Council Summaries - Aug. 5 and 19, 2025

Individuals and media outlets are encouraged to contact the City Administrator for additional details or clarification on the following material. Regular meetings of the Crete City Council are held on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall; Council Standing Committees may meet prior. View a list of City Officials and current council and committee meeting agendas.

The next Crete City Council regular meeting will be on Tuesday, Sept. 2

Summary for Crete City Council regular meeting - Tuesday, Aug. 19
View this Meeting Agenda and attachments.

The council approved the Consent Agenda items:

• Minutes of the following meetings: City Council Aug. 5, Public Works Committee Aug. 5, Finance Committee Aug. 5, Public Safety Committee Aug. 5, Legislative/Community Development Committee Aug. 5, City Council Special Meeting Aug. 14
• Treasurer’s Report
• Payment of claims against the City 

The Council voted 6-0 to table action on forwarding Roger Braden's claim to the League Association of Risk Management (LARM). City Administrator Tom Ourada  explained a snow plow gouged the property up 18 inches damaging sod and sprinkler heads. Dan Papik asked if this could be tabled until members looked at relevant ordinances. Dale Strehle said if the city has an ordinance on treating this type of situation, he wants to be consistent.

The Consider voted 6-0 to authorize the Crete Public Library to apply for the Nebraska Library Commission Little Free Library grant.  Library Director Jessica Wilkinson said this grant covers up to $500 and the library would pay the remainder amount under $100 for a Little Free Library box and pedestal for the south side of the library and staff would stock it from surplus books.

The Council voted 5-0 (Papik abstained) to approve the claims from Crete Ace Hardware in the amount of $2,158.18

The Council voted 6-0 to table Ordinance 2254 amending food trucks.

The Council voted 6-0 to waive three readings and adopt Ordinance 2255 Codifying municipal sewer and water rates. Ourada explained these rates are the result of rate studies previously heard and discussed by the Council.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve a budget work session for Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 5:30 p.m.

The Council voted 6-0 to Resolution 2025-14 authorizing the City to increase non-bargaining employee retirement contributions to 8% on October 1st, 2025 and to increase salaries by 1% to account for said contribution match increase. Ourada explained by state statute the retirement contribution was increased by 2% for bargaining employees of the police department; he and the mayor talked about the non-bargaining employees matching those contributions. This new budget year may not handle the full increase, so they can do an increase this year and next year for the non-bargaining employees.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve Resolution 2025-15 Appointing Cline Williams Attorneys as City Attorney. Mayor Bauer explained this is to cover for City Attorney Anna Burge as she takes time off this fall.

The Council voted 5-0 (Strehle abstained) to approve the Saline Medical Specialties LB840 Program Application. Ourada said this application was submitted by the practitioner and originally asked for $100,000. The city’s analysis and questions to the applicant showed his Lincoln practice takes about 25% of his time, with the remaining time spent at the Crete location, making an adjusted application of $75,000 for job training and technology upgrades. An eligible award request is for half that cost, $37,500.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Application from Segra for a permit to occupy the City of Crete's Right-of-Way. Ourada explained by city policy, if any ROW activity involves more than one property it requires council approval.

The Council voted 5-0 (Fitzgerald abstained) to the Administrative Subdivision Application from Bar Above Ranch. Ourada said this follows a previously approved rezoning action and conforms to administrative subdivision requirements.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Kidwell Microsoft Office 365 Migration. Ourada explained this item is to have Microsoft Office suite migrate to Microsoft Office 365. Strehle said a separately awarded grant will cover the cost of migration and monthly fees for the first year.

The Council voted 6-0 to authorize the City of Crete to apply for the Water Security Grant Program. This is a $10,000 grant with a 10% match to do steel frame doors and windows for the city’s well house buildings.

The Council voted 6-0 to authorize the City of Crete to apply for the Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program Fiscal Year 2024-2025. This is a $250,000 grant with no cost share and will be used for planning, design, etc. on pedestrian trail activities to connect along Iris Ave.

