The Broken Bow City Council met in regular session Tuesday evening, January 13. The meeting started at 6:00 PM in the Broken Bow Municipal Building. All members of the Council were present for the Council session.
The Council quickly dispensed with official matters, approving the Consent Agenda soon after the meeting commenced.
From there, Mayor Rod Sonnichsen moved the meeting to Public Comments. Broken Bow Chamber of Commerce Director Stephanie Grafel addressed the Council regarding the decorations that had been placed along the 10th Avenue Medians for the Holiday Season. In all, 11 organizations participated in placing festive holiday displays along the road.
Grafel stated that she had received immensely positive feedback about the displays, and thanked the Council and City of Broken Bow for their support in making the activity possible. City Administrator David Schmidt likewise thanked Grafel for heading up the project, saying it was “a great idea”.
Steve Weatherly of Broken Bow then rose to address his concerns regarding New Years’ fireworks displays, asking the Council to somehow make the fireworks more “neighbor-friendly”. Weatherly indicated the noise was disturbing to animals and resulted in trash left on streets. Another common concern was the ongoing dry weather, creating conditions where fireworks could easily start larger, damaging fires. Weatherly asked the Council to consider limiting the timing or doing away with fireworks for New Years altogether.
Sonnichsen thanked Weatherly for bringing his concerns to the Council, noting that every comment brought is important, and that the leaders present would would take the concerns under consideration.
Before ending the meeting in executive session, Sonnichsen noted that he had recently received between 7 and 8 anonymous letters of various sorts. Sonnichsen likened receiving comments with no name or return address to hearsay at best, and indicated action would not be taken on such matters.
Sonnichsen stated “every comment, every situation, every concern, is a concern of ours”, but asked those with concerns to include their name so that a City leader could directly address the issue as appropriate.
The meeting ended at 6:09 PM with the Council entering executive session to take on personnel matters. No decisions are made in executive session, and no further business was to be conducted afterward.
The next meeting of the Broken Bow City Council will be Tuesday, January 27 at 6:00 PM, at the Broken Bow Municipal Building.
