motorcycle from an enforcement perspective, they put a CC on the engine size. How am I supposed to tell that when I'm sitting roadside? So going back to the classes, and I'm not familiar with those, but that kind of makes enforcement difficult. I think the best approach here is just to include them into some of the rules of the road that we already have. Because right now they're not. Something new will come out. Do it again, I suppose. These scooters and things have been around. Either the cost is getting less or they're becoming more popular. There's a lot of A lot of youngsters on them. Brad?

The speed should be controlled, don't you think? I mean, that's one thing. You can't be on East Coupe, you know, 25-mile-an-hour street, go 35-mile-an-hour e-bike.

It is controlled in here, right? Yeah. Yeah, we address that. It says you have to address this.

So is there a speed limit on the bike trail for an e-bike?

It's the road paralleling it, basically. Or if there is a reasonable or a...

If we post a speed on the bike trail, then it becomes whatever is posted on the bike trail. So, Brad, you had some.

So, one of the difficulties of this is just defining the 800 different variations of scooters and dirt bikes and bikes and all this. Are you comfortable with the definition piece of this and what you're seeing on the road out there?

The definition is pretty sound. It looks similar to what Bill used. Good.

Because I don't want stuff slipping through the cracks. I saw two little ladies. They were side-by-side biking. I don't want them to get out of control.

I don't think the big thing is just you have to add something there. So you have to follow the rules of the road. And right now, there's nothing. So whether it's speed, run, stop signs, whatever, we can't do anything about it the way it currently is. So until you grab something else, regulate.

Go ahead, Ed.

Mr. Mayor, thank you. Now that you're going to be enforcing these rules, how much more staffing

Well, we're going to have to start with a lot of education because let's face it, nobody jumped too many bicyclists in my career. I don't want to say we're being really stupid, and I kind of see this kind of being the same way, but if we make some rules, at least we can start with advertising, trying to get some voluntary compliance without putting a hammer down on everybody right now. I couldn't even say, hey, the best we could say now is get out a safety message saying that. We see some unsafe activity on some of these, but but until there's a. The ability to have an enforcement component. I don't think anybody's going to listen a great deal. So I, I would advocate you come up with whatever you come up with. We'll enforce it to the best of our ability, but. We're not going to go out on day 1 and throw the net on everybody. So, you know, get the word out and let them know what the rules are.

The other question that I have is that I did, I see we have lights required on e, bikes and other boards and all the other. We don't prepare to appear to have any regulations for lighting on bicycles.

No, there is, it's in, it's in the white section. It was already.

That's mostly at night, isn't it? On bicycles after dusk and having a light on a motorcycle, it's a big safety factor. You pick up the light, you know, say a small vehicle. It'd be nice, but I realize it's.

I think that's 1 of the reasons that was killed over on the intersection. 12th street. There was no light on the bicycle and the driver of the truck didn't know he was there.

That was actually one of those smaller motorcycles I believe, wasn't it?

Well, we don't know what it is. That's part of the problem. There's not enough definitions and Prosecutors are having a hard time defining really what it was, but to your point, it wasn't. Go ahead, Brad.

So, back to the definition thing, I've got a little 110 dirt bike. Technically, it falls below that CC of being a motorcycle, but it's not in here. Is that in those little pit bikes? I'm sure that's what you're talking about. Statue is that is that a current gap that we have?

Well, where do they statute? And it sounds nice, but, you know, until you have something really bad happen and you have time to analyze it, it's kind of unenforceable. It made somebody feel good, but I can't tell when you go down the street. Right.

I guess my question is, they're not classified as a motorcycle and they're not classified as an e-bike. Where do they classify those lower CC dirt bike type motorcycles? Or where do they land? Do you know, Bill?

I don't because I think like Chief Reeves said, I think they may partially be regulated by state statute. But I've never really looked into it specifically since I don't deal in that realm.

I think Steve said you deal pretty adequately with gas power. Just nothing of what we see here in the last two, three years.