The Council voted 6-0 to authorizing the City of Crete to apply for the State Aid Grant Program. This 90/10 funding opportunity is from the State Department of Aeronautics for a new airport beacon in the $90,000 cost range.

The Council voted 4-0 (Papik, Fitzgerald abstained) to the Crete Municipal Airport hangar rent rate increase. Ourada explained a recommendation of an 8% rate increase after a lot of discussion at the Airport Advisory Board and Public Works Committee meetings; there was no committee recommendation due to two members having hangar rentals. Strehle said the committee discussed an 8% increase this year and following with further increases to bring rates into a more sustainable range.

Petition - Communication - Citizen Concern:

Officer Reports:

Reports may be given by Officers, Departments, Committees, or Council members concerning the current operations of the City. No action can be taken on matters presented under this title except to answer any questions or to refer the matter for further action.

• Gary Young, Police Chief:
  • discussed a Tuesday morning incident on the Doane University campus: at about 8:42 a call came in to Nebraska City dispatch reporting a potential hostage situation of a gunman and two hostages in Doane’s Communications Building; officers were on scene in about 3 minutes and started searching the building; there were indications in the call that it was a potential swatting situation, where false information is given to illicit an emergency response; officers did an amazing job, along with Saline County deputies; the situation was resolved in less than an hour with fantastic response by Doane students and staff; Doane has invested in a system to put out the message and campus building lock down; Captain Jon Pucket noticed the campus looked deserted upon their arrival; the upside is that the department’s procedures worked and cooperation was exercised today; they will still see what they can do better;
  • on the public side - members of the public weren’t alerted and through the department we will push out use of Everbridge, an alert system; however he said there would not have been an alert sent with today’s incident as it was on campus and handled with their system, but could have been expanded if needed; it was a teachable moment;
  • car seat grant was awarded today and the department will organize relevant events;
• Jessica Wilkinson, Library Director:
  • 3,000 visitors in the building last month with 300 program participants; the library partnered with Crete Schools on reading with dogs with Healing Heart Therapy Dogs;
  • future programs include Mommy and Me Baby Art Cafe, Maker Mondays, Teen Nights, Soda Pop Curtis’ birthday pawty, Adult Craft night, Adult Puzzle Race, and an Author Fair;
  • Sarah Brown applied for a grant with the state attorney general’s office and the library will host a program on scams and anti-fraud on Sept. 15; Brown said they want to push this hard throughout the county because it’s important information for everyone;
• Liz Cody, Parks and Recreation Director: 
  • new Exmark mower is in service and they are also utilizing associated grant funds;
  • coed softball is ongoing, registration ends Friday for flag football in September;
  • Fitzgerald asked about City Park sprinkler bids and fall maintenance plan; Liz said she met with someone from Jindra Irrigation and have pricing on playground weed spraying and additional material;
• Trenton Griffin, Building Inspector shared about nuisance properties - 23 new letters were sent out and 21 have responded with remediation;
• Tom Ourada, City Administrator:
  • budget - electric, water, sewer departments have been doing well; airport is negative due to projects; general fund is in the black; sales tax is $18 difference with what was budgeted; street department is doing well; fire and rescue is a little behind; police is a little down, but has some current staff openings; 
  • two recent officer hires: one was not a good fit and the other candidate will not attend academy training has previously planned, leaving two new openings;
  • we hired a new Street Operator who is a Crete High graduate who went into the military and has lived out of state; he is now coming back to Crete and is also wastewater certified;
  • Wednesday-Thursday he will be in Kearney for MEAN meetings;
  • Crete valuation went up $70M+ and will factor into budget discussions;
• Mayor Dave Bauer:
  • Crete hosted mayors and council members from Romania; he thanked Tom Ourada, Chief Young, and Council members Ashley Newmyer and Dale Strehle for attending; it was entertaining and the visitors asked good questions; the school provided a bus for a community tour and a meal and presentation was hosted in the community room at the library;
  • special thanks to street department and other city employees for work after recent storms; they had everything open, parks, etc. Ourada said the city didn’t have much power line damage, but Public Works crews spent 2-3 days in Dorchester to get lines back on;
  • today with the police incident - he thanked them for what they do and thankful this wasn’t a real incident; Doane President Dr. Roger Hughes was happy with how everything turned out; the mayor agreed with Chief Young in that the department couldn’t have done anything different on notifying anyone else - if PD felt others needed to be notified they would have found a way.

