Reflections for the Week of Dec. 13-17

BBDC:

Hosted Perfect Blend Tuesday with guest speakers Greg & Lisa Carter of Carter’s Home Hardware & Appliance.

Hemingford received their plaque for Leadership Certified Community (recertification) Tuesday from Department of Economic Development.

Attended Rural Rendezvous Zoom meeting on SourceLink Nebraska Wednesday.

Attended the Heartland Expressway monthly meeting in Chadron with Mayor Dafney Thursday.

Friday submitting our Rural Fellows Community Application to host 2 interns Summer 2022.

Dec. 20th-24th – BBDC Office Closed.

Chamber of Commerce:

Chamber Ambassadors visited Heartland Real Estate & Appraisals as the January Spotlight Business.

Attended the Activate Alliance meeting.

Attended the Autumn in Alliance planning meeting.

Finalizing the details for the Parade of Lights Scavenger Hunt on Monday, December 20th from 5 to 7 pm.

Electric:

Replaced a streetlight pole on West 3rd street that was knocked over from an auto accident.

Installed alley lights for the BNSF parking lot in the 100 block of Box Butte.

Repairing/replacing streetlights where needed. Performing maintenance on various pieces of our rural and urban system.

Built/replaced two irrigation well transformer banks.

Public Works:

Landfill continuing to clean up following the fire earlier this year. 97 customers 157 tons of refuse received at landfill this week.

Sewer Department cleared a sewer backup last Sunday.

Lift Station “A” work nearing completion, with the last pieces – piping and electrical, nearly complete.

The new Public Works building will finish installing heaters, electrical and doors next week!

Transit 588 riders this week.

Water Emergency Response Plan under final review.

Police:

Department wide meeting regarding police theory.

This week: three accidents, two mental health holds; one burglary; and one theft of firearm, which was recovered.

Code Enforcement/Animal Control:

5 dogs impounded and returned to their owners.

Fire:

Had 2 phone conferences with Fire Training Structures (FTS) on our new training facility. Community Development Director Kusek participated in one of the phone conferences.

Chief met with HR on the hiring process for the Fire Apparatus Engineer/EMT position.

Submitted 3rd quarter NFIRS report to the Nebraska Fire Marshal.

Parks:

Staff cleaned the Sallows roof and drains to ensure melting water doesn’t leak into the building over winter. Moved downtown furnishings around to make room for snow removal when necessary.

Staff is cleaning up both shops in anticipation of moving to the Street Garage when the new

building is done.

Prepared two funerals.

Pruned and watered plants in the greenhouse.

Museum:

Staff continued sorting and packing up Christmas stuff.

Several individuals were in the Heritage Room researching family history.

Database review and development continued.

RSVP:

The nutrition site received a large donation and worked with non-profits to get the donated items to individuals in need.

Staff continued to serve meals at the site as well as deliver as necessary.

Golf Course:

Weather has slowed play significantly.

The pro shop continues to operate on limited hours to allow Christmas shopping.

Airport:

2020 Hailstorm claim – walk-in doors arrived and installation has begun. The last overhead doors are to arrive and be installed right away on December 22nd.

First snowstorm event and everything went as planned with no on-the-ground delays.

November passenger count:347 enplaned and 346 deplaned. Our parking lot was full during Thanksgiving and had to overflow onto concrete pad west of the terminal. December numbers are looking good also with a lot of sold out flights before and after Christmas. This will be a record year for passengers using the airport!