Village of Elmwood Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

VILLAGE OF ELMWOOD

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

December 1, 2021 – 7:00 PM

REGULAR BOARD MEETING MINUTES

Meeting Held at Elmwood Village Hall

The Village Board of Trustees met in regular session on Wednesday, December 2, 2021. Chairperson Miki Bruns called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. Bruns stated that a current copy of the Nebraska Open Meetings Act was posted. Roll Call was answered by Jared Blunt, Becky Kicak, Renee Holland & Miki Bruns. Heather Scott at 7:06pm

Minutes: Holland made a motion, seconded by Blunt to approve November 17, 2021 Minutes. RCV: YES: Approved 4-0.

Claims & Payroll: Kicak questioned Jeff on his 2 hours overtime. Jeff said there was a power outage on Nov 18^th, and he had to tend to the water & sewer plants and November 20^th Well #5 failed to start at 2:30am. Holland made a motion, seconded by Kicak to approve the Claims and payroll for November 30^th and December 2, 2021. RCV: YES: Approved 4-0

Claims: Cass County Economic Development $1,000, Cass County Refuse $65, Elmwood Public Library 2,333.33, IRS $905.42, Intuit QuickBooks $5.25, Jeff Clymer $67.20, Lincoln Journal Star $42.68, NE Dept. of Environment & Energy $115, NE Public Health Enviro. Lab $46, NE Dept. of Revenue $851.68, NMPP $2,195.09, OPPD $3,303.06, Randy Bornemeier $1,260, The Aldrich Foundation $25, U.S. Postal $138, Windstream $201.38, Payroll $4,212.94

New Business

Discussion/Action board member recommendation – Heather Scott

Bruns recommended Heather Scott to fill the vacancy term that ends December 2022. Motion by Blunt to appoint Heather Scott for the term ending in December 2022, second by Holland. RCV: YES: Approved 4-0

Discussion/Action Oath of Office – Heather Scott

Heather Scott read her official Oath of Office to the board. Bruns let the board know that Heather is aware she will need to resign from the Elmwood Public Library board to be a trustee for the village.

Discussion/Action Resolution No. 12012021 – Changing stop signs around on South 2^nd & West C Street

Holland read Resolution No. 12012021.

Motion by Holland to approve Resolution No. 12012021 with corrections, second by Kicak. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0

Discussion/Action Ordinance 2021-5 – Pay Wages

Motion by Kicak to waive the 3 readings, second by Holland. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0

Kicak read Ordinance 2021-5

Motion by Kicak to approve Ordinance 2021-5, second by Blunt. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0

Discussion Complaints regarding a flag on main street with vulgar language

Moriah informed the board that she had received several complaints regarding the flag with vulgar language on the Bess Streeter Aldrich Mural. Little Knights Academy contacted one of the owners of the building Tracey Hespen who wasn’t aware of the flag on the building. Tracey told Little Knights Academy they would get it removed ASAP but was waiting on their lift to get back into town which wasn’t until that evening. The issue has been resolved.

Discussion/Action Resolution No. 12022021 – Year-End Certification of City Street Superintendent

Kicak read Resolution No. 12022021

Motion by Kicak to approve Resolution No. 12022021, second by Holland. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0

Unfinished Business

Discussion/Action 5^th Annual Elmwood F.K.N. Car/Bike Show

Bruns shared with everyone the responses she got when following up with businesses on main street. She contacted all the business except three. The ones contacted said they didn’t have any complaints about the car show. Bruns contacted Rural water after the last meeting. Bruns spoke to Mark, he stated that they didn’t have an issue with the car show but said that if there was an emergency, they would need to ask people to move their cars so they can access their shop on main street. Bruns spoke to the town attorney and Maureen said that the village just needs to make sure they are a secondary on the car show insurance for the event. The Village would then be responsible it anything happens to the state highway during the event. Bruns followed up with Cierra with the NE State dept. of roads and she said that it’s not a problem with closing the highway and we would just need to submit the correct paperwork. Cierra stated that it is pretty common for municipalities to request closures for events, and she had a stack of these requests on her desk. Kicak stated that there are certain things that need to be addressed when approving the car show. Holland said she doesn’t think that the name of the car show is demoralizing Elmwood in any way.

Motion by Holland to approve the closure of the Highway on July 30^th ,2022 for the 5^th Annual Elmwood F.K.N. Car/Bike Show, second by Scott. RCV: YES: Blunt, Scott, Holland, Bruns NO: Kicak Motion Approved 4-1

Discussion/Action Updated Tree bid for 324 East D Street

Motion by Blunt to approve the tree bid from Christensen Tree Service for $850, second by Kicak. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0

Discussion/Action Planning and Zoning Board recommendation – Ben Kastens

Tabled – No action taken

Discussion/Action main street demolition fencing

Bruns reminded the board about the previous discussion on using the old fence that is being replaced at the water tower and giving it to the church to use for the demo on main street. Dave Spohr told Bruns that American Fence is going to donate the fence for them to use during the demo process, but American Fence requires a re-stocking fee when they get the fence back of $300. Bruns suggested the Village help the church out with the re-stocking expense. Motion by Holland to pay the $300 re-stocking fee to American Fence, Second by Scott. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0

Reports of Boards, Commissions, and Committees

Library: Motion by Kicak to approve November 30, 2021 Payroll & Bills, Second by Blunt. RCV: Yes. Approved 5-0

Library Claims: Black Hills Energy $68.66, Intuit QuickBooks $3.50, NE Dept. of Revenue $4.56, OPPD $70.64, United States Treasury $207.18, Windstream $49.10, NE Dept. of Revenue $16.51, Amazon $30.18, Anne Pope $105.27, Elmwood Public Library – Petty Cash $33.87, The Library Store $911.74, Payroll $918.78

Park: Bruns asked Heath Vogt about the Christmas lights being on all day that the Elmwood Community Association put up and if they can get timers on those so they aren’t running all day. Heath said they are in the process of doing that. Jeff reported that he has winterized and locked the park bathrooms.