Meeting adjourned.

Summary for Crete City Council regular meeting - Tuesday, Aug. 5
View this Meeting Agenda and attachments.

The council approved the Consent Agenda items:

• Minutes of the following meetings: City Council July 15, Public Works Committee July 15, Public Safety Committee July 15, Legislative/Community Development Committee July 15, Finance Committee July 15
• Treasurer’s Report
• Payment of claims against the City 

The Council held a Public Hearing on proposed Zoning Change Request PID 760144733 CRETE CITY PINE RIDGE ADD LOT 1 BLK 2 .41 ACRE, PID 760148160 BIG BLUE PRCT PT NW 1/4 NW 1/4 SEC. 2-7-4 .41 ACRES ICL R1 To R2. City Administrator Tom Ourada explained the developer of this property, council member Anthony Fitzgerald, asked for a minor subdivision and rezoning is required in this case. He’s followed the process and it started with approval from the Planning Commission, which was voted on at their Aug. 4 meeting.

The Council voted 5-0 (Fitzgerald abstained) to approve the proposed Zoning Change Request PID 760144733 CRETE CITY PINE RIDGE ADD LOT 1 BLK 2 .41 ACRE, PID 760148160 BIG BLUE PRCT PT NW 1/4 NW 1/4 SEC. 2-7-4 .41 ACRES ICL R1 To R2.

The Council held a Public Hearing on proposed amendment to the Land Use Zoning Map PID 760144733 CRETE CITY PINE RIDGE ADD LOT 1 BLK 2 .41 ACRE, PID 760148160 BIG BLUE PRCT PT NW 1/4 NW 1/4 SEC. 2-7-4 .41 ACRES ICL R1 To R2. Ourada this action considered amending the zoning map or future land use map, a statutory requirement for a comprehensive plan; any approved rezoning, annexations, etc, the city must change the land use map.

The Council voted 5-0 (Fitzgerald abstained) to approve the proposed amendment to the Land Use Zoning Map PID 760144733 CRETE CITY PINE RIDGE ADD LOT 1 BLK 2 .41 ACRE, PID 760148160 BIG BLUE PRCT PT NW 1/4 NW 1/4 SEC. 2-7-4 .41 ACRES ICL R1 To R2.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the 2025 Crete Water & Sewer Rate Study. JEO gave a presentation to the Public Works Committee and met with the city prior in the course of the study; they recommended water and wastewater rate schedules with stepped increases out to 2030. Mayor Dave Bauer said the rate study and increases are very small in his opinion, JEO did a good job studying the departments and the revenue needs.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Saline County Rural Fire MFO Agreement. Ourada said this is a standard agreement up for renewal this year.

The Council voted 6-0 to table the Certification of subdivision improvements for Burlington Estates. The city is waiting for additional requirements to be met by the developer to the satisfaction of the engineer.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Crete Police Department applying for the Highway Safety Mini-grant for car seats. Chief Gary Young said this will allow the department to help provide child seats for people who may not be able to afford them, or afford updated seats. CPS Officer Noah Zach is certified to inspect child safety seats and is doing this by appointment and will host a larger community event.

