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 being cited and removed from projects.

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

Registration is now open for Crete Recreation soccer programs.

Micro Soccer - due Friday, March 22: The Micro Soccer program offers divisions for boys and girls ages 3 & 4 and 5 & 6. Teams will play on Wednesday evenings in April and May at Rotary Park.

Youth Soccer - registration closed March 1: The Youth Soccer program offers divisions for boys and girls in grades 1st & 2nd, 3rd & 4th, and 5th & 6th. Teams will play on Sunday afternoons in March and April at Armory Park.

Forms are available on RecDesk or at the Parks and Recreation office at City Hall. Coaching applications are also available - parents who coach will have the registration fee waived. Participants must also have a liability waiver signed for 2019.

City of Crete 
Parks & Recreation Department 
Daniel Dunaway, Director

City Hall - 243 East 13th Street
Phone: 402.826.4314
Fax: 402.826.4334
dan.dunaway@crete.ne.gov

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

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

Notice to owners/occupants of properties in the areas of Crete affected by flood waters: No work can be done on properties until they have been assessed by the City Building Inspector. Valid permits must be obtained for any work 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 replacing a water heater, furnace or air conditioner." Find more information here.

Highway 33/103 and the highway bridge on the west side of Crete is open.

Information from Wednesday, March 20:

Blue River at Crete Update: As of 7:45 a.m. today (March 20) the river level was 22.42 feet and now projected to be at or below flood stage (21 feet) late today. (Information courtesy of the National Weather Service - Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service)

Information from Tuesday, March 19:

Update 2:30 p.m.:

A reminder as the river level goes down, please continue to adhere to any barricades which may still be in place in Crete and use caution on dirt/gravel roads.

Tuxedo Park is still closed pending work by city crews to reopen the area.

Along with Tuxedo, the affected areas in Crete are portions of the southwest and northwest residential neighborhoods. The majority of town, including the downtown district, Crete schools and the Doane campus were unaffected. Highway 33/103 through Crete has remained open throughout this entire flooding event.

Information from Monday, March 18:

Update 9:52 a.m.:

South Main is now open to traffic.

Information from Sunday, March 17:

Update 10:12 a.m.:

Smaller sections of streets and intersections in southwest and northwest Crete are now clear and open. 

Still barricaded are Tuxedo Road and park entrances, South Main from 3rd Street south, 10th and Thornwood Ave, and the road connecting West 13th Street to West 16th Street, which runs on the south side of the Maples property. 

Information from Saturday, March 16:

Update 7:58 p.m.:

North Main is now open; 18th to 21st streets was previously closed. 

Update 9:45 a.m.:

Notice to property owners/occupants in the areas of Crete affected by flood waters: No work can be done on properties until they have been assessed by the City Building Inspector. More information will be made available.

Update 8:42 a.m.:

Blue River at Crete Update: As of 6:45 a.m. today (March 16) the river level was 29.67 feet, showing a decrease from a charted high of 30.68 feet late Friday night. Several Crete streets/intersections are no longer flooded. These include: portions of 22nd and 24th Streets, areas of Pine and Oak from 16th - 18th, 20th and Oak, 21st and Norman, Pine from 7th - 9th, 8th and Oak. Barricades are still in place where necessary and those areas should be avoided.

Still barricaded: Tuxedo Road (park entrances closed), West 13th Street from Tuxedo Road to the bridge near the cemetery entrance, 10th Street from Vine -Redwood, South Main from 3rd Street intersection south, Main Ave from 18th-21st, 22nd Street at Norman.

Information from Friday, March 15:

Update 1:42 p.m.:

Additional street/road barricades have been placed at the following locations: 22nd Street, from Oak to Main Ave, 22nd Street from Kingwood to Juniper, 20th Street, Oak to Norman Ave, 21st and Norman 17th and Pine to Oak, 8th and Oak, Pine, from 7th to 9th Streets.

Update 12:58 a.m.: 

The City of Crete is not having mandatory evacuations in areas of town affected by flooding. City emergency response teams are notifying affected residents of the current situation and conditions.

Update 11:00 a.m.:

Weather Service projections indicate the Blue River could rise another 12-18 inches before it crests. As of 9:45 a.m. the level was at 30.19 feet. The City has teams making contact with residents in affected areas. More information about conditions in Crete will soon be available.

Update 7:45 a.m.:

Mayor Roger Foster and the City Council met in an emergency session late Thursday night (March 14) and approved a Flood Emergency and Disaster Declaration for the City of Crete.

More information will continue to be made available throughout the day.

Areas of the north section of Crete have flooding and current closed streets/roads reported by the Crete Police Department are: South Main, Tuxedo Road., Main from 18th-21st, West 13th from Tuxedo Road to the bridge, 10th from Vine-Redwood, 24th from Linden-Kingwood.

A report from 6:45 a.m. today (Friday, March 15) shows the flood stage of the Blue River at 29.97 feet. Flood stage is 21 feet and the record for the area is 29.9 feet. The river is forecasted to continue rising today.

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