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VILLAGE OF ELMWOOD

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

February 2, 2022 – 7:00 PM

REGULAR BOARD MEETING MINUTES

Meeting Held at Elmwood Village Hall

The Village Board of Trustees met in regular session on Wednesday, February 2, 2022. Chairperson Jared Blunt called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Blunt stated that a current copy of the Nebraska Open Meetings Act was posted.

Roll Call was answered by Miki Bruns, Heather Scott, Renee Holland, Becky Kicak & Jared Blunt.

Minutes: Kicak made a motion, seconded by Holland to approve January 19,2022 meeting minutes. RCV: Yes: Approved 5-0

Claims & Payroll:  Bruns questioned the 4 loads of rock that was delivered and also asked Jeff why he had 13 hours of overtime. Holland made a motion, seconded by Scott to approve the Claims and Payroll for February 1 & 2,2022 RCV: Yes: Approved 5-0

Claims: Cass County Refuse &65, D.R. Ortlieb Trucking $763.20, Elmwood Public Library $2,333.33, IIMC $175, IRS $832.68, Intuit QuickBooks $5.25, Jeff Clymer $42.56, Lincoln Journal Star $194.18, Lovell Excavating $1,800, NE Dept of Revenue $204.28, OPPD $3,466.82, Quality Fabrication & Steel Company $160, U.S. Post Office $203.75, Village of Elmwood $5.80, Windstream $196.39, Payroll $3,828.58 RCV: Yes: Approved 5-0

New Business

Discussion Information on drilling another well – Brad Harris w/Layne Christensen                                                                                 

Brad Harris with Layne Christensen was at the meeting to present the board with some well options and to inform us on what steps need to be taken to drill a new well. Our first step is finding funding for this project. Brad said that typically depending on the style of water well we go with the cost can be anywhere from $300 -$500,000.                    

Discussion/Action Robert Sorenson for Cass County Sheriff introduction                                                                                                 

Robert Sorenson introduced himself to the board and those in attendance at the meeting. Robert has been in law enforcement for 19 years. Robert made 3 points of improvement areas that he would improve if he became Sheriff. #1: Robert would like to improve the Deputy coverage of Cass County and quicker response time to calls. #2: Cass County doesn’t have any inter-local agreements with surrounding County police departments. #3: Cass County Sheriff Department doesn’t apply for any state grants. One grant that they could be applying for is the DUI/Drugs on highway safety. If they did apply for these grants, it could cover the cost to get more patrol cars on the roads to help minimize the accidents caused by DUI/Drugs that lead to fatality auto accidents.            

Discussion/Action Nebraska Arts Council grant for music in the park for pie ride – Marie Gregoire                                                            

Marie is looking into a music grant for the pie ride. Marie would like to know if the Village of Elmwood would like to be a sponsor for the music grant. It wouldn’t cost the Village anything. The grant would only cover 45% of $1,000 or more and Marie said she would find sponsors for the remaining 55% of the cost. Marie thinks this would build the event and reported that last year the pie ride was a success last year and helped raise money for our local organizations.                                                                                                                                                                

Discussion/Action Purchase of new Christmas Lights                                                                                                                          

Tabled- Going to explore different Christmas light options                                                                                   

Discussion/Action 2022 Town Clean up date & Keep Cass County Beautiful Electronic recycling event                                            

Motion by Bruns, second by Holland to approve town clean up for Saturday June 18th from 8:00 am – noon. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0                                                                                                                                                                         

Unfinished Business                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Discussion/Action Recommendations for Planning & Zoning Board – Robert Marsh, Chase Hinzmann & Chris Scott                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Motion by Bruns to approve Robert Marsh & Chase Hinzmann on the Planning and Zoning Board upon their acceptance and if one declines the acceptance will then go to Chris Scott, second by Kicak. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Reports/Boards, Commissions, and Committees                                                                                                                                                     

Library: Jeff replaced some lights in the library.                                                                                                                                

Park: Jeff cleaned up the garland on the gazebo.

Streets: Jeff has 3 Christmas lights left to get down but can’t reach them with a ladder so the board told Jeff to contact the Fire Department to see if they can lend a hand in reaching the lights.                                                                

Water: Jeff spoke to Lovell on their availability, and they said mornings, afternoons and weekends are when they are available to help change out the old meters around town. We will start this process in the next couple weeks with converting everyone in town over to Radio Reads. Bruns brought up meter reads being an issue once again and they weren’t turned into the office on time. Moriah had sick kids that she should have been tending to but was stuck at work waiting on meter reads to get the water/sewer bills out in a timely manner. Bruns said that this incident will go in his file because this has been a issue that was brought up 4 times when she was chairperson.

Sewer: Sewer Max’s have been applied to everyone’s accounts. There was a sewer back up on West D Street and the lines had to be jetted. The cause was from broken off tree roots.                                                                    

Planning/Zoning: Motion by Bruns to approve October – December 2021 Minutes, second by Scott. RCV: YES: Approved 5-0   Next Meeting scheduled for February 28,2022 @ 7:00pm                                                                                                                                                        

Public Comment:                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Ed Blunt – 104 Railroad Ave – Most of the time the tree root balls are present in the sewer mains are because  general contractors push them into the sewer mains. It would be nice to see a letter sent to the general contractor companies to contact the Village when they flush anyone’s lines.                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Correspondence: When Bruns was Chairperson last year she wrote a letter to nominate Julie Anderson for the Small Town America Civic Volunteer Award and Julie was selected in the top 100 national winners. Bruns presented Julie with the Certificate of National Recognition.                                                                                                 

Personnel:                                                                                                                                                                                             

Future Agenda Items:                                                                                                                                                                                               

Comprehensive plan Ordinance                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Zoning Ordinance                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Sub-Division Ordinance                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Recommendations for Animal Safety Commission                                                                                                                                                                           

Drill a new well                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

2020-2021 Financial Audit – Michael Hoback (2/16)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Nebraska Arts Council grant for music in the park for Pie Ride – Marie Gregoire (2/16)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Cass County NE Economic Development Council -  Jenni (2/16)                                                                                                                                                                         

Summer Help (2/16)                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Purchasing new street Christmas Lights (2/16)                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Shredding company during Town Clean up (2/16)                                                                                                                                                                                           

John Powers Cat issue                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

112 North 4th Street – Romero/Vogt Property (March 2022)                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Meeting adjourned at 8:37 pm    

 

2-2-2022 Official Minutes