The Broken Bow City Council met in regular session Tuesday evening, December 9 at 6:00 PM. Paul Holland was the sole member absent from the meeting held at the Broken Bow Municipal Building.
Regular Business Includes Update to Minutes and Approval of Assistance from JEO Consulting
The Consent Agenda items approved by the Council included an update to the minutes from the November 25 Meeting. The council approved the minutes with an added paragraph regarding the bid for a new City Administrator Vehicle from Ranchland Ford in the amount of $38,980.
The first new business item was a proposal for JEO Consulting to provide assistance to the City in responding to a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program application. The City is seeking a $250,000 grant from the federal agency, and must now provide a detailed accounting of how those funds might be used.
Zoning Administrator Jacob Holcomb told the Council that the resolution allowed JEO to provide information for the grant, and still be allowed to bid for any work to be accomplished once the grant is received. Holcomb noted that another organization, Miller and Associates, declined the opportunity to do the work within the time frame needed.
The Council voted unanimously to accept the proposed work by JEO to provide information for the grant to FEMA.
The other regular item on the Agenda was approval of an authorization to allow bills that would have been approved for payment by the Council at the December 23 meeting, without Council action, since the City Council will not be meeting again until the new year.
Concerns About Flood Plan Brought to the Council
Public Comments brought a number of citizens forward with concerns about flood mitigation efforts.
Among them, Broken Bow businessman Stuart Fox outlined the concern.
“My hope was when we remapped Broken Bow, we were going to be removing a whole bunch of properties,” said Fox. “And much to our surprise, they’re actually going to add a significant amount of Broken Bow into the flood zones. And then they’ve even created, I think what they call a floodway. There are a lot of the downtown properties that are in the floodway”.
Fox indicated that this is likely to increase insurance costs by two to three times for the affected properties, with the effect of stifling growth and development in the downtown area. Fox ended by stating his hope that a plan can be developed that will remove properties from flood zones, rather than add them.
Jeremiah Luebbe of Broken Bow added that not only businesses, but homeowners also are likely to be impacted by the expansion of the flood zones, as owners with mortgages would likewise be forced to obtain expensive flood insurance policies where they had not been needed previously.
“I think its a real threat to the community,” Luebbe said, “and I applaud the council’s efforts to do whatever you can to help and look at mitigation down the road.”
Mayor Rod Sonnichsen acknowledged the seriousness of the issue placed before the council, noting that the flood plan issue involves interactions with federal agencies, adding further complexity.
City Administrator David Schmidt stated that the flood maps are currently in a preliminary phase, and have already been revised once in response to comments from the public and the City. Another round of review will be upcoming, and Schmidt promised to ensure public input is sought at that time.
The council overall agreed that this is a very high priority for the body, and that they are actively seeking the engagement and support of the public as interactions with FEMA on the flood plan continue.
Concluding the meeting, Sonnichsen wished the entire population of Broken Bow a safe and merry Christmas, and a happy New Year.
The next meeting of the Broken Bow City Council will be Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at 6:00 PM in the Broken Bow Municipal Building.
