Council Minutes - May 5 and 19, 2026
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.
- Questions about agendas or meeting minutes should be directed to the City Clerk.
- Meeting minutes are published in The Crete News (local newspaper)
- Each regular city council meeting agenda also contains the minutes of recent council, committee, and board meetings
The next Crete City Council regular meeting will be on Tuesday, June 2
Condensed Minutes for Crete City Council regular meeting - Tuesday, May 19:
View this Meeting Agenda and attachments, entire copy of minutes available at the office of the City Clerk.
Mayor Dave Bauer called the meeting of the City Council to order at 6:00 p.m. Answering roll call were the following Council Members: Crisman, Frans, Newmyer, Strehle, Papik and Fitzgerald
The following actions were taken at the meeting:
Approved the Consent Agenda items: Unanimous
- Meeting Minutes: May 5 City Council, May 5 Finance Committee, May 5 Parks and Recreation Committee, May 5 Public Safety Committee
- Treasurer’s Report
- Claims against the City $607,732.07
Authorized the City of Crete to apply for the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program (CRISI). Unanimous
Authorized the City of Crete to apply for the Railroad Crossing Elimination Program (RCE). Unanimous
Enacted Ordinance 2276 amending wages and salaries. Unanimous
Approved the Special Event Permit Application SE26-04 for Farmer's Limo from 775 Summit Ct to Doane then to Tuxedo Park. Unanimous
Approved the Special Event Permit SE26-03 Crete Bulls N Broncs Rodeo. Unanimous
Approved the Application for Prohibited Animal Exception SE2026-03 for the Bulls and Broncs Riding. Unanimous
Approve the claims from Crete ACE Hardware in the amount of $3,236.78. Crisman: Aye, Newmyer: Aye, Frans: Aye, Strehle: Aye, Fitzgerald: Aye, Abstained: Papik
Approved the Crete New Well and Transmission Bid Results and Recommendation to Van Kirk Bros, Contracting in the amount of $1,588,987.50. Unanimous
Approved the Employee Benefit Insurance Renewal for 2026-2027 to continue with the two options that we currently have with a higher premium for the national network and employees would be responsible for the increase premium cost and adding two additional health insurance policies through Medica ACO Network with a matching current premiums that employees can elect for their medical insurance. Unanimous
City Administrator Tom Ourada provided a report on the cost cutting measures and results to date. Ourada stated that the City of Crete is faced with a $640,000 shortfall in Municipal Equalization Fund for budget 2026-2027 and that’s about a 16% reduction of revenue. Discussed savings through staff reductions and that netted about a $350,000 savings. All have been notified and all the actions have taken place. That leaves us about $290,000 short and if you raise the levy $.05 that will get you fairly close. You can raise it between 3 and 5 and depending if you want to do it all this year or some next year. Raising the levy $.05 would yield $270,000 and that leaves us $20,000. We did talk about not having cost of living raises for any department this year and for the tax side that yields about $20,700 so it comes very close to balancing the budget. If you do the $.05 you will need an additional $.01 or $.02 for 2027-2028 and we need to consider that for any rising costs beyond our control like insurance and other operations. We have some bond levy room that could be helpful in future years.
The City of Crete has reviewed the Bid Proposals, Bid Tab with Engineer's Cost Opinion, Casper's Construction Bid Proposal Award Withdrawal Letter and Olsson's Bid Recommendation Letter. We make a motion to accept the withdrawal of Casper's Bid Proposal with the understanding that they will forfeit the 5% Bid Guarantee and award the 2-Bay Box Hangar And Hangar Approach Project AIP 3-31-0022-017/018/019/020 to B-D Construction, Inc. of Columbus, Nebraska upon FAA and NDOT concurrence. In addition, we move to allow the signing and execution of any and all necessary paperwork required to complete the FAA Grant and NDOT Hangar Loan paperwork. Unanimous
Approved the execution of the C.O. Upon FAA (I have included the contractor's proposal, but it will need to be revised to include the door costs.
The City of Crete moves to approve the C.O. No. 1 that will install a 2-Hr firewall on the existing hangar south of the proposed 2-bay box hangar to be in accordance with NFPA 409 per Nebraska State Fire Marshall Review comments. The approval of the change order is based upon FAA, NDOT, and Engineer's concurrence. Unanimous
Adopted Resolution 2026-10 Authorizing the Mayor to sign for the donations made by Georgia Johnson. Unanimous
Approved the Right of Way Occupancy Kinetic Permit Request: 715062333 PR #55251. Unanimous
Right of Way Occupancy Kinetic Permit Request: 715062334 PR #56409. Unanimous
Approved the LB840 Application from Penny's Pet Wash in the amount of $15,209.90. Unanimous
Tabled the request to have carry out parking designation Old Main. Unanimous
Petitions - Communications - Resident Concerns
- Francisco Vargas from 425 E 6th St, Crete, NE 68333 addressed the City Council and stated he has complaints about vehicles speeding and having loud exhaust. Mayor Dave Bauer stated that there is a city ordinance to help address this issue. However, police officers cannot always be in all places. Bauer thanked Vargas for addressing the City Council.
