LOOKING TO BUY?

At Tuesday's Kimball City Council meeting, Mayor John Morrison shared with the council and the public his thoughts on possible future acquisitions for the City of Kimball.

Morrison expressed interest in acquiring the Evertson Well Service building east of Kimball with the intention of making it the Street Department building and shop. Currently, the street department shop is on the north side of Kimball on Main and Elm Streets.

According to Morrison, the street department "is pretty sad. It is the stepchild of all the departments ... The price they are asking is fairly reasonable, in my opinion, for the property. It would give us plenty of room over there. This is the one property I haven't done complete research on it, but I think it is something we ought to look at and consider maybe start talking about it."

The asking price for the property was $875,000, according to a April 13 real estate ad in the Observer.

Councilman Gabe Ingram asked if the sellers would "float us a contract on the deed," and Morrison thought it was possible.

Other properties the mayor said he was interested in acquiring were the Windbreak Bar & Grill and the Four Winds Golf Course pro shop.

The mayor said the Windbreak owners are willing to sell the building to the city on payments and willing to carry the note for 15 years at 5%, with plans to lease out the restaurant. Ingram and Councilman Creg Pike made favorable comments about the city buying the property and talking with the owners. They agreed that it would be a great place for weddings and Christmas parties.

Councilwoman Christy Warner also agreed with many of their thoughts but stated that she didn't want the city to compete with local ongoing businesses, and she said the city would need to work diligently to get it leased out.

"Basically, we already had an event center and that didn't work out so well; we lost a lot of money," she said.

The council agreed to discuss the possible acquisitions at a future date.

Meanwhile, mayoral appointments were approved by the council for a variety of commissions. Jean Gilbert was approved for a seat on the Planning Commission, Scott Noah received an appointment to sit on the Community Redevelopment Authority, and Craig Aragon became the Water Superintendent.

The council approved the Letter of Agreement with Olsson Engineering for the upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant. Phase 100 and Phase 400 will cost $439,900, while Phase 600 will be $382,500. The upgrade completion date is estimated to be June 15, 2024.

After the Board of Public Works approved the power generation design build from Mike Mansour Exponential Engineering, the council approved the Nebraska Machinery Co. bid for $4,968,837. This will include the costs of the building's engineering and construction, switchgear engineering and installation, and generator installation. The generators have been purchased and are being stored at Clean Harbors.

No action was taken, but a lengthy discussion occurred in reference to building inspection services and permit requirements.

During the public comment period, Kathy Porter asked for information on how "we get a hold of council members or the mayor if we want to approach you about something," either phone numbers or email. She said there is nothing in that regard on the website that she could find. Porter also said she was hoping that someone would have commented on the meeting with Sen. Pete Ricketts during his visit here.

After Porter's comment, Morrison added to his report saying that "Senator Ricketts just came to town and asked to meet with the elected officials and some other people. He just basically wanted to listen. So we gave him a presentation about what we feel is going to happen when the record of decision is made. I know what is going to happen, we all know what is going to happen, and no one wants to accept that. And we are going to go from 2,500 people to 7,500 people."

Morrison said Ricketts give the city some contacts to help with the process.

The consent agenda was approved. It included minutes from the April 4 meeting, financials, claims, and ratification of Ordinance 814

The council went into executive session at 6:09 p.m.

The next regular council meeting is scheduled for May 16. The May 2 meeting was cancelled due to a lack of quorum.