Police:
∙ Attended Autumn in Alliance and judged the chili and cinnamon roll cookoff ∙ Attended APS Leadership Meeting
∙ Attended Council and presented department promotions
∙ Attended Staff Meeting
∙ Completed tours of all schools in Alliance including the Lutheran School and Saint Agnes.
∙ Completed Security Assessment at Kingdom Hall on Cody Ave
Community Development:
∙ No October Planning Commission meeting due to lack of agenda items.
∙ Board of Adjustment will meet October 29th for their statutorily required annual meeting to reorganize and have training.
∙ Rolled out the City’s new public mapping interface online
at https://cityofalliance.maps.arcgis.com. This replaces the pdf versions of the maps previously uploaded to the City’s website.
Building Projects:
∙ Heartland Flats south of Runza is working on finishing their parking lot and landscaping.
∙ Consumers Credit Union at 3rd and Cody is working on exterior wall sheathing.
∙ Westco Agronomy buildings north of the tire shop are working on interior trim and finishing’s.
∙ St. Agnes Daycare in the old Marian Residence had their final inspection and is open for business.
∙ Daylight Donuts in the old Williams Jewelers building is working on appliance installation and fixtures.
∙ Bloedorn Lumber is working on interior trim, fixtures, and finishings. ∙ Condemned 14 mobile homes as uninhabitable in Vista Mobile Home Park and Meadows in cooperation with the mobile home park manager.
September Nuisance Abatement:
∙ 47 new contacts.
∙ 7 certified notification letters sent.
∙ 37 completed nuisances.
∙ Nuisance abatement officer Rod Sterkel submitted his resignation. His last day will be October 18th.
Building Maintenance:
∙ Started repairing and performing maintenance on the waste oil heater in the central building maintenance garage. Its use to heat the building last winter cut the natural gas bill from $500 to $200 in the month of February alone.
∙ Brought the kitchen at RSVP up to State health requirements and compliance with our plumbing code.
∙ Fixed the issues with the lights at the landfill compactor building caused when the building was reroofed.
September Permits:
∙ 11 Building Permits for a total estimated improvement value of $159,200.
∙ 3 Zoning Permits for a total estimated improvement value of $84,500.
∙ 8 Plumbing and Mechanical Permits.
∙ 7 Excavation, Construction, or Obstruction of the Right of Way Permits. Accounting and Finance:
∙ Submitted State Budget form
∙ Attended PSN Annual Review
∙ Attended Webinar—How to Improve Performance Review Conversations
∙ Attended Insurance Renewal Meeting
∙ Attended Council Meeting
∙ Paid all approved Council Claims
∙ Completed Payroll
∙ Attended Department Leader meeting
Utilities Billing Services:
∙ 6 new residential accounts
∙ 1 new landlord account
Tourism:
∙ Thank you to all departments in the city who helped make Autumn in Alliance a grand success! We could not have done it without the help of the Parks Department, Street Department, Knight Museum, Electric Department, Library, Police and Fire/EMS. Also, thank you to Triangle Electric.
Electric:
∙ Energized three phase pump service at Schiff Feedlot
∙ Attended monthly NECC safety meeting
∙ Continue to make progress on the Country Club Road line rebuild. Carried out a planned outage with Bomgaars on Wednesday evening to allow a new, taller pole to be installed
∙ Changed banners to Fall theme along 3rdstreet and Box Butte Avenue
∙ Removed the temporary services from Central Park used for Autumn in Alliance
∙ Performed maintenance on three-phase transformer bank at Golf Course
Fire:
∙ Jack’s Heating, Cooling, Stoves, and Fireplaces initiated the critical fire department HVAC project on Monday, September 30th. This is a carry-over capital project from the 2023-2024 budget year.
∙ Chief conducted the routine and essential quarterly Airport Fuel Inspections with the FBO and met with the Airport Manager, ensuring the safety and efficiency of our operations.
