OSMOND — The Osmond City Council met Monday, Feb. 12, in the conference room, and began the meeting with two public hearings. They also heard that the city will be looking for a new clerk.
Mayor Dennis Kuhl informed coun cil that Clerk Pam Polenske resigned as of Jan. 31 and asked if anyone had suggestions for her replacement. The council approved running the clerk ad to receive applications for the vacant position. In the meantime, Mayor Kuhl appointed Brittney Timmerman as Clerk/Treasurer and Cindy Hoffman as Assistant Treasurer.
Hearings Held
The first public hearing was on Bruce and Tamela King's request for a variance in the floodplain. Floodplain Administrator Heather McWhorter was not in attendance, but phoned in to provide conditions that must be followed in order for the variance to be approved. She stated that, to allow a non-residential structure to remain below the 100-year base flood eleva - tion with the use of wet floodproofing vents, the following are the conditions that must be followed for approval: — A total of 48-inch-long by eightinch- tall openings must be placed on two walls. The vents on each of the two walls may be broken into one 48-inch vent, two 24-inch vents, or three 16-inch vents.
— The bottom of the opening must not be higher than one foot above adjacent outside grade and allow for the free flow of water in and out of the building.
— These openings are to be open holes with no coverings, screens, or louvers.
— No variation to the above design to the vent sizing or building are allowed with this variance.
— Must be completed within 30 days of approval of the variance.
— All building materials below one foot above base flood must be of a type that cannot be damaged by water submersion.
- Building mechanical equipment and electrical outlets being used must still be at least one foot above the base flood elevation.
— If the structure is converted to another use, it must be brought into full compliance with the minimum standards governing such use.
For a variance that is granted, the applicant agrees to all conditions specified above. The applicant further agrees that, if the specified conditions are not fulfilled within the specified time frame, approval of the variance shall become null and void. Mr.
King asked if an extension could be granted if more winter weather halts construction and they aren’t able to finish in the 30 days from approval.
McWhorter stated that the city would be willing to work with them if weather does become a factor and requested that they contact the city office if that does become an issue. The city council granted the variance based on the conditions stated above.
The second hearing was to present verbiage amendments to the Zoning Overlay District Floodplain Management Ordinance 2022-5. Treasurer Timmerman stated that when the 2019 version of the ordinance was adopted after the flood, it was entered on the ordinance that the city council would hear the requests for a variance; however, in the original regulations, the board of adjustments should hear those requests.
She stated that this is the only change and for the amendments to be approved by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the city council has to approve the verbiage change before it is sent off to FEMAfor their approval and return to council for adoption later this year.
The council approved the variances requests going before the Board of Adjustments instead of City Council.
Health Insurance Plan Adopted Josh Sirek with Town & Country Insurance presented on the health insurance renewal for the full-time city employees. Sirek explained that the Medica plan the employees are currently on is not being offered at renewal and that the closest plan option similar to the current one out of the three provided is the Medica HSA $3,200 100% Gold.
Sirek stated the deductible for the other two options had a significant increase, while this plan had a slight increase in the premiums and minimal increase in deductibles. Council asked if the employees currently on the city’s health insurance were in favor and the mayor stated they are. The council approved the Medica HSA $3,200 100% Gold plan for the health insurance renewal in March.
Sirek provided Council Section 125 plan documents from Dustin Petty from Base. He explained this is a $200 annual pre-tax option for the city which also helps their employees save on payroll taxes as well. Treasurer Timmerman explained a scenario to help council better understand the purpose of why the city’s auditors requested the plan be adopted. The city council approved the Section 125 plan.
Other Items on Agenda
Baseball field renovations were discussed regarding the possibility of keeping the infield regulation size for the younger baseball teams and seeding the extra 10 ft. for Legion ball into grass, since there hasn’t been a Legion team for years. Two coaches were unable to attend the meeting so this item will be discussed at next months meeting.
