Auburn Council Met Oct. 14; Ruth Heywood Reports on Buying Downtown Building

Auburn Council Met Oct. 14; Ruth Heywood Reports on Buying Downtown Building

Auburn City Council addressed a variety of items during the Oct. 14 monthly meeting.

Auburn resident Mary Kruger told of safety concerns which she had at Legion Memorial Park for an earlier Eagle Scout Project involving a historic flywheel and landscaping near it.

Administrative Assistant Kim Beger requested and received permission to attend the Nebraska Planning and Zoning Association Fall Workshop in Nebraska City on Oct. 30 and 31.

General Manager Dave Hunter with the Board of Public Works said the utility was pursuing refinancing of the BPW Water Plant, Raw Water Line and Well SRF Loan into new 20-year bonds. Although the matter wasn’t ready for council action that evening, Hunter said the change should save about $300,000.

Hunter also asked the council to approve an expenditure for GWorks web-based products which the BPW uses and that would also benefit the City of Auburn should it choose to acquire the geographic information service technology. The vote for the city to obtain the (GIS) technology for approximately $9,000 passed 4-2, with Council members Katy Billings, Rick Janssen, Jeff Jeanneret and Chris Erickson voting aye. Councilmen Tom Clark and Shawn Clark voted nay.

A public hearing was held prior to the adoption of a resolution for a new Comprehensive Plan for the City of Auburn. The action updated the document with minor alterations to the original plan. The Comprehensive Plan of 2019 is a long-range policy guide to make decisions about the physical development within the city. The Planning and Zoning Commission for the City of Auburn had met earlier regarding updating the comprehensive plan and voted unanimously in favor of doing so.

Ruth Heywood with 5th Street Post in Peru requested and received approval for a Special Designated Liquor License for the following dates at Gallery 75 located at 1122 J Street: October 31, Nov. 9-10, 14, 16, 21, and 23, and December 7, 12, 14, 19 and 21. Heywood owns Gallery 75 and indicated the special liquor licenses would be used to serve on and off sale beer, wine and distilled spirits during the 2019 Fall/Holiday season.

Heywood also advised the council that she had purchased downtown buildings at 1206 J Street and 1005 Central Avenue, southwest of the stoplight. Heywood explained that it will take a lot of effort to bring the buildings into a usable condition. “I just wanted to tell the council first hand about my purchasing the former Caples building,” she commented.

The council also passed an ordinance to amend the city code to conform with state statute regarding sizes and operation of ATVs and UTVs on city streets.

The council adopted a resolution signing the annual Certification of Program Compliance with the Nebraska Board of Public Roads Classifications and Standards.

Reports and Recommendations

City Clerk/Treasurer Sherry Heskett gave the city sales tax receipt report for the month of July, which also marked the final month of the 2018-2019 fiscal year. September sales tax receipts totaled $42,464.52, about $9,000 above the amount budgeted.

Fiscal year city sales tax receipts totaled $492,136.34, compared to $471,127.51 for the 2017-18 fiscal year. The year to date budgeted amount was about $400,000.

Nemaha County Sheriff Brent Lottman’s report for September indicated that his officers had responded to 129 calls within the city of Auburn, including seven ordinance/animal calls and with 10 actual criminal cases reported/initiated.

Fire Chief Vaughn Severs mentioned activities involving youth during Fire Prevention Week.

Kendall Neiman reported for the Auburn Airport Authority that work is underway on the fueling system upgrade.

Nemaha County Herald

PO Box 250
Auburn, NE 68305
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