City freezes KKB funding as agreement remains unsigned

The City of Kimball has frozen its contributions to Keep Kimball Beautiful until a working agreement between the two entities can be reached.

City Administrator Daniel Ortiz updated the council regarding the drafted agreement between the city and KKB during the Oct. 6 city council meeting. Ortiz presented an amended agreement to the council as well as a memo regarding the unsigned agreement.

“We have reviewed and plagiarized, where we can, agreements from Scottsbluff or the City of Alliance, that mirror similar languages with the caveat being that with those two cities and their respective entities, or affiliates of Keep Nebraska Beautiful, the cities do not provide facilities or property for those entities to use or work out of,” Ortiz added. “We certainly provide more than what those two communities provide to those two affiliates.”

KKB board member Sarah Bouse spoke to the council regarding some of the decisions that have been made. Bouse further questioned, on behalf of the KKB board, who is making these decisions. She also said the KKB board was unaware that financial support would be frozen if the agreement went unsigned past the new fiscal year during committee meetings held specifically to come to an agreement.

“For the financial review, we would like to have it done by a third party CPA. Currently in the agreement, it is going to be Daniel (Ortiz), the treasurer of KKB and (Board of Public Works member) Jim Cederburg,” Bouse said.

“Jim Cederburg is the CFO of FirsTier Banks and the president of the Board of Public Works,” Mayor Keith Prunty interrupted. “So when you say you just want to have a CPA only, that means you don’t think our CFO, Jim Cederburg is qualified, Dan (Ortiz) is qualified? You are implying that Jim Cederburg that he is going to be biased in his findings?”

Bouse explained that an unbiased accountant would protect the interests of all involved, specifically the utility users. As the president of the board which approves funding through the landfill fees, Cederburg has a vested interest in the situation.

“We just thought it would be better to protect both the city and us, to have it from a third party,” Bouse said. “That was the whole point of it, so that it would work for us for multiple years to come, and multiple administrations.”

“So, I am going to be very black and white. So what you are asking is, is you have no problem opening your books as long as it is to a third party?” council member Christy Warner asked. “And that is the only thing holding up this agreement?”

Bouse said that other amendments need to be made to the agreement so it does not have to be revisited again in 10 or 15 years and so the organization has time to receive necessary funding for grant writing.

“One of my biggest concerns is that you want to make amendments. You got to remember that the tax payers are the landlords and we are responsible for that,” council member James Schnell said. “You are trying, I hope, to head in the direction of what is required by state law. Wherever tax dollars are used ... all those books have to be open to the public because once you take tax dollars that is the scrutiny of the public. They have to have access to those books.”

Though Schnell stated that taxpayer dollars are used, the money that Keep Kimball Beautiful uses for matching grants actually comes from landfill fees, therefore, it is not taxpayers as much as it is utility users that pay for part of the operation of the organization.

Prunty said the council requests to see the same information that the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality would request, in the event of an audit by the government agency.

“If you have to give that to NDEQ, we are the same thing as NDEQ and that is what we expected also,” Prunty said. “That is what we required about a month ago. If you are receiving public funding, we need to make sure that money is being spent in a proper way. That is my impression, I guess. That is what our people have probably requested, that is what they probably demand of us, to make sure everything is on the up and up.”

“When asked specifically what the board had decided about the financials and whether or not they were going to be opened up to the city, we were never given a response,” Ortiz stated.

KKB director Larissa Binod, who remained silent through the majority of the meeting, argued, “You were given a clear response, and the clear response was we would like to meet together with all of the leaders to discuss the considerations specifically as it pertained to the financial review and the financial support. There is still discussions to be had. There still needs to be consideration from KKB’s point of view, its timeline. There are components that have been added to the agreement since our last meeting that has caused questions, so I have to bring it back to the board. Things showed up in the agreement that we did not agree upon.”

Prunty said the agreement is in draft form, and that the city council is neither the time nor the place to work through the agreement.

Bouse asked to continue meetings with all the boards so no more confusion exists and so that everyone can be on the same page. She said KKB would like to have a contract in place by the end of the month.

“The only board involved now, when you are making this contract, is (the city council),” Schnell said. “Not the other board, there is no need, in my mind, to have the Board of Public Works, because we are the only ones that can sign this.”

Schnell moved to review the agreement for adoption at the Nov. 3 city council meeting. The council passed the motion with Warner as the sole dissenting vote.