The Council voted 5-0 (Papik abstained) to approve the claims from Crete Ace Hardware in the amount of $104.63.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve Resolution 2025-9 LARM Renewal. The council previously agreed to the renewal terms and this put it in resolution form.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve Resolution 2025-12 Introducing propositions for voters to approve the extension of the City .5% sales and use tax and extension of the City's Local Option Municipal Economic Development plan to be voted on by the community on November 4. Ashley Newmyer, chair of the Legislative and Economic Development Committee said they reviewed the plan and recommended the city move forward. Mayor Bauer said this is the LB840 plan that has been very successful for the City of Crete and improved things in town that have brought people in. I encourage everyone to ask about it and look for this information. Ourada clarified that after this vote, the city cannot spend any money to campaign on this topic, which would be a violation of state law. We can educate or answer questions.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Lift Station Construction Agreement between the City of Crete and Dittmer & Dittmer, LLC. Ourada said this agreement is with the city and Dittmer & Dittmer, LLC, with plans and specifications for lift station at zero cost to the city

The Council voted 6-0 to approve maintenance plans and set a bid date for the Business Improvement District. Ourada said this is for snow removal in the downtown district with a bid opening on Aug. 29 at 10 a.m.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve Resolution 2025-13 authorizing the city to increase the match to Police Officer retirement contributions to 9%. Ourada said this is mandated by state law voted in this year.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve authorizing to apply for the LARM Safety Grant. Ourada said the city applies for this every year and includes a $500 grant with zero match. In the past the city has used it for traffic cones, barricades, first aid kits, etc.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the City of Crete engineer formally making plans and specs for lift station construction. This goes along with the Dittmer and Dittmer LLC agreement; after plans and specs are done it will move to bid letting.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve amendment to auction agreement. The date changed from Aug. 16 to Sept. 6.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the City of Crete #24DTR001 Payment Request #2 in the amount of $6,096.54 from Southeast Nebraska Development District.

The Council voted 6-0 to approve the Crete 24PWI004 Payment Request #2 from Southeast Nebraska Development District in the amount of $7,114.10

Petition - Communication - Citizen Concern:

Officer Reports:

Reports may be given by Officers, Departments, Committees, or Council members concerning the current operations of the City. No action can be taken on matters presented under this title except to answer any questions or to refer the matter for further action.

• Liz Cody, Parks and Recreation Director: 
  • the pool closed on Sunday, Aug. 3; 8k patron visits, about 220 in swimming lessons, infant and toddler, water aerobics;
  • Coed Softball is ongoing, registration is open for youth flag football;
  • Exmark mower grant is partially complete with pickup of the new mower in Beatrice on Wednesday and $25,000 in awarded funds to use for Library Park this season;
• Gary Young, Police Chief:
  • Officer Noah Zach organized Project Protein with 1,600 pounds of donated meat products distributed to about 160 families; late July into August is tough for some families with no school meals, etc. I am proud of him and his enthusiasm for this work and looking forward to seeing him in the schools this year;
  • Sgt Lincoln Morehouse is working with forensic investigation for thefts from gaming machines; he’s working with DMV, facial recognition, Lincoln Police Department, Lancaster County Sheriff, and Nebraska City PD to wrap up the individuals responsible;
  • ‘Touch-A-Truck’ event on Saturday at the library, 10am-12pm; this was a PD idea and Jessica at the Library put it together to showcase library, police, fire, public works, etc.
• Jessica Wilkinson, Library Director:
  • Maridza’s idea was putting together a children’s Library of Things which includes Tonies, story time kits; these ideas come from staff members to help the library evolve;
  • September will be busy with Maker Mondays, baby art cafe, chess club; toddler and preschool story times; we’ve have had 2 kids complete 1,000 Books before Kindergarten, 8 are working to it;
• Tom Ourada, City Administrator said food truck information will be at the next meeting;
• Mayor Dave Bauer mentioned a group from Lincoln with a member in Crete who hosts visitors from a different country and this year is a group of mayors, etc. from Romania. They are going to Lincoln and Schuyler city council meetings and will be in Crete Sunday evening with a school bus tour of town from the library, then a meal and their program in the community room.

Meeting adjourned.