And I think the kind of, I mean, just to throw it out there too, The idea here is that law enforcement, if you're going about your business and you're not creating problems, you're probably not going to have an issue with law enforcement. And so if somebody is out doing whatever, then it falls to law enforcement, like Chief Reeves said, to figure out do they fall within these definitions for the e-bikes or whatever, or does it fall within state statutes? So then you're having to look at what the device is or the... or whatever it might be. So that's why in my mind, we need to have something here because otherwise law enforcement can, you can stop some kid that's weaving in and out of traffic. There's not a whole lot to regulate him if he's on an Easter or so. And we have, we make contacts.

It's a bad idea. Find something safer to do, but that's not the best thing to do, right?

It may not be a safety. He's going to get people hurt. That's right. Yeah. Keep people safe. That's all.

Somebody over here raised their hand. No. Good. Okay. All right, Pete, did you have a motion you wanted to make at some point?

yes trying to figure out which way to go whether to strike e-bike or strike extraterritorial jurisdiction i opinion um you know i i think it it would still be good in my opinion to have e-bikes included because you know my concern is if you're driving you know, let's say if you're driving down Jeffers or Dewey, and, you know, we don't want to make that a main arterial route for, say, like a 14, I think it'd probably be 14 year old going to Madison.

Is that about the right age?

You know, we don't want to necessarily make that a main arterial route for somebody to commute, you know, to school or something. And so, you know, again, to Councilman Nistley's point, I think it's a safety issue. And so we're not trying to prohibit the people that are going out for their bike rides. And so As I'm thinking about it, I kind of like the idea of taking out the extra territorial area because I do think there are bike trails that can get you out to like Dodge Hill and places like that. So I think there's a way to get the bike riders there and still comply with the terms of, you know, within the parameters of what we're kind of trying to set out here.

I agree with you, so I would like to make an amendment motion. To strike the words or extra territorial jurisdiction in paragraph 75.25 prohibited uses.

So, we have a motion by voles a 2nd by die. To strike the words or ET or exit exit territorial jurisdiction. In paragraph 75.25. Okay.

Yeah. Prohibited uses. Okay. So we have motion in a 2nd, any discussion on the motion.

Yeah, go ahead or just declare. I want to make sure I understand this. So, I, I can't. I can't write these on Buffalo, but I can write them on the trails next to Buffalo. That'd be right. Because Buffalo's over 25 miles an hour, but that ties to your point about. The trails being the alternative. Okay. So we're talking about front street, the 1 ways. Rodeo road, um, Buffalo sure. I'm missing some East 4th 25 from.

So, you get out to the river bridge, you know, yeah, right.

That would still be within that would still be within limits along that stretch there. Okay. So what we're saying under. As drafted now, and with the, even with the amendment. That stretch of Buffalo would still fall within the city limits. And so we're saying, ride your bike on the trail. If you're going to go out to Dodge road. That would be my, my position is willow 25 all the way through.

Does it hit 30? I think it's 25.

Okay. The only thing we just did with that amendment motion, as I think about it, sorry, Mr mayor. Is we allowed hoverboards and. E scooters in the extra territorial jurisdiction. Yeah. Are they going to be out there?

Question is, how many do you see out there? Very true. With traffic congestion and those types of things, those are the safety issues where you have more traffic. To me, that's the city limits more so than two mile. I'm with you.

Ed.

Well, I guess I'm thinking about, you know, if I want to ride my bicycle on West A Street and I go past Buffalo, Now, all of a sudden, I'm violating the law because I'm riding on a road that has a 50 or 55 mile an hour speed limit.

It's not a battle bike. It's an e-bike.

Just an e-bike.

But you're right, but past Buffalo, you'd have to get past Lakeview. Yeah, you'd have to get past and that city limits stop at Lakeview.

So that's okay there for jurisdiction. We just go around you go around the rail yard.

I do it, did it all the time.

