Residents cleaning up flood damaged properties in Crete will have an opportunity for additional garbage collection by The City of Crete and The Garbage Company.

To aid in clean up efforts,The Garbage Company will pick up extra, overflow garbage from flood-damaged properties on its regular collection routes next week. (March 18-22). They will not pick up large items or overflow items from properties not in the verified flood-damaged areas.

City of Crete crews will pick up and haul away large, flood-damaged items from the flood area only next week if residents call in their information to the Public Works Utility Office at City Hall 402.826.4312. Examples of large items include flood-damaged carpet and furniture.

This extra service from The Garbage Company and the City of Crete is for residents cleaning up verified flood-damaged properties only. Items will not be picked up from properties not in the flood damaged area. Verification will be made.

A provision in Crete city code which prohibits items advertised for free on curbs for more than a 24-hour period is being temporarily waived for cleanup efforts at flood damaged properties.

The City's annual May Spring Cleanup will have opportunities for all residents of Crete to partake in disposal of large garbage items and appliances. Opportunities will include a dumpster in the downtown area, scheduled appliance pick-ups city-wide, a community shred event, and savings offers at the Transfer Station. Watch for details on the annual Spring Cleanup in the next few weeks.

The City of Crete will participate in Nebraska’s State-wide tornado drill on Wednesday, March 27 in recognition of Severe Weather Awareness Week 2019

The City will test the community warning sirens city-wide at 10 a.m. and also exercise safety procedures for employees and those visitors who are in City buildings at the time of the drill.

In advance of this drill, it would be appropriate for members of the community to review tornado procedures with family members, neighbors, and employees, to include the safest location(s) in each building they use.  Families should consider a family plan that includes an emergency meeting place and related information. Pick a safe room in the home, such as a basement, storm cellar, or an interior room on the lowest floor with no windows.

For businesses and buildings, activities should include the best routes to these safe location(s); how to suspend business practices as staff leave work areas; and how to best see to the safety of visitors in these buildings. Residents who work outdoors should also review with their workers the actions they should take.

The following are links to tornado information from the National Weather Service:

• What is a tornado?
• What is the difference between a Tornado Watch and a Tornado Warning?
• How do I prepare for a tornado?
• What do I do during a tornado?
• What do I do after a tornado? 

Property owners/occupants in areas of Crete affected by flood waters have to call the Building Inspector's Office before any work can be done to flood damaged buildings. Valid permits must be obtained for work to begin.

The City of Crete requires building permits if you plan to construct, erect, enlarge, alter, repair, improve, remove, convert or demolish any building or dwelling. Some examples would be, but not limited to, replacing a water heater, furnace or air conditioner.

The Building Inspector will inspect, as often as necessary, any building which is being constructed, altered, repaired or relocated to determine if the work being done is in conformity with all Municipal building and housing regulations. The City Building Inspector can write citations for building code violations.

Property owners/occupants should make sure contractors working on their property are licensed and additionally licensed (specifically plumbing) to work in the City of Crete, through the Building Inspector's Office. Unlicensed contractors risk citationa and being removed from projects.

Find more information here on the Building Inspector's Office, permits available online, Call Before You Dig, and Frequently Asked Questions.

The City of Crete currently has an opening for the position of Community Service Officer - Part Time. Interested individuals may obtain more information or application materials at the links below or in person at City Hall between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. weekdays from the Human Resources Director.

Applications will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 29, 2019.  The City of Crete is an equal opportunity employer.

Click on the links below to view/download the job description and application materials.

• Community Service Officer Job Description
• Employment Application Packet
• Job listing - Indeed.com

For additional inquiries, please contact:

Human Resources Department
City Hall - 243 East 13th Street
Crete NE 68333-0086
Phone: 402.826.4313 Fax: 402.826.4334
jobs@crete.ne.gov

Crete Community Garden

The garden is located south of the intersection of 10th Street and Thornwood Ave. in southwest Crete. The site was established in 2012 after land was donated to the City of Crete for the purpose of creating a community garden. 

The garden is fenced with an entrance gate and parking area. Amenities available to garden participants include a water hydrant, potting tables and benches, tomato/plant cages, compost bins, and a shed stocked with basic gardening tools. The fenced garden includes a new arbor entrance funded and installed by the Crete Rotary Club in the fall of 2017.  (Go to Parks and Recreation Department Main Page)

Individual garden plots typically measure 7 feet by 12 feet and are rented for the season at $25 each. Gardeners may rent additional plots at $20 each. A $20 deposit per gardener is returned to those who abide by garden rules and participate in a fall clean up of their plots.

Gardening applications are made available by March 1 each year and plots are assigned on a first come, first served basis. No plots will be assigned after June 1. Applications are available at City Hall - Public Works Office, Crete Public Library, or at the links below. 

