Broken Bow City Council amends Eagle Crest agreement; Sonnichsen touches on city admin search

BROKEN BOW – The Broken Bow City Council held its final meeting of the month on Tuesday, March 28 at 6 p.m. at the Municipal Building Auditorium. Councilman Myers was absent.

JEO Consulting representative Steve Parr addressed the council regarding three items all aimed at the development of the Eagle Crest subdivision project.

The first, an amendment to the Owner-Engineer Agreement between the city and JEO Consulting, for providing district creation or assessment documents and bidding and negotiation services for the subdivision, was approved unanimously. Parr said the amendment to the agreement provides flexibility and leverage to the city regarding how it might like to proceed with development.

“What that’ll allow you to do is to borrow the money for the project, if you desire to, and also make assessments against the lots.”

A second amendment was also passed unanimously; that amendment, makes electrical design mandatory for the subdivision before development can take place, a necessity given the scope of the project, said Mayor Rod Sonnichsen.

“I believe it’s really beneficial, going forward with such a big project, to have everything laid out, so there aren’t any questions as to where all this stuff is going to go, especially when things get moving fast.”

The third item, again passed unanimously, forged an agreement between Mid-State Engineering and Testing and the city, allowing the organization to conduct a geotechnical investigation on the Eagle Crest subdivision’s soil. No problems are anticipated, but such testing should make the work easier for contractors once the project gets going.

The final payment of $115,696.95 to Myers Construction for the Memorial Drive project was approved unanimously, as was Resolution 2023-3, which would give Mayor Sonnichsen permission to approve street closings and block off parking for reoccurring events. A liquor license for Christopher Sieck of Casey’s in Broken Bow was approved as well.

The meeting concluded with mayoral remarks. Mayor Sonnichsen noted that in the coming weeks, the Broken Bow Police Department will once again be fully staffed and trained with officers completing training, that a focus on nuisance abatement will take place in April, along with a city-wide cleanup to be held at Tomahawk Park and the tree dump with dates to be announced at the next council meeting.

Finally, the mayor touched on the search for a new city administrator.

“I cannot justifiably place a name on an agenda of a person to fill the position of city administrator, and request the approval of the council of such a person, without considering a change to how it’s always been done: getting the same results, and considering the history of the recruitment that’s always been there.”

Sonnichsen said extensive discussion will be held within the council over the next 2 weeks to better determine a proper course of action. Mayor Sonnichsen was adamant that buzz of any decision in that field before the fourteen-day discussion period should be dismissed as rumor. The meeting adjourned at 6:19 p.m.

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