During the Seward City Council’s Sept. 4 meeting, the board:
• approved the 2018-19 municipal budget. The city’s levy is set at 31.8 cents and the airport authority’s levy is around 3.5 cents for a total of 35.3 cents per $100 of valuation. That sets the city’s overall tax asking at $1,565,690. Even though the city’s levy stayed the same from last year, an increase in valuation means the city’s overall asking increased by around $83,000 from $1,483,072 in the 2017-18 fiscal year.
• authorized the $185,000 acquisition of property located at 246 N. Third Street to expand the Seward Fire station. The board also approved a purchase agreement for the land.
Councilmember Ellen Beck said the fire department needs a five- to 10-year plan for the expansion.
Councilmember John Singleton, who also serves on the Seward VFD, said the department is working one.
• appointed Jake Vasa, formerly of Olsson Associates, as the city engineer.
City Administrator Greg Butcher said city engineering position was created to help with road, water/waste water and parks projects and help update the city’s geographic information system maps.
Vasa has worked in Seward with the developers on the Shoal Creek housing development south of Seward Middle School and the Fairway Woods housing development on the west side of town.
“This might be a familiar face to you,” Butcher said.
Butcher said by hiring its own engineer, the city will not have to contract with engineering firms and will have someone looking out for the city’s best interests.
“Now we have an advocate who works directly with the city,” Butcher said.
Vasa, who lives in Wahoo, said he earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2008. He also has a master’s degree in construction engineering.
• approved membership and funding agreements with the Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership. The city will contribute $67,500 to SCCDP for the 2018-19 fiscal year.
Beck, who also serves as the SCCDP board chair, said the group’s president and CEO, Jonathan Jank, is managing the organization well.
“I think it’s been a year of growth and maturity,” Beck said.
• approved a request from Concordia Student Angela Bell to display small American flags along Highway 34, near the Parade of Flags, on Sept. 11 to remember the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
• authorized the submission of a Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant applicationto build a park in the Fairway Woods development.
The board also approved the park’s design.
Butcher said the plans for the three-acre site include a portion of the Plum Creek trail, a playground and a shelter in wood motif.
“That really matches the design of Fairway Woods,” Butcher said.
He said the estimated budget for the park is $186,000. The city plans to contribute $50,000, and Butcher said the Wake Charitable Foundation is willing to donate another $43,000. The LWCF grant would match the city and foundation’s combined contribution for $93,000. With those funds, Butcher said the park could be completely funded.
• awarded a bid to Pennsylvania Transformer for a power transformer that will be placed in an industrial substation for the Seward Rail Campus.
Garrett Klein of Olsson Associates recommended Pennsylvania Transformer, which came in as the fifth-lowest bid of eight, because it met most of the city’s specifications on the bid.
The cost for the transformer is $433,782, for which the city will pay cash. However, the board also passed a resolution declaring the official intent to issue tax-exempt bonds.
Assistant Administrator Bonnie Otte said the intent to issue bonds is a protection for the city if it needs to issue bonds down the road, as this is a long-term project.
“It’s just a protection piece,” Otte said. “We still plan on paying cash.”
• approved a master services agreement and subscription renewal agreement with GIS Workshop, which hosts the city’s GIS map. This is a one-year renewal for $7,725.