Yeah. On a bike. Now all of a sudden we're riding on roads that have a higher speed than 25 miles an hour. Now we're in violation.

No, it's legal now because that's extraterritorial jurisdiction. That's ETJ.

If the amendment, if the amendment were to pass, then then that would be allowed. You could, you could write these things. Out on that road, which does have the higher speed limit. So. Does does anything that we pass here? Is it going to be absolutely perfect? If not, maybe that becomes an issue, which I would say if it does become an issue and we start to see people out there in that area, then maybe we want to, you know, pass first, I guess. So I don't want to get the cart before the horse, but, you know, maybe it's something that could be revisited too.

So the city has no jurisdiction after the two amendments, so if I ride my bicycle past that, then it would be up to the county sheriff to do it.

Um, I'll remind me to make a comment about that. I don't know that. What I have to say necessarily relates to the amendment, so I can, I can wait and mention it later, but.

Any other just go ahead. 1 last question. I hate to beat this thing to the ground, but. Somebody comes to town with their camper and they park at the campground out there. By the, uh, an elegant. And they him and his wife has a bike that they want to write up to say Ruby Tuesdays. They legally couldn't write it on the street to there because there's no trail to come up there with.

That's city limits is that am I that would be your city limits and the speed limit would be over 25.

I don't like that because I think there's. Travelers that travel with their e-bikes that use them as a transportation to go somewhere to eat or go.

We could tie it to the driver's license or an age limit of some kind.

No, right right.

I have the same. Okay. So if we go back to Buffalo as an example. Okay, for safety purposes, we're going to take the e-bikes and we're going to put them on the bike trail where all the joggers and the walkers are. But then we're going to have the regular bikes on the road or on the bike trail. I don't know if they're, I don't know if we've thought that through all the way because we're putting them where the joggers and the walkers are too.

I think I'm more comfortable if it's okay. Mr. I'm going to withdraw my motion. And make another amended motion.

I'll accept your withdrawal.

Okay, so we're starting from scratch. I'm going to strike the term e, bike. on paragraph 7.25 prohibited uses in the first paragraph. What paragraph is it again? It's the only paragraph in 75.25 prohibited uses first sentence. I'm going to strike the word e-bike. That's where I came in here doing originally. And I think that might solve our problems.

Okay. We have a second. Second. Another motion by bowl and a second by Lucas on striking the word ebike from paragraph 75.25. Is ebike in that paragraph more than once? I don't have it. Yes, it is. Oh, yeah. Yes. So every time it's seen so in all locations.

Yep.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, you're really going to appreciate this, but I would also like to motion an amendment to eliminate extraterritorial jurisdiction from that as well.

Oh, yeah, I'm sorry for the sake of clarity. Let's do them 1 at a time. So does any of the further discussion on the. Opportunity to eliminate the word from all locations in paragraph 75 dot 25. just just real quick if I could.

So, I appreciate the. Concerns in the comments and everything like that. Great discussion. I apologize for. Bringing this to the table, but, um. i i was with you on the etj on striking that but i i feel like the e-bikes um we're only solving half the problem if we keep e-bikes in there so um I was with you, and then I just don't feel like we're solving all the problem again. Like, the reason why I wanted to bring this to the table is to get them off of the main streets of North flat where there's. The most traffic, the most risk of of accidents, not saying accidents can't happen on the 25 or less mile an hour roadway, but I feel like they're going to be a lot less. And so I feel like if we strike e, bikes, like I said, we're only solving half the issue.

Other questions or comments on the motion to strike e-bike from 7525 in all locations.

Mr American asked 1 more clarifying question, please certainly didn't Nick's point, but they'd still have to. Obey the rules of the road, correct? So, even though under, so this, I understand your concern, but we're still taking a big leap to put a rule, the rule, the role, the rules of the road intact for them. Correct? Is that do I understand that? Right? Okay.

Yep. So, under 75.21. We're adding in all of them and they have to comply with the rules of the work.

