City continues push on property clean up

The City of Kimball and the Kimball City Council have been making an attempt once again to clean up properties in town.

Letters were recently sent to residents regarding junk or abandoned vehicles, nuisance properties, excessive junk and properties with weeds or grass taller than 12 inches.

Mayor Keith Prunty has acknowledged mixed reactions to the letters regarding junk and abandoned vehicles. While some residents are responding quickly and taking care of their property, others have not made forward progress at all.

Unsafe buildings were under consideration last week during the regularly scheduled council meeting held June 16.

Nearly two months ago a building on the corner of Third Street and Webster was determined unsafe due to loose brick. The property owner, Rick Soper, was notified and given 60 days to remedy the issue.

Following an inspection that included City Administrator Daniel Ortiz along with the city building inspector, fire chief and street superintendent, the council also deemed a building in the alleyway behind 112 S. Burg as unsafe.

“Over time I have seen it is slowly progressing to leaning more and more over the alleyway,” Ortiz said.

With that determination, a letter will be sent to the owners, James and Marion McDowall, in which they are given 60 days to remedy the condition or demolish the building.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, once we do that as a council, we are going to have to follow through with it, right?” Prunty asked. “It’s on our right-of-way and it is ready to fall down any minute.”

The council moved on to approve a Keno grant application from Klent Schnell on behalf of the Kimball Wrestling Club for a total of $1,500 to assist with costs of hosting an outdoor wrestling tournament.

According to Schnell, the organizers hope to attract 85 to 90 participants to the Kimball Wrestling Third Annual Summer Shindig.

The tournament is scheduled for June 27 at the Kimball High School beginning at 4:30 p.m. and concluding under the football field lights with awards scheduled for 10 p.m.

In addition to wrestling, the tournament will include activities, games, music, food and medals for the champs in all weight classes.

Wrestlers from Colorado and Wyoming join students from the Nebraska panhandle for the event, according to Schnell.

“The first year we had 61 kids, last year we had 72,” Schnell said. “We had kids last year from as far away as Lexington, they were actually going to Vedauwoo for a trip so they stopped and wrestled then continued on. I hope we have as many or more kids as we did last year.”

Money raised from the event goes to the Kimball Wrestling Foundation to help students with uniforms, registrations and even scholarships.

“It’s a pretty neat experience, especially outside,” Schnell said.

Josh Enevoldsen submitted a second Keno grant request on behalf of the Kimball Banner County Chamber of Commerce and the Kimball Business Boosters for the annual fireworks show.

The cost of this year’s fireworks is $6,250, a slightly more expensive show than in previous years due to the Kimball All-Class Reunion. The total requested for that event was $2,000. Enevoldsen said that because they still had a bit left from last year, that amount could be decreased by $200 or $300.

“We got money coming in, the All-Class Reunion was going to come up with $1,000, I think,” Enevoldsen said. “We’ve had pretty good luck raising additional funds from businesses. I know (the Keno fund) has been running a little low, so we could probably raise a little more.”

Enevoldsen said that if the amount is not decreased, the committee could use it as a cushion for next year as well.

The council approved the request in its full amount.

The council also:

- Approved the grant award request for the Kimball Handyman Project to continue snow removal, lawn care and light housekeeping for area residents that qualify to receive services.

- Approved leasing right-of-way property to Challenger as the building they recently purchased was inadvertently placed over that property line.

- Discussed an Interlocal Cooperation Agreement of Economic Development Purposes and authorized the mayor to sign that agreement.

- Considered action on the Western Area Power Administration contract extending the local agreement from 2025 to 2056.