Land bank officially created

McCOOK, Neb. — The City of McCook will now be able to form a land bank with other communities.

The land bank is a way for cities and towns to pool funds to address vacant or tax-delinquent properties, designated as nuisance properties.

The McCook City Council unanimously approved two ordinances Monday night at the regular meeting that creates the Southwest Nebraska Land Bank, define what the land bank can do, including how it’s funded and how projects are approved and completed and give the city authority to enter into an interlocal agreement.

Towns that are interested in participating are Cambridge, Holbrook, Curtis and Beaver City. North Platte expressed an interest earlier in the year and may decide to join later, said City Attorney Nathanial Muston.

Annual membership fees are based on population, so if the council decides at $4 per person, the cost to the City of McCook would be $29,424 per year, using 7,356 as the population.

Mustion said the council has reviewed the ordinances before in draft form at previous council meetings and the ordinances will codify the process used by the land bank. The ordinance adds the Problem Resolution Team, already in existence, along with the Board of Health, in inspecting properties and making determinations of nuisance properties.

Councilman Jerry Calvin asked when board members would be selected and Mustion said sometime after the ordinances were approved. According to the ordinance, the chief executive officer of the city and a two-thirds vote of the city council will select a voting board member who meets at least one of the following requirements: representative of the chamber of commerce, banking experience, real estate development experience, realtor experience, non-profit of affordable housing experience and large-scale residential or commercial property rental experience. The city council will designate by majority vote one of its members and one other designee of its choice to serve on the land banks’ non-voting board.

The council suspended three readings for the ordinances and approved them on first reading.