Personnel:
• New Employee Announcement! Welcome Kimberly Mundt as a new Public Transit Driver. Kimberly is from Wyoming and moved to Alliance in 1987 with her family. She previously worked as a laborer and is new to Transit work. She is married with 3 children and 10 grandchildren. She enjoys golfing, hunting, fishing, and listening to music. She likes meeting new people and is really looking forward to this new experience.
Finance:
• The City received a record $203,342 in city sales taxes for December sales.
• Another $17,836.50 toward the July 2021 storm recovery expense is expected from FEMA within a few days.
• Load management contracts will be mailed to irrigators today with an April 1st deadline for return.
Police Admin:
• Hosted the Chamber of Commerce for the visitation of the month.
• Printers and cameras are being installed in patrol cars.
• Attended Police Chief’s Association of Nebraska meeting
Police Communications/Intelligence:
• “911 eye” is now active. It’s a program which allows callers to share live video with emergency service dispatchers and officers – allowing them to have a better idea of what is occurring before arriving on-scene. This service is entirely voluntary with callers choosing to grant a one-time access to the camera of their phone. This service will help our officers be safer and more efficient when responding.
• Coordinated 487 calls for service.
• Completed 8 report requests.
• 8 firearms permits issued.
Police Operations:
• 0 DUI, 4 Traffic Stops.
• 8 accidents, 0 K9 deployment.
• 103 Building Checks.
• 18 Community Contacts/Business Checks.
• 5 Active Investigations.
Animal Control:
• 27 Animal Calls.
• 2 Dog Impounds. 1 Dog Returned. 1 Cat impound.
• 33 Code enforcement issues.
Electric:
• Finished the rebuild on Rock Road and CR 53.
• Performed some maintenance and cleaning at the generation plant on Cody Ave.
• Have been sorting/cleaning and arranging the warehouse areas to accommodate more inventory items needing shelf space.
• Meeting with Landis@Gyr on the new load control switches we have on order. New load switches will not arrive until Fall 2022 or early Spring 2023.
Fire:
• Chief chaired the Central Panhandle Mutual Aid Association meeting in Gurley.
• Meet with FlowMSP representatives on a possible Pre-Incident, Pre-Planning digital platform.
• Chief spoke to the Alliance High School Careers classes about fire and emergency medical career fields.
HR:
• Completed onboarding with two new employees: Jared MacDonald – Meter Reader and McKenzie Robinson – Public Safety Dispatcher, including safety and compliance training.
• Human Resources conducted Civil Service Commission and Police Review Board for Police Officer. Testing and Interviews for Fire Apparatus Engineer/EMT will be extended.
• Current and Upcoming Job Postings Include Police Officer, Fire Apparatus Engineer/EMT, Public Safety Dispatcher, PT Public Transit Driver, Account Clerk I, Electric Journey Line Worker/Apprentice, Airport Maintenance Worker, and Finance Director/Treasurer.
• Closed Positions Pending Interviews: Water/Sewer Maintenance Worker and Street Maintenance Worker.
• Met with employees for benefits, FMLA requests and work-related injuries.
Airport:
• January passenger count was 305 enplaned and 286 deplaned. This is another January record! Western Regional Airport in Scottsbluff has announced a decrease in their SkyWest flight schedule from 12 down to 10 flights per week. As a result, we may continue to see more passengers using our airport.
• Maintenance staff plowed snow multiple times this week.
• Performed final repairs for the Weather Service Building in preparation for its anticipated lease.
• We bid farewell to Tony Schmid from Western Cooperative Co who is retiring. We thank him – his presence at the airport will be missed.
• Participated in multiple conference calls in regards to the Taxiway/Apron Rehabilitation project. The FAA has moved back the bid date to the middle of April but have also required a 120 hold day, which could mean that this project will not be constructed until next summer.
RSVP:
• Senior Center staff with assistance from the Parks Division handed out 558 boxes of food on Wednesday through the Northwest Community Action and Heartland Food Bank.
• Continued providing delivery and eat in meals for local Seniors at the Senior Center.
Museum:
• Completed and developed an exhibit in the theater that features the “First Ladies of Washington” dolls. This included the completion of more recent First Ladies up to Jill Biden.
• Hosted five Panhandle community meetings and catered for three of those.
• Gave a tour to a museum related group from Omaha.
Parks:
• Staff continued working in the old street garage to clean it up in preparation for moving parks equipment and supplies into the larger facility.
• Snow removal multiple times during the week.
• Notified supplier for plant materials to be utilized in the parks system for the 2022 growing season.
• Ordered benches and trash cans for the sunken gardens.
• Met with the tennis court lighting representative to finalize design for the lights.
Library:
• We hosted the Western Library System’s annual summer reading meeting Thursday with 33 people in attendance.
• The Luck of the Irish contest has taken off with many new patron cards being issued!
• We have new displays coming up for March to expand your reading interests, so drop on by and pick up a good book!
• The APL book club braved the cold on Tuesday for a successful meeting. The March book selection is “The Gown”. Everyone is welcome to attend!
Community Development:
• Runza’s plumbing is finished. We are told that insulation for the exterior walls is on backorder.
• Platte Valley Bank’s rough-in plumbing is done and electricians have started interior wiring.
Chamber:
• The Chamber Ambassadors presented Webb Eyecare as the March Spotlight Business and visited the Alliance Police Department.
• The Chamber Ambassadors held a ribbon cutting at El Ramo.
• Attended the Autumn in Alliance planning meeting.
BBDC:
• Chelsie Herian attended the NEDA monthly board meeting where she currently serves as Secretary and Education Chair for the upcoming Annual Conference in May to be held in Valentine.
• Hemingford CRA meeting held Tuesday.
• Attended El Ramo ribbon cutting yesterday (delicious!).
• Friday consisted of NEDA Legislative updating via zoom, UNL Changing Communities Research Study participant via Zoom (I was identified as a change maker), and UNL Placemaking Stakeholder meeting today over noon hour with Mayor Dafney, Seth Sorensen, John McGhehey, Kirk Felker, Mara Andersen and professors to planning next steps on identifying Recreation in Alliance.