OSMOND — The Osmond City Council met Monday, April 8, and heard Assistant Treasurer Cindy Hoffman excitedly announce that finally, after five long tasking years, FEMA has sent $142,140.48 for the flooded street repairs!
She stated a check would be cut to pay off the small loan at the bank the next day. Council thanked Hoffman for her continued efforts over all the years of submitting documents and pushing to get payments for the city.
Clerk Brittney Timmerman stated NEMA would be in Osmond the following week to do a walk-through of the project to verify the work has been completed. She also mentioned that the Acquisition project has been completely closed, and the first report and picture proof of 207 and 209 South State Street locations have been submitted to the state. Timmerman informed them that random inspections of those two locations will happen every three years along with reports to file to prove both locations remain vacant and green space in their entirety.
TIF, Expenses Reported
During the meeting, Treasurer Timmerman presented the annual TIF report. The TIF report was completed before the May 1st deadline, she said, and mailed to all necessary entities with a copy on file. The valuation increased by $303,160.00 from the previous year.
Included in council members’ packets were the general checking statement and reconciliation for February 2024, for review. Treasurer Timmerman asked if there were any questions or comments on them and there was no response. Treasurer Timmerman then reported on total claims for the month.
After receiving a copy of the fiscal year Profit & Loss/Budget vs. Actual report in their packets and reviewing them, council had no questions for Treasurer Timmerman on their department expenses.
Timmerman informed council she had been questioned on how certain expenses are reported so she wanted to provide them and the public with some information to help them better understand.
She went on to say that the City of Osmond has only one general checking account that all expenses are paid out of. However, Osmond does have other accounts but those accounts are restricted funds, meaning they can’t be spent on just anything. (i.e. Pool BondAccount is only for the pool bond payments, Street Bond Retirement is only for payment of street bonds, etc.)
The city’s general checking is broken down into the following expense departments during the budget: street, water, sewer, garbage, park, cemetery, auditorium, general (administration office supplies and shop supplies not specific to a department), police and library.
All budgeted expenses from each of these departments comes out of one account: general checking. If an expense like the pool bond comes up, money is then transferred from the pool bond account into general checking to cover that restricted expense. Every expense is “charged” via bookkeeping entry to the department that expense was for.
Timmerman said she hopes this helps everyone better understand that when an improvement/purchase is discussed about a specific building, vehicle, piece of equipment, it will always be charged to that specific department for reporting and auditing purposes.
She asked council that, if anyone in the public has questions and comes to them, if they don’t fully understand, please call and ask so it doesn’t cause confusion and more work down the road.
Sixth Street Work Planned
Mike Fink, trustee for United Methodist Church, thanked the city maintenance crew for all the work completed in the alley to help runoff. He mentioned that, at the church’s last council meeting, other members asked when repairs would be made to 6th Street where the asphalt had been broken up after repairs to their roof were done.
Council Member Doug Schmit advised that he has a plan to cut that portion of the street, dig out the old asphalt and have a company come in to lay asphalt down to repair it. He stated they are still trying to find a company that will do that, but at the time there is no estimate as to when it will be done.
Mayor Kuhl said they are trying to wait for the ground to dry up before anything can be done, which also is a factor on the unknown time frame. Fink thanked council for their time and they all will keep in touch as the project moves forward.
Service Agreement Approved Clerk Timmerman brought before council a Professional Services Agreement from Planning and Zoning Administrator Heather McWhorter to update the city’s regulations book. Mayor Dennis Kuhl stated that this update had been discussed with Mc-Whorter during the last year and a half and is something that needs to be done.
He explained that these regulations were adopted years ago and weren’t specifically tailored to the city's needs. Assistant Treasurer Cindy Hoffman stated that JEO had put these together based on a template form they had for other municipalities.
Timmerman explained McWhorter would take time to meet with coun- cil to get their input on any specific regulations the city needs. The amount of the service agreement is $20,000, and Treasurer Timmerman asked McWhorter if she would be willing to take payment over the next five months if approved by council and she agreed to that. The council approved the service agreement with Zoning Administrator McWhorter in the amount of $20,000.
Summer Youth Covered
Discussion for Osmond Summer Youth, which had been on the agenda, was not needed as Councilman Dennis Haselhorst attended a meeting this past week with them and both parties felt that they were handling the needs at this time.
Treasurer Timmerman reported on the following coaches’ wages for the Summer Youth season: Alli Aschoff, $500.00/team; Bailey Schmit, $400.00/team; Joel Kumm, $525.00/ team; Lacey Bahr, $400.00/team; Tyler Gansebom, $400.00/team; Monte Miller, maxed at $550.00/team.
Benches Discussed
A brief discussion on memorial and park benches was had about other municipalities’ processes of approval and placing them within their communities. Council feels that any benches being placed in the park must go before the Park Board for their approval and any benches/memorial benches being placed downtown must get business owner’s approval with both having to receive final approval from the city council. This will help keep the uniformity of benches and open space in both the downtown and park areas.
Resolution on Hospital Lot Purchase Passed Clerk Timmerman informed council that a resolution needed to be passed explaining who had the authority to sign the closing documents for the partial hospital lot purchase and also provide the legal description. Since it was previously approved to authorize the Mayor to sign the documents, the council adopted Resolution 2024-3, a resolution to purchase a partial lot from Osmond General Hospital, giving the mayor the authority to sign documents, and providing the legal distriction.
Treasurer to Attend Conference Treasurer Timmerman informed council that no information on cost for the June treasurer’s conference has been released yet, but hopes to know more at the May 13 meeting; however, the dates are set for June 12 to 14. She asked council for approval to attend the conference in order to obtain her eight hours of continuing education and book the hotel room once registration opens. The council approved having Treasurer Timmerman register for the conference and book a hotel room for the conference.
Millings Discussed
Treasurer Timmerman informed council she had received a call asking if the City of Osmond still had any millings for sale, so she asked council members if they would be interested in selling the old and new pile of millings.
After some discussion, it was decided that the old millings would be too filled with dirt for the company that inquired, and selling the new millings was questionable because of possible future projects and whether they had to be let for bids.
The discussion was halted until office personnel could check into procedures. Councilman Schmit is going to check with contractors to see if one would be able to use Osmond’s millings to complete work on a couple of city blocks.
Police Report Given
Police Chief Tyler Wells presented a report on recent activity within the city including a meeting with Osmond Community School for security questions during a grant application, one dog barking complaint, two helicopter tr affic assists, one unruly child at a school and one wild opossum to name a few. Chief Wells also informed council that his NIBRS (Nebraska Incident Base Reporting System) audit is now complete.
In other business, the council: — heard Mayor Kuhl state city sales tax for January 2024 was a total of $19,802.74 (of that amount $6,402.76 is from motor vehicle tax).
— heard one correspondence as reported by Mayor Kuhl from Judy Kahler thanking all the city employees for the good services over the years.