Garden applications for 2019 are now available. The download links below include the application and an informational brochure with the garden layout, dates to remember, and garden rules.

View/download: English or Spanish.

Visit the Crete Community Garden Facebook Page for regular updates during the growing season.

Garden dates to remember:

March 1: Applications available. Application review and plot assignments begin on a first-come, first-served basis. 

May 1: Gardeners can begin planting (or earlier based on individual request). Some seeds may be available in the garden shed.

June 1: All plots assigned. 

Nov. 30: All plants removed and plots cleaned; deposits returned contingent on clean-up.

The first engraved bricks were placed in the City Park Veterans Monument last month and while orders are processed anytime, forms submitted by March 29 are insured placement in time for Memorial Day. 

The veterans area took place last year next to the Sherman tank in the northwest corner of the park, between the corner of 12th and Linden Ave. and the post office drive. City of Crete Public Works crews crafted oversized wooden easels to pair with large concrete frames made by a local contractor. The Street Department crew poured a decorative concrete surround for the tank.

Engraved bricks recognizing the service of local military veterans will be placed in the concrete frames as they are ordered and completed, however, the March 29 order deadline will make sure those bricks will be in place by Memorial Day for families and friends wishing to honor veterans at that time.

Each order needs to be proofed and corrections made before it is sent for production. It typically takes six weeks to receive engraved bricks once the order form is received by the city.

Order forms are available online at the link below and in the City Hall Utility Office to purchase recognition bricks for $75 each. Each veteran’s name, dates and branch of service, and war or conflict in which he or she served can be displayed on three lines of text available on each brick. Forms and payment must be returned to the Utility Office. Please call with questions or concerns, 402.826.4312.

The subject of each brick must be a current or past reserve or active duty member of the U.S. Armed Forces: Air Force, Army, Navy, Coast Guard, or Marine Corps, including the Army National Guard and Air National Guard. He or she should have a connection or association to Crete, such as: relative of a community member, live or once lived in Crete, were stationed at the Crete armory or were employed in Crete.

View/download recognition brick order form

Riverside Cemetery’s late 1800s New England inspiration is evident in the shaded paths, original limestone retaining walls, and the greenery in Tuxedo Park on its eastern border, while the recent columbarium addition looks out to the more familiar prairie and tended fields on the west.

From the main entrance, located just over the West 13th Street bridge, visitors navigate to the northwest corner of the cemetery to the columbarium, a structure for the placement of funeral urns, which gives families and friends a respectful and appropriate option to a traditional burial in honoring the last wishes of their loved ones.

Completed in 2017, the Riverside columbarium includes two walls of granite and marble with niches, or compartments, for cremated remains, situated on one of three circular, concrete pads.

Columbaria can be found all over the world, both as relics and in modern construction. They were built partially or completely underground in ancient Rome and housed within the Buddhist temples of Japan. Later versions were built in cemeteries or adjoining churches. Columbaria can be free-standing walls or similar monuments, or within buildings and mausoleums. 

Many cemeteries and churches in the U.S. have columbaria of various designs, dimensions and adornments. A 2013 addition to the columbarium at Arlington National Cemetery has 20,000 niches for urns.

Doane Professor Arthur Fairchild platted Riverside Cemetery in 1879 and patterned it after Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass., a rural cemetery founded in 1831 with a columbarium dating to the early 1900s.

A drafted set of rules and regulations for Crete’s Riverside columbarium includes size and placement guidelines for urns in the niches. Engraving on the outside of each space will be done exclusively by Speidell Monuments, Inc. The interment process, as well as all landscaping, will be done by cemetery officials through the City of Crete - Public Works Department.

The City of Crete owns and maintains the municipal cemetery through the Cemetery board, appointed by the Mayor and approved by the City Council.

For columbarium inquiries, please contact City Hall at 402.826.4312 or 826.4313.

Crete Fire Station

The Crete Volunteer Fire Department's station at 14th & Linden Ave., built in 1966, houses seven trucks and three ambulances, with an additional truck off-site. The station includes a meeting room, office spaces, kitchen, and multiple storage areas. Inventory includes extrication equipment for vehicle and other accidents, as well as state-of-the-art breathing apparatus and tools to enter burning structures and combat hazardous situations. Take a station tour of vehicle information and station photos here:

• 90 - 2009 Chevrolet C5500 4x4 Light Rescue/Mini Pumper (500 gpm pump with a 300 gal water tank): first out to all car accidents and support apparatus for structure fires; equipment includes hydraulic rescue tools (Jaws of Life), stabilization equipment, airbags for lifting, ropes, and basic life support medical equipment.
• 91 - 2011 Midwest Fire/International Engine/Tanker (1,250 gpm pump with a 2,000 gal water tank): first tanker out on a rural fire call - brush or structure; responds as needed for manpower and tanker requests for mutual aid; equipment includes hand tools, ground ladders, chainsaw, and a 2,200 gal porta-tank.
• 92 - 2014 Smeal Engine (1500 gpm pump with a 1,000 gal water tank): first out to all structure fire responses as well as fire alarms and hazardous material responses; equipment includes hand tools, ventilation fans, chainsaw, rotary saw, salvage/overhaul equipment, gas monitor, thermal imager, grain rescue tube, hazmat equipment, and basic life support medical equipment.
• 93 - 2003 E-One Aerial (1250 gpm pump with a 500 gal water tank): second out in town for structure fire responses.; responds to rural fires and mutual aid requests as needed; equipment includes chainsaw, rotary saw, ground ladders, rope rescue equipment, hand tools, salvage/overhaul equipment, and ventilation fan.
• 94 - 2004 Ford F250 4x4 Utility/Brush Truck (200 gal water tank on a removable skid unit for brush/grass fires): utilized as needed or during high fire danger as a 3^rd brush truck; used to pull the fire prevention trailer and shuttle personnel to various training events.
• 95 - 2007 Danko Ford F250 4x4 Brush Truck (260 gal water tank with a skid unit for brush/grass fires): responds to brush/grass fires.; equipment includes a portable foam educator and hand tools.
• 96 - 1997 Ford F250 4x4 Brush Truck (200 gal water tank with a skid unit for brush/grass fires): responds to brush/grass fires; equipment includes a portable foam educator and hand tools.
• 98 - 2002 Midwest Fire/GMC C7500 Tanker (2,000 gal water tank with a jockey pump): second tanker out on a rural fire call - brush or structure; responds to mutual aid request for tankers; equipment includes a 2,200 gal porta-tank.
• 99-1 - 2013 GMC G4500 Lifeline Ambulance: stocked with Basic Life Support equipment; additional equipment includes a LP15 Cardiac Monitor/Defibrillator and a LUCAS Chest compression device.
• 99-2 - 2009 Ford E450 Lifeline Ambulance: stocked with Basic Life Support equipment; additional equipment includes a LP15 Cardiac Monitor/Defibrillator and a LUCAS Chest compression device.
• 99-3 - 2005 Ford E450 Lifeline Ambulance: stocked with Basic Life Support equipment; additional equipment includes a LP15 Cardiac Monitor/Defibrillator.

City of Crete
Departments of Public Works
Utilities and Payments

City Hall - 243 E. 13th Street
(Public Works Utility Office main entrance on south side)
P.O. Box 86
Crete, NE 68333
Phone: 402.826.4312
Public Works Directory

Public Works Office - Bills and Payments:

• A service deposit is required on all addresses; transferable if the resident moves to a new address within City service;
• All utility billing statements are mailed the last business day of the month;
• Bills are due by 5:00 p.m. on the 15th of each month;
• Bills paid by the 15th receive a 10% discount; accounts paid after the due date are subject to forfeiture of this discount;
• Accounts not paid by the due date receive a courtesy notice; a disconnect date is noted on the original bill and the courtesy notice;
• Payments can be made in person (drive-thru available) at the Public Works Office at City Hall, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; night drop, mailed or online;
• Personal checks, money orders or cash are accepted; debit/credit cards accepted with 2.5% convenience fee.
• Pay utility bills 24/7 through the online bill payment option. Make a payment online
  • Cards, checking or savings account can be used (with routing and account numbers)
  • Information required: name on the utility account, address, and the utility account number 
  • Email address is requested in order to receive a receipt
  • Account will still be credited on the day the payment is made. 
• If you have any other questions, visit the Public Works Office at City Hall.

Electrical Service: The City of Crete Departments of Public Works Electric System retails electricity within the corporate limits. 

• View Current Electric Rates

Water and Sewer Service: 

• View Current Water Rates
• Residential Sewer Rate: Monthly customer fee $29.70, plus $2.63 per 1,000 gallons average monthly water consumption for the lowest three months of water usage of the five winter months of November, December, January February and March (Calculated each April) or $37.51 average sewer fee for customers without usage history. 
• Commercial Sewer Rates: Contact the Public Works Office at 402-826-4312.

Garbage Collection and Recycling: The City of Crete solid waste service is provided by The Garbage Company. A recycling tote is included free of charge.

• Residential Rates: 
  • Small Tote (65 gallon)    $17.89
  • Large Tote (95 gallon)    $18.18
  • 2 (95 gal.) Totes             $22.98
  • Seasonal Yard Waste     $12.00
• Commercial Rates: Contact The Garbage Company directly at 1-800-322-4272 for service and rates.

Please see the Public Works sections at left for more information on these City services.

Outside Services:

• Spectrum Cable - 1-800-248-8823
• Black Hills Energy (natural gas company) - 1-888-890-5554
• Windstream (local telephone service) - 1-800-347-1991; Repair Service - 611
• Other television and phone services available, check local directory