∙ Chief attended the City Council and Senior Staff meeting.
∙ Conducted monthly ARFF training on Wednesday evening, with a focus on comprehensive coverage of Hazardous Materials, demonstrating our preparedness for potential emergencies to the FAA.
∙ Held career staff meeting on Thursday morning.
∙ The chief met with the Morrill County ALS Coordinator and the Morrill County Sheriff’s Department Dispatch Supervisor about dual paging for EMS, especially on the South U.S. 385 Highway.
∙ Chief working with the Community Development Director on compiling information for the Region 23 Hazard Mitigation Plan Update.
Streets:
∙ Picked up barricades from the park for Autumn in Alliance
∙ Picked up barricades from crosswalk painting
∙ Graded Elkhorn Dr.
∙ Completed locates
∙ Ongoing alley grading and drain cleaning
∙ Winterized mower attachment
∙ Serviced vehicles # 907,913,910,905,916
Transit:
∙ 776 riders this week
Water/Sewer:
∙ Attended the Fall water conference in Gering
∙ Fixed tire and drive shaft on pivot at sewer lake
∙ Ongoing lead line inventory work
∙ Completed 7 work orders, 8 locates, and installed 38 radios
∙ Completed electrical repair on the water well at 18th and Colorado
Landfill:
∙ Ongoing baler repairs
∙ Equipment maintenance
∙ Moved dirt cover on MSW
∙ Ran burn box
∙ 200 customers this week
∙ 309 tons of refuse this week
RSVP & Senior Center:
∙ 1,100 meals served or delivered to seniors in the community during the month of September.
∙ RSVP signed up three new volunteers that will be helping with activities in the community.
∙ Sixteen current RSVP volunteers worked in the community this week
∙ Hosted the Belltone representative at the Senior Center
∙ Hosted card games, bingo, Coffee & Treats and Bunco
Parks:
∙ Mowed and trimmed where needed. Grass growth is finally starting to slow.
∙ Winterized Big Blue Bay pump house and bathhouse, Bower concessions, and Sudman concessions.
∙ Planted the Fall Tree Grant trees at Stadium Trail and Bower and added them to the tree inventory.
∙ Continued with irrigation repairs in Central Park and the Box Butte Islands.
∙ Picked up rollouts, tables, and returned picnic tables after Autumn in Alliance.
∙ Park staff assisted with mowing at the cemetery.
∙ Trimmed Woodbine out of existing trees and shrubs.
Museum:
∙ We are done cleaning, sorting and organizing our complete textile collection! That may not sound like a big deal but it was an extensive three-month long project, and included everything from doilies to ball gowns!
∙ With textiles done, we are now moving on to advertising. The Knight Museum is always looking for advertising items from local businesses or groups. Sometimes a printed ink pen or a receipt is the only proof that a business existed here. These items might include matchbooks, small booklets, banks, coin savers or any type of give-aways that people may have kept. Please think of us the next time you clean out your junk drawer!
∙ The October Scrapbook group will meet this weekend. Drop by if you want to check this out.
∙ Have you ever seen a Native American arrowhead cache? You can stop and see a replica made by our summer volunteer Chili Potmesil using a very unique collection found over 80 years ago by the late Merle Hayward. Chili did a wonderful job of creating a very authentic looking slice of the prairie.
∙ The Fallen Hero display will come down on Monday. Next Friday a short five-day long display honoring the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier will go up. This display is being brought to you by the local Eagles Group. Be sure and try to visit one or both of these fanatic displays
∙ The Museum hosted a bridal shower, birthday party and several other meetings this week. Library:
∙ It was a busy week at the Alliance Public Library with 22 library directors from the Western Library System meeting here to discuss the annual statistic and accreditation process with the Nebraska Library Commission. We are always honored and happy to host these events, and especially enjoy sharing our facility with other library representatives from across the state.
∙ We were honored to host the Dr. (Colonel) Josh McConkey Author event!