- Council member Tom Crisman asked if there are some Sheriff Deputies that could come to the City of Crete for a few days. Chief of Police Gary Young stated he would speak to the County Sheriff.
Officer's Reports
- Chief of Police Gary Young stated the following:
- The Nebraska SWAT Team was in town and the Crete Police Department has been reaching out to more officers since Crete is a training hub for k-9 training. Crete has a wide variety of facilities to use as training grounds.
- Thanked the Street Department and officers that helped take pictures after the storm and helped separate the piles of broken trees. There may be FEMA money to help offset some of the costs incurred after the storm. Emergency Manager John Mckee will be coming to assess and help to see if there is funding available.
- Council member Anthony Fitzgerald asked Chief Young if there are substantial hard costs when other agencies come in to do those trainings. Young stated that for example when the Swat Team came to town they used the old water treatment plant and it only cost us the time that the Captain to go there to unlock and do a safety brief and then going back to lock it. Young’s time was connecting with their Lieutenant as a friendly interaction. Every facility they use is free to use and there are no costs incurred. The Crete Police Department gains great knowledge from the trainings and the interactions.
- Library Director Jessica Wilkinson stated the following:
- Summer Reading is currently going on and Youth Services Librarian Maridza Vasquez has taken a different approach to it this year by counting the books children read. The goal that was set is 3,000 books for the summer and children have already read 1,450 books.
- Partnered with Dr. Frans for battle of the books at Crete Public Library and many students used the facility to do book reports and acting out parts of the stories.
- The Library Advisory Board has decided to cut library hours starting July 1st to help balance the budget. By Ordinance the director and city administrator must concur, which they did.
- Parks and Recreation Director Liz Cody stated the following:
- All of the parks staff is onboarding this week.
- The summer hires are coming onboard tomorrow May 20th, 2026.
- All of the pool staff has reported for duty and this is the second year that due to cold weather training is indoors in Beatrice.
- They are likely to change opening date for the pool due to colder weather.
- Working with all the coordinated partners that use park facilities.
- T-Ball and Micro T-Ball will be starting May 20th, 2026 and continuing for three weeks.
- Building Inspector Trent Griffin provided the April 2026 Permit Log and stated that there permits for three new houses and new fences being put in. Griffin will have an updated count for nuisance properties for the next meeting.
- City Administrator Tom Ourada stated the following:
- Crete News new reporter Courtney O’Brien was present for the Council meeting. Editor Amy Hausman stated that she joined the Crete News team last week and had not attended a public meeting before. Hausman will continue covering the Crete City Council meetings.
- Will be in Kearney Wednesday, May 20th, 2026 and May 21st, 2026 for the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN) Finance Committee and Board of Directors meetings. Ourada is the Board Chairperson.
- Going to ask the Park and Rec Committee to revisit the Brownfield grant because all of what the City of Crete would like to participate in is 100% covered.
- Spoke to Mayor Dave Bauer about working on 15th Street. With a recently eligible CDBG grand can do some of it for under $1 Million and will get up to $600,000 of it paid and if we do this right the only assessments will be to the City of Crete for intersections and the rest will be covered. It won’t be for all of it but the part that needs the worst. Another grant calls for public participation for the residence up there.
- Working on the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program and they are pushing the safety action plan with is an 80/20 program. We are looking at that really hard because it will take some money to put up front. They are reauthorizing the SS4A grant program and you need a safety action plan to move forward with that. Those types of grants are around 3 to 4 million dollars. Being a Low and Moderate Income (LMI) community we are finally qualified so we might have to spend $40,000 to get 4 to 14 Million. Ourada will have more on that later.
- The road grader is promised for this week.
- There were no electrical problems with the recent storms. The Electric Department went to Fairbury for two days and helped their community along with some other towns.
- Ourada mentioned that so far at the transfer station there about 140 loads in two days. The transfer station will be open on May 20th, 2026 as well.
- Ourada stated that they need to track that to provide the information to get FEMA reimbursement.
- Doane University had their graduation last weekend and for the past year Ourada worked with several of the Engineering groups. He attended a presentation where students had worked on a pedestrian bridge. Ourada asked their professor Cale Stolle if the presentations can be shared with the City Council and he stated yes and provided it to Ourada.
- Mayor Dave Bauer thanked all the City employees that helped with the storm.
The meeting adjourned at 7:11 p.m.
