Council extends discussion about higher permit fees

McCOOK, Neb. — The McCook City Council will again revisit the possibility of increasing construction and permit fees, at the regular meeting Monday, 5:30 p.m. at the city council chambers at the city Municipal Building.

The council first discussed changing the fees at its Dec. 15 meeting. At that meeting, the city’s building inspector and Housing Code Advisory and Appeals Board recommended a change to building regulation and zoning application fees in the city’s code book. McCook’s current fee structure hasn’t been updated for years, city staff contends. The building inspector has reviewed fees at other similarly-sized cities and will share his findings Monday night with the council and discuss whether changes are warranted.

The council will also be asked to approve under suspension of the usual three-reading rule, to amend the building code that allows the owner of a commercial structure to make improvements to the structure. During discussion at the last council meeting, a conflict with building codes was found and the owner of a commercial structure is not permitted to make any type of improvements to the structure. All improvements must be done by a licensed contractor and this amended ordinance would reflect that.

Other items the city council will take up Monday night are:

-- Discussion regarding proposed ordinances incorporating the Southwest Nebraska Land Bank into the city’s nuisance abatement program and setting forth procedures to appoint city representatives to Southwest Nebraska Land Bank boards: the city council has approved a draft of the Southwest Nebraska Land Bank Interlocal Agreement, now it needs to review and approve ordinances that incorporate the land bank into the city’s nuisance abatement program. The city will have representatives on the land bank’s voting and non-voting boards and the city will need to have ordinances in place that provide the procedure for appointment of those board members. This agenda item will give the council a chance to review the proposed ordinances and have a chance to make suggested changes to the ordinances. City Attorney Nate Mustion hopes to have a final draft back to the council at the Dec. 20 meeting.

-- Update regarding the City of McCook’s entry sign project: City staff has received notice from the Nebraska Department of Transportation regarding concerns to city’s preferred location sites for entrance signs and staff wants to discuss those concerns with the council.

-- Discussion regarding the use of the McCook City Auditorium for pickle ball: City staff has received a request from Cathy Kenny to use the city auditorium for pickle ball. Local pickle ball players will be present at Monday’s meeting to discuss this request.

Consent agenda items for Monday night are:

-- Approve and ratify the Airport Rescue Grant Offer for McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport. The grant is $32,000 and can be used for costs related to operations, personnel, cleaning, sanitization, janitorial services, combating the spread of pathogens at the airport and debt service payments. At the Aug. 16, 2021, the council approved the agreement with the city and the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics. Staff has already completed the grant acceptance and this item ratifies all actions taken by staff

-- Receive and reject all bids for a new pickup at McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport: Government incentives on vehicles have either been suspended or inventory is sold out for 2022 models. The city has $43,000 in the budget for a pickup and utility box. Bids were opened Nov. 22 and one bid was received from Deveny Motors for $42,814. This would deplete all the funds for just the pickup, leaving nothing for a utility box that is estimated to cost between $6,000 to $8,000. City staff wants to wait for a few months on bidding for this pickup, to see if the market becomes more favorable.

-- Receive, file and authorize the mayor to sign the annual certification form confirming that funds received by the City of McCook from the State of Nebraska Department of Transportation as part of the Federal Aid Transportation Fund Purchase-Sale Agreement have been used according to such agreement.

-- Receive and file the agreement for Street Superintendent Services between the City of McCook and Greg A. Wolford, Class A License S-875 for the 2022 calendar year. Under the agreement, the city will pay Wolford hourly plus expenses at the engineer’s standard hourly rate, with the fee not to exceed $6,000 per year.

-- Adopt Resolution No. 2021-26 authorizing the signing of the Year-End Certification of City Street Superintendent Form 2021. The city receives $6,000 annually in incentive funds and contracts with Wolford to provide services.

The meeting will open Monday night with a public hearing for a report from Andy Long, McCook Economic Development Corp. director, on the Economic Development Plan Citizen’s Advisory Review Committee meeting on Oct. 25.