∙ Adult Services Librarian Nalani Stewart cataloged new materials, planned future programs and prepared the stats for the Director’s Report. She also removed old books from the new shelves, ran overdue reports and hosted the book club at Highland Park Care Center.
∙ Children’s Librarian Cynthia Horn hosted the Autumn in Alliance coloring competition Saturday at Central Park.
o Congratulations to our Grand Prize winners: Rylan, Gus, Adi and Abbi who received a prize bag, including a DQ blizzard courtesy of the City of Alliance and prizes from local restaurants!
o Also a special thanks to current Library Page, Avy Knapp, and former Library page, Ben Nollette, for their cool coloring designs and all of our talented artists for sharing their masterpieces! Thanks to all who voted!
∙ Cynthia’s Story Time this week featured “Exciting E” with guest readers from BBGH Building Blocks Academy! LEGO Club worked on their creations, and Girl Scouts “Spirit of Nebraska” and Alliance Public Library will collaborate for “Mischief with Minions” this coming weekend! Amazing!! Cynthia also made KCOW announcements, compiled September Stats, organized the Book Mobile, performed backpack maintenance, made preparations for upcoming events, and updated the website.
∙ Cynthia and Nalani also co-hosted the Dr. (Colonel) Josh McConkey Author event featuring his book “Be The Weight Behind the Spear”. Dr. McConkey is an Alliance High School alumni in addition to AHS Wall of Fame honoree. His book is featured as a distinguished favorite in the Motivational category with the Independent Press Award.
∙ Technical Services Librarian Emily Nelson made the weekly Book Mobile deliveries, assisted patrons on the computers, and updated the Staff Picks page on the website. She also updated our social media sites with upcoming programming and assisted many patrons with various tasks on the public computers.
∙ Library Clerks Stephanie Hamilton and Pam Becker have been busy keeping things flowing smoothly at the circulation desk, which is not always an easy task. We are happy to report that traffic and card applications have both been on the increase this Fall!
∙ What a great week with some amazing visits to our facility!
Human Resources:
∙ Completed timely and accurate changes in payroll processing for all City employees; began preparing for COLA, FOP, and exempt pay changes for the October 18th pay date.
∙ Attended the leadership team meeting to discuss key issues facing departments and the organization.
∙ Met with Brown and Brown, who traveled to Alliance, to discuss our insurance renewal with key personnel; began preparing documentation to secure coverage for City employees.
∙ Executed an agreement with Fiduciary Advocates for an RFP for Independent Retirement Advisor services.
∙ Executed an agreement with Mark Fahleson for FOP Negotiations.
∙ Prepared City Council narrative and resolution for changes to the Personnel Policy which as proposed includes ARC Membership for health plan participants. This item will be discussed at an upcoming City Council meeting.
∙ The Human Resource Director spoke at the high school careers class about employment opportunities in municipal government.
∙ We are investigating leave time taken to support benefit eligibility on FMLA leave in 2023 and 2024. Communicating this information with our TPA for insurance and with our Worker’s Compensation Carrier to coordinate benefits and payments on time.
∙ Executing agreement for promotional testing services as established by the Civil Service Commission. This agreement will allow for remote testing of promotional candidates, which benefits the organization while improving the efficiency of the application process for both the City and candidates.
∙ Updating job postings, advertisements, job descriptions, and processing applications for vacant positions.
Finance:
∙ End of/Beginning of Fiscal Year work and preparation
∙ Worked with various departments providing information for reports
Administration:
∙ Preparation for upcoming Council Meeting
∙ Multiple personnel issues and meetings
∙ Meeting with Health Insurance Broker
∙ Authored “Request for Proposals” for Public Safety Center, Tourism Services, and Electric System Study
∙ Worked on City’s Donations Policy
∙ Worked on Safe Streets For All (SS4A) Grant Agreement
∙ Began work on the FY26 Budget