Can I get something clarified to you real quick? So. To be clear, you can still write them on the sidewalks, but you have to. Um, give the pedestrians a right away. Even on those 35 mile an hour roads correct?

75.29 that is being proposed. It allows the bicycle scooter by cover board to be on a sidewalk or hike and bike trail. um but you have to yield to pedestrians you have to um you can't ride in large groups okay so there's some restrictions there but it allows you to still operate upon those types of walkways go ahead brad so to tack on what you're saying i also don't want to push a 40 mile an hour e-bike onto a sidewalk either like that doesn't seem like a good idea

I mean, somebody could be walking out, you know, to their car or something. If you're pushing the speed limit posted right next to you. I mean, that's, that's not a, we're not ahead in that, you know, position either. And I also don't want a, a 12 year old out running around on a 40 mile an hour e-bike or even a 25 mile an hour e-bike, you know, so.

i don't know i'm struggling with i think we need to do something 100 it's the the gray area that's tough at this point if i may i think that after this amendment you could add something that they can only go a certain speed on trails and sidewalks if you wanted to do this that'd be a separate piece i believe be a good way to deal with it yeah and just real quick to your point

I'm considering an e-bike like a bicycle. I just am. I don't see that much of a difference. So going slow is just as dangerous as going fast. I agree in the wrong hands. It can be perilous, but you can't protect people from themselves either. So that's my only differentiation there. I just consider an e-bike a bicycle. And so I don't want to limit bicycles from going in places also. So that was my point to that.

But the difference is a 12-year-old can't get a bicycle up to 20 mile an hour. They're going to be much slower just by the physical nature of their body. You know, an e-bike, on the other hand, you push a button, it goes.

And I don't necessarily know that a 12-year-old should be driving an e-bike.

That's kind of my argument, too.

But you can't protect people from themselves. You can't legislate. Everything I don't want to say what I'm going to say, but let's slate everything.

So, okay, we're back strike to the, to the motion strike ebike the word ebike in all locations from 75.25. We have any further discussion.

On that motion, what are we doing now? I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

So, so paragraph 75 dot 25. The proposed motion would strike the word everywhere. It occurs in that paragraph.

But see, the second sentence really says, I mean, what we're doing here, so that the light scooter and hoverboard may cross, but an e-board doesn't have to obey all posted signage and warnings. I mean, that's what that second sentence says. If you're riding a scooter or e-bike or hoverboard at a marked intersection, you have to obey the signage and warnings. You take out e-bike. I mean, e-bike doesn't have to do that.

If you look a little bit above that, um, under 75.21, we're including bikes in page. Yeah, I saw. So, if you look for him, then it talks about having to obey.

Okay. So you've got, you've got the signs and. Okay, sorry. Okay. Right. From 75.25 in all locations.

Calling the question. That motion passes. Mr. Lucas, you were going to make another motion. Yeah.

I would like to motion another amendment to strike for extraterritorial jurisdiction from paragraph 75.25. Second.

motion by Lucas second by Bowles or an amendment to strike or extra territorial jurisdiction from paragraph 75.25 correct yes okay and your logic is a couple comments on it um

First of all, we commonly hear people in the rim, you guys can push stuff on us, but we don't get a vote for you and that type of thing. We also don't have to pay our taxes. But this is taking things into that level where I could appreciate that concern. You also have the police jurisdiction. I don't know that this needs to go into the rim. i think if the county wanted to collaborate on that or if chief reeves and sheriff kramer came to us wanted to collaborate on we should be open-minded but i don't know that it's our place in this to do that yeah i'm completely okay with making the county responsible for this one that's no problem well justin just as an aside we're leaving out one critical aspect of this and that's parents

You know, we can't be the parents and regulate these kids. That's what parents are for. If a parent chooses to be stupid and let his kid be stupid, we can't prevent that.

And you might want to look at 75.24.

Yeah, I saw it. Okay. But just to come.

It is stating that they are responsible for the behavior of their children, which is true. But you're right if if they don't monitor their children. Children, the children.