Streets: Bruns told Jeff that the stop signs at 2^nd and West C Street are priority. Jeff and Ryan Anderson got the Christmas lights up on main street and jeff said that we will eventually need to replace several outlets that the Christmas lights plug into on the light poles.

Water: Bruns was notified by Ed Blunt that the alarms went off at the water treatment plant and Jeff neglected to check on them, so Ed had to. Bruns questioned Jeff about this matter and Jeff wasn’t sure why he didn’t check the alarms but thought he was grocery shopping at this time.

Sewer: Jeff is waiting to find out the results on his Sewer operator test.

Planning/Zoning: November 2021 minutes weren’t approved due to information not being accurate. Next meeting is scheduled for December 13, 2021 @ 7:00pm

Public Comment:

Sue Blauvelt – 205 East C Street

I want to know the status on John Powers cat issue. We are tired of the cats using our property as a giant litter box. The cat’s crap on our deck. Yesterday I counted 12 cats at his house.

John McNaught (co-owner of c-store) – 4518 250^th Street, Alvo

I just want to clear up the massive confusion that we are against the car show. We are in full support of the car show and attend the car show we just don’t want our entrances blocked during the Car show. It feels like we have been left out and haven’t been notified on our thoughts about blocking our entrances. As long as our entrances to the gas station aren’t blocked, we are in full support of the car show.

Pat Beckman – 209 East F Street

If they can get Ben Kastens on the Planning and Zoning, he would be an asset to the board because he knows the book. I’m not sure what the case was on why he left the board, but I think he would be good on there.

Correspondence:

Personnel:

Reorganization of Current Board:

Rollcall by Clerk: Miki Bruns, Renee Holland, Becky Kicak, Jared Blunt, Heather Scott

The board of Trustees shall elect a Chair, then Vice Chair: Bruns made a motion to elect Blunt as Chairperson, Second by Kicak. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0. Blunt made a motion to elect Miki Bruns as Vice Chairperson, Second by Holland. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0.
Appointments:
Bruns made a motion, second by Becky to appoint JEO Consulting Group, Inc. as the Village Engineer. RCV. YES: Approved 5-0
Holland made a motion, second by Bruns to appoint Evan Wickersham of JEO Consulting Group, Inc. as the Village Street Superintendent. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0
Kicak made a motion, second by Scott to appoint Moriah Lenz as the Village Clerk/Treasurer. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0
Bruns made a motion, second by Holland to appoint Maureen Freeman-Caddy of The Law Offices of Bromm Lindahl Freeman-Caddy & Lausterer as the Village attorney. RCV: YES: Scott, Holland, Bruns, Blunt NO: Kicak. Motion Approved 4-1
Kicak made a motion, second by Bruns to appoint Mike Jensen with the Cass County Department of Zoning as the Village building inspector. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0
Bruns made a motion, second by Kicak to appoint Heather Scott as the Nuisance Officer. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0
Bruns made a motion, second by Holland to appoint Becky Kicak as the Hearing Officer pursuant to Municipal Code. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0
Tabled to next meeting – Need more info on who to nominate
There were no planning commissioners whose terms have expired.
Appoint Commissioners:
Bruns made a motion, second by Kicak to appoint Renee Holland as the Park commissioner. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0
Kicak made a motion, second by Holland to appoint Heather Scott as the Street commissioner. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0
Holland made a motion, second by Scott to appoint Miki Bruns as the Water/Sewer commissioner. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0

Designated Bank: Kicak made a motion, second by Holland to designate American Exchange Bank as the Village depository bank. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0

Designated Newspaper: Holland made a motion, second by Scott to designate the Plattsmouth Journal as the legal notice newspaper. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0

Designated posting areas: Bruns made a motion, second by Holland to designate the Elmwood Post Office, C-store and Village office as the three places in which reasonable advanced notices will be published. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0

Approval of Attorney’s Retainer Agreement: Holland made a motion, second by Kicak to approve the Retainer agreement for Bromm Lindahl Freeman-Caddy & Lausterer for $800. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0

Future Agenda Items:

Comprehensive Plan Ordinance

Zoning Ordinance

Subdivision Ordinance

Clerk School for Moriah (Dec15)

Up in Smoke Firework stand – Scott Howard (Dec 15)

Car/Bike Show Highway Closure Resolution (Dec 15)

Appoint a Health Board (Dec 15)

Meter Change out bids from local plumbers

John Powers – Conditional Use Permit

112 North 4^th Street – Romero property (March 2022)

Meeting adjourned at 8:18pm