Bow City Council approves assessments
BROKEN BOW - The Broken Bow City Council approved levying special assessments for the 2018 South 19th Avenue and South G Street Paving Improvement Project at Nov. 24 city council meeting. The vote came after a public meeting with the Board of Equalization.
The special assessments are $115/running foot. Assessments are levied to help pay for the cost of improvements explained Ryan Kavan, project manager with JEO Consulting Group.
The total for non-city and non-Broken Bow Fire Department property is $132,694 for 1010 running feet at 115/ft plus $16,544 for parking.
Ten properties were subject to the assessment with one of the properties subject to the parking cost.
The total for city and fire department is $104,535. The city and fire department do not pay the assessment, rather, the amount is absorbed into the cost of the improvements.
Property owners have up to 15 years to pay at 3.25 percent interest. The first payment is due 50 days after the adoption of the resolution.
Council member Chris Myers asked if some of the properties had already had assessments.
City Clerk/Treasurer Stephanie Wright said there had been some assessed in the past, however, to her knowledge they were all paid.
Voting for the assessments were council members David Schmidt and Jacob Holcomb. Myers abstained. Larry Miller was absent. Holcomb attended the meeting telephonically.
Also present were Mayor Rod Sonnichsen, City Administrator Dan Knoell, City Attorney Jason White and City Clerk/ Treasurer Stephanie Wright.
The council also approved the following:
• $745 to JEO Consulting Group for work completed on the Broken Bow Memorial Drive Paving & Drainage Improvements
• $1,268.74 in KENO funds for mulch and concrete in the One Box Park
• $49,535 to JEO Consulting Group for the engineering agreement for the Mud Creek Left Bank Levee Restoration
The following department heads gave reports: Casey Flynn, electric; Craig Cranwell, water and sewer; Andy Holland, EMS/Ambulance; Stephanie Wright, Handibus; and Capt. Dan Hansen, BBPD.
Wright said by the end of September this year, the Handibus had made 3,500 stops for approximately 12,000 miles. Last year at the same time, the Handibus had made 6,700 stops for approximately 20,000 miles. This year the bus was shut down for some time due to COVID-19 restrictions and continues to operate with limited capacity due to restrictions.
Holland reported 69 ambulance calls from Oct. 1 to Nov. 24. Of those, 56 have been in the city of Broken Bow, 10 have been in rural Broken Bow and three have been to other locations. The main ambulance has been called out 49 times and the second ambulance has been used 20 times.
So far this year, there have been 327 calls. “We are on track to have the most calls this year, as the highest number was 359 in 2018,” Holland said.
The council went into closed session at approximately 6:30 p.m. to discuss a job evaluation.
Future meetings include:
• Dec. 7 at 5:10 p.m., Parks Board Meeting, Municipal Building
• Dec. 8 at 6 p.m., City Council, Municipal Building
• Dec. 14 at 12:30 p.m., Board of Public Works, Municipal Building