Okay, that's all I have.

Okay. Other questions or comments on the proposed motion to eliminate or eat extra territorial jurisdiction from paragraph 75.25. On the question, so really you've already voted. Okay.

that motion is passed all right mr garrick did you have a motion regarding speed limits i did not i was gonna make a comment but it's fine um i might insert my comment here real quick before i forget it um to what councilman reeker was talking about and it kind of ties into what you just voted on with the etj too like you know, a little bit in my mind. I don't mean to reckon this entirely to like the skill games, but if I had a crystal ball, I wouldn't be here, but I'd be doing something way different. Anyways, I digress. You could easily see how the legislature could get involved in this at some point, because I mean, it's becoming more and more of an issue. So, um, I just, I think it's really good for us to have something, and this is a starting point. So, you know, we may not get it exactly right the 1st time around. Um, but I think by having something that tells us what might work better than. In the future for our community, so that was going to be my final comment.

Let's just keep it top of mind. If it's not working, let's bring it back up and talk about it again.

Okay, we've had 2 amendments both passed to this item number 6. Have any further discussion on the item with, including both amendments, which are strike the word e, bike. The words or extra territorial jurisdiction.

I have 1 more thing, sir. Okay. Um, on the bicycle 75.2, 0, where it says no person shall ride or propel a bicycle on a street or public highway. Of the city with another person on the handlebars or in position in front of the operator. I don't know how the council feels on wanting to do something with double writers on East scooters or anything like that. I just thought I would bring that up as well. Because that was. Something that was brought up to me about kids hauling kids on East. So. Just don't know if we want to amend and add something in there. To restrict that, or how the council would feel about that.

And I know you'd mentioned this to me too. And it was honestly just it wasn't something that I saw in some of the other communities and wasn't something I thought of. So I think it's a very reasonable thing from a safety perspective to add in. And I can find a spot here real quick that we could add it in if anybody agrees.

I think it's a fantastic idea.

I think it's a good idea. Okay, go ahead and take a minute and find a spot.

you'd almost tie it to the language of if the if the vehicle isn't designed to carry two people it should carry two people or something along those lines um it feels like it might might fit well within 75.28 that talks about like you know you i think of michael j fox and back to the future where he's But, um, so 75.28 prohibits that we could modify that a little bit to include multiple writers. Okay, so I feel like I would fit well.

So, do you have some proposed language that we can motion in at this time to bring it back a different time?

Um. With council's direction, I could, I don't want to come up with something that's not very good right on the spot here. So, with council's direction, I can. Craft something that I can bring back on 2nd reading if everyone would feel comfortable with that.

All right, I don't want to just 1 more comment. We don't want to mess up, like, tandem bikes or, you know.

If it's not designed, see what I'm saying. Yep. And that's why I want, I think it'd be better to take a minute to think it through so that we don't create something that, you know, unintended consequences.

Okay. So round two, we'll have something about multiple riders on bikes that are not designed for multiple riders. All right. Calling the question on the item as amended. Passes amended item number 7 on the list to prove the bid in the. Prove the bid in the amount of 334,849 dollars and authorize America to go shape and sign contract documents with TL send contractors ink of Lexington for the electrical utilities building addition.

Mr mayor, I moved to adopt the bid. In the amount of 334,849 dollars. Mayor Mrakas, authorizing their negotiating sign contract documents to your son constructors in Lexington electrical utilities building addition.

Mayor Mrakas, Motion by recur second by Nestle right. Please give us the short version of what we've got going on here. Please.

Good evening. Mayor counsel. Um, we had a bid. Or in addition to a electrical building. Um, over on the side of town, it's mainly storage for vehicles and we got 6 bids. Which we got, I was pleased we got 6 bids and we got 4 from. Um, folks that are either based in North Platt or have an office in North Platt and the low bid. Is to your son, but they're working with him Hamilton builders to do a chief building. And tells the prime, they're using. Hamilton is the sub to do the building itself. So.

