Neligh City Council Discusses ERPPD Territory Dispute

Jaimie Schmitz
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The Neligh City Council spent the majority of Tuesday night's meeting discussing the possible action for territory between Elkhorn Rural Public Power District and the City of Neligh.
 
At the beginning of the meeting, Tom Rudloph spoke on behalf of Elkhorn Rural Public Power District (ERPPD).
 
“I wanted to reach out one more time and try to work things out,” Rudloph began with. “I haven’t given up hope yet. But the clock is ticking because January 27th we will let the power review board decide if nothing else happens before that.”
 
In July of 2015, the city applied to extend services to some annexed property. ERPPD and the City of Neligh have not reached an agreement on who will supply that area with power.
 
“You guys are trying to take care of your town folks, we are trying to take care of our customers, and sometimes they are one and the same.”
 
Mayor Joe Hartz explained that they could have negotiated a split, but it should have been discussed before.
 
“From my side of it, because I’m not the council, we tried to negotiate,” Hartz said. “We tried to let you have part of the business and us take part of it because we wanted to be able to expand out to new businesses coming in.”
 
Then, during the Electric operations report, the council went into executive session to further discuss the pending litigation.
 
After 45 minutes, the council continued with their meeting. Dave Peterson gave a presentation with three different options to upgrade what they currently have. The first option was ruled out right away which left two less expensive options.
 
One option is to change the voltage of the park and wastewater treatment plant, which would cost $366,725.  The other option is to step up the transformer at the end of the line from city and costs $312,917.
 
Council member Leonard Miller made a motion to accept the option to step up the transformer at end the of the line from city. The motion passed 5-0.
 
The City Council accepted a bid for storm sewer and paving on the Neligh Independent Living project. They accepted a bid from A & R Construction for $193.832.44 to start construction in April 2017 and finish in August 2017.
 
A resolution for allowing golf carts in city limits was brought to the council. Mayor Joe Hartz said that in different communities, people like the convenience of it.  Steph Wanek said that because of safety reasons, she does not support the idea. They tabled the issue until a later date to give the council more time to review the idea.  
 
Wanek wanted to discuss the possibility of the city’s part-time employees receiving paid time off before they have been employed for a year.
 
“I just want to be a very reasonable employer for our employees,” Wanek expressed.  “And I know the hardship on a family if someone is sick, or their kid is sick and they have to miss those hours. It can be really hard on a family.”
 
City Clerk Dana Klabenes explained the difficulty with the software and calculating the time off. Right now the time off is based on hours worked.
 
Wanek suggested part-time employees receive paid time off after the three month probation period when they start.
 
The City Council tabled the topic until next month to give the rest of the council to think about Wanek’s suggestions.
 
During the Chief of Police’s report, Hartz commented on how he appreciated having a great representation of Neligh when Officer Craig Nelson helped at the fatality accident near Elgin.
 
Generation Supervisor Josh Capler told the board that an electrician will start full-time this week. Cody Thompson will move from Norfolk to Neligh next month.