Condensed Minutes for Crete City Council regular meeting - Tuesday, May 5:
View this Meeting Agenda and attachments, entire copy of minutes available at the office of the City Clerk.
Mayor Dave Bauer called the meeting of the City Council to order at 6:00 p.m. Answering roll call were the following Council Members: Crisman, Frans, Newmyer, Strehle, Papik and Fitzgerald
The following actions were taken at the meeting:
Approved the Consent Agenda items: Unanimous
- Meeting Minutes: April 21 City Council, April 21 Public Works Committee, April 21 Public Safety Committee, April 21 Legislative Development
- Treasurer’s Report
- Claims against the City $ 1,215,893.15
Arbor Day Proclamation. Unanimous
Held Public Hearing to hear testimony for or against the Class C Retail Liquor License for El Acapulco on 1245 Main Ave. Unanimous
Approved a recommendation to the Liquor Control Commission on the Class C Retail Liquor License for El Acapulco on 1245 Main Ave. Unanimous
Enacted the Zoning Amendment Ordinance 2272 Chapter 11 Planning and Zoning Article 5 Dwelling Units, Special Types Shouses. Unanimous
Adopted Resolution 2026-08 Interlocal Agreement with the Educational Service Unit Coordinating Council. Unanimous
Approved the Prior to 2019 Write Offs. Unanimous
Approved the Lincoln/Lancaster County LLCHD Interlocal Agreement. Unanimous
Approved the Master Fee Schedule amendments. Unanimous
Approved the Hochstetler Subdivision 1st Addition. Unanimous
Approved the Crete Ace Hardware claims in the amount of $136.38. Crisman: Aye, Frans: Aye, Newmyer: Aye, Strehle: Aye, Fitzgerald: Aye, Abstained: Papik
Officers’ Reports
- Parks and Recreation Director Liz Cody stated the following:
- There are 63 children registered for micro t-ball and t-ball
- Swim Team will start practices on May 18
- Introduction of new Groundskeeper AJ Novak
- The Wildwood Pool will be opening on May 23
- Chief of Police Gary Young stated the following:
- After signing the CALEA efforts they are well into self-assessments and have most of the policies taken care of. The software works well with CALEA system.
- Detour has been running smoothly
- Building Inspector Trent Griffin stated that for the month of March there were 31 permits including two new home permits for a total of 3 new homes for the year. Griffin will have the April permit log at the next City Council meeting. Griffin stated there will be 16 new weed letters that will be mailed out.
- Council member Anthony Fitzgerald asked if the Street Department could get the work on 9th and Boswell completed before Doane University’s graduation.
- City Administrator Tom Ourada stated the following:
- On Thursday, May 7 the City of Crete will be remediating a nuisance property by the 6th and Pine Ave area.
- The City of Crete Annual Spring Cleanup is going on this week.
- There were some changes made to the Main Ave detour.
- Ourada explained that with the Municipal Equalization Fund (MEF) shortfall of $638,000 and budget issues it creates, the City Council has hard choices to make. With the budget shortfall, we have to cut from within for the next year or two, and will have to raise the levy in order to avoid this happening every year. There is not a way in discussing it with State Agencies and the League of Municipalities that we can avoid that. Ourada pointed out that the City of Crete is not losing the most. Grand Island is losing the most but proportionally we are impacted the most, as it is 15% - 16% of our entire budget. It would be nearly impossible for the City to function and provide services as usual while absorbing that scale of deficit.
- Ourada explained that he provided various scenarios to the Mayor and Council and there is no way of making that up and no way of making it up with revenue only. It would necessitate making it up next year with raising the levy and making cuts. You can’t do one and accomplish it and you can’t do the other and accomplish it. We will have to raise the levy at least a few cents. There will be serious decisions that we will have to make on cutting services all the way across the board in order to get through the next year.
- The Council’s direction as we understand it is to take the steps necessary to execute the internal measures and report back to the City Council with the results and projections of what is going to happen yet this fiscal year, and communicate the outlook for the next fiscal year aside from the levy consideration. Ourada stated that he will work with Mayor Bauer to do this.
- The next steps will be a couple-month process because we won’t have our new valuations until the end of June and that will tell us a lot. Still we are looking at making significant modifications to the levy. The Mayor and the City Council will continue to meet on this for the actual budget portion of it.
- Mayor Dave Bauer stated that on May 5 at 8:15am he received a call asking him to please not putting meter parking downtown because there was an article on social media on the City of Crete putting meters downtown. It was an unknown source that started it. Mayor Bauer let the person that called know that it was not true. The frustrating part is that people can make comments on the social media post but when someone goes on there to try to put the truth out there it gets taken down and they don’t let the comment stay. Mayor Bauer stated that he wants people to know the City of Crete is not putting meters downtown and we have never talked about it and that was just a rumor someone started.
The meeting adjourned at 6:39 p.m.