Thank you any questions comments. Nick, how big is the building?

It's about 50 by 60. Okay. Okay, Brad was this budget.

It was part of our capital construction.

Other comments or questions? Calling the question on item number seven, please. Number seven is passed. I have number 8, 2nd, reading in action to adopt ordinance number 4, 2, 5, 5, annexing lot 1, deepwaters retreat, administrative subdivision, Lincoln County, Nebraska, consisting of approximately 2.326 acres into the corporate limits. The city of North Platte laying the ordinance please.

Ordinance number 4255, an ordinance of the Mayor and Council of the City of North Platte, Lincoln County, Nebraska, to include within the corporate limits of the City of North Platte, certain lands described as Lot 1 Deep Waters Recrete Administrative Subdivision, Lincoln County, Nebraska, repealing all ordinances in conflict herewith, providing for the effective date and publication thereof.

Mr. mayor, I moved to adopt ordinance number 4, 2, 5, 5. Annexing lot 1, the quarters retreat administrative subdivision, Lincoln County, Nebraska into the corporate limits city in North flat, Nebraska. Consisting of approximately 2.326 acres on the 2nd, 3.

2nd. Motion by recur second by goals. This is the piece of property that we've discussed quite a bit a couple months ago. It's on North Buffalo, has a really nice looking black metal building on it right now. So any questions or comments? Calling the question on item number eight, please. Number 8 is passed and number 9, 2nd, reading and action to adopt ordinance number 4, 2, 5, 6 to rezone certain land from an R3 dwelling district to a B2 highway commercial district on property located at 2420 West 13th street laying the ordinance please.

Ordinance number 4256, an ordinance of the City of North Platte, Lincoln County, Nebraska, rezoning certain lands described as Lot 1, Roberts Subdivision, North Platte, Lincoln County, Nebraska, from an R3 dwelling district to a B2 highway district, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith, providing for the effective date and publication thereof.

Mr mayor, I moved to wave the final required reading on ordinance number 4, 2, 5, 6. And I moved to adopt ordinance number 4, 2, 5, 6 to rezone certain land from an R3 dwelling district to a B2 highway commercial district located at 2420 West 13th street.

2nd. Motion by make news 2nd, by Gary. Discussion on item number 9.

I guess just the reason why I wanted to offer to waive the final reading is I had Mr. Roberts reach out to me and they just are anxious to kind of get the ball rolling and get construction going and kind of getting later in the season. So I feel like there's plenty of notice. I feel like everybody's ready to move on past that corner and see new things come.

Thank you. Other questions or comments on the question? I have number 9 as motion. Number nine is passed and the final reading has occurred. Number 10, adopt the resolution approving claims and authorizing the issuance of two warrants to TC Engineering in the amounts of $279,934 and $41,501 to pay approved claims and referring to incorporating the terms and conditions of ordinance number 3874 relating to warrant financing.

Mr. Mayor, I move to approve the resolution authorizing the issuance of two warrants as presented in the materials. Second.

Motion by Reeker, second by Dye. Discussion on item number 10. Seeing none, calling the question on item number 10, please. Item number 10 is passed. Item number 11, approve the claims.

Mr. Mayor, I move that you pay the bill.

Second. Motion by Reeker, second by Volz. Discussion on the claims.

I'd like to abstain.

Record so that Councilman Dye is abstained from item number 11. Calling the question on item number 11. Number 11 is past public agenda request to respect our city employees requested any complaints or criticisms employees not be aired to public meeting concerns about employee should be brought the attention to city administrator or the mayor. Individual violation will be declared out of order. Anyone would like to make a public agenda request. Please approach the microphone. Tell us who you are, where you live and list your request. Please. Mr.

Mr. Mayor, I move that we adjourn.

Second. Motion by Reker, second by Vogt to adjourn. Calling the question on adjournment. Meeting is adjourned. We'll see you all on next week.