Marvin Kumm advised the council of the death of Don Blecha, treasurer of the Osmond Park Board, and stated that the position will need to be filled. Council asked Kumm if he had any volunteers and he said he did not. Council thanked him for notifying them and will work on finding a re placement at next month’s meeting.
Councilman Neil Wattier presented an idea of installing a gated arch at the entrance on 4th Street to the ballfield.
This idea was intended to help reduce the flow of floodwaters in the future for residents in that area. There are several regulations that still needed to be looked into so this item will be postponed to a future meeting.
CITY COUNCIL IN NEED OF NEW CITY CLERK Councilman Haselhorst informed council that the quote provided by R&M Lawn Care last month does include the area around the swimming pool. After a brief discussion, the council approved having R&M Lawn Care complete steps one, three and five on the quote for Poolside Park. Mayor Kuhl appointed the fol - lowing to the Community Center Committee: Clark Gansebom, Kelly Hodson, Walter Aschoff, Jim Schmit, Michael Koehler, Jason Gubbels, Bryan Manzer and Garret Kuhl.
Treasurer Timmerman informed council that Nebraska Municipal Power Pool (NMPP) is providing the community a grant from its Energy Research and Development Fund. It is to be used for a local project that increases the awareness and practices of energy conservation, local research or development project, local energy conservation project, or other lo - cal innovative energy projects. She stated Osmond is awarded $936.39 and asked if council or anyone in at - tendance had suggestions on a small project. After some discussion, it was noted that there are possible projects and she will submit documents back to NMPP to receive the funds. During discussion on updating the Wellhead Protection Plan, Cindy Hoffman mentioned she believed it was updated when the two newest wells were added. Treasurer Timmer- man said she will reach out to Roger Protzman with JEO to confirm if this completed.
Mayor Kuhl provided an update on the purchase of the lot on Fourth Street, and stated that, by the March council meeting, it should be com plete. Viaero will then have to apply for necessary permits and the city hopes to have that completed by the
April meeting.
Treasurer Timmerman borrowed a copy of another municipality's hand - book and edited it to fit the needs of the City of Osmond. After reviewing the newly-drafted employee handbook, the council adopted the new person - nel handbook. Mayor Kuhl reported $3,513.00 was received from ACE Public Al - liance for the Community Energy revenue return program for Fiscal Year 2022-2023; $2,395.75 received from Black Hills Energy for the 2023 franchise fee; $40,022.17 received from Northeast Power for the lease payment ($29,161.46) and operations fee ($10,860.71) for the 4th Qtr. of 2023.
Treasurer Timmerman presented the General Checking statement and reconciliation for December 2023, for review. Councilman Wattier pointed out that there was one check to Ken's Trailers that cleared the bank and it only had the Mayor’s signature.
Police Chief Tyler Wells was ab sent, so Mayor Kuhl presented his re- port on recent activity within the city, including one motorist assist stuck in the snow, three vehicles removed off the streets for snow removal, one accident report question, two dogs at large and one report of cattle out, to name a few. In other business, the city council: - postponed discussion by Sum mer Youth until next month’s meeting.
- approved Amendment No. 2017-3A to the Lottery Operator Agreement, which will be printed in the city minutes at a later date.
— approved the Mayor to sign both water and sewer GIS mapping agreements with JEO.
- heard Councilman Wattier say an ad would not need to be run since all pool employees from last pool season will be returning.
— reviewed the new snow emer- gency policy that was published in the Jan. 17 edition of the paper and adopted the new policy.
— removed Pamela Polenske and
added Cindy Hoffman to all signature cards.
— heard Treasurer Timmerman review the audit from last fiscal year and state the few items noted during the audit that needed to be corrected have been taken care of.
— approved Main Street Alley’s special designated liquor license ap - plication for New Frontier's customer appreciation at the city auditorium on March 26, 2024. - heard Mayor Kuhl state city sales tax for November 2023 was a total of $17,039.04 (of that amount $1189.15 is from motor vehicle tax).
- heard Mayor Kuhl read cor - respondence from Doug and Patti Ketelsen thanking the council for the Christmas remembrance Osmond Dollars.
