Gallaway reappointed to Sidney City Council; replaces Barnes

New City of Sidney Council Member Roger Gallaway joined the council Tuesday night after he was unanimously elected to take the seat of Aaron Barnes.

Gallaway ran unopposed and swore in as a council member before taking his seat among the members present – Mayor Wendall Gaston, Mark Nienhueser and Joe Arterburn.

“Roger served in an appointed capacity on the council during the year 2012 and is definitely up to speed on city issues,” said Gary Person, City of Sidney City Manager.“Roger has stayed in touch with us since the time he left the council.”

Gallaway joined the council just in time for a night of presentations and proposed grant applications.

One presentation came from two high school representatives from the Teens in Prevention Organization (a teenage branch of Kids Plus), Amber Arellano and Annalise Lecher.

“Each year we consider alcohol merchants in Cheyenne County for our Responsible Alcohol Merchant Award Program (RAMA),” said Arellano to council members. “The RAMA is designed to honor alcohol licenses that demonstrate a commitment to combating the growing problems of underage drinking, binge drinking and drinking and driving in our community.”

Arellano said that this year the teens were taking their program a step further.

“This year we are supplying alcohol merchants with a tool that will assist them in being even more responsible,” she said. “This guide provides them with Nebraska state laws and helpful tips on how to be a responsible merchant – thus making our community safer and healthier.”

The merchant guidebook was designed and researched for by the teen group, and the two asked council members to endorse the distribution of the materials and make it a recommendation from the city to any merchant applying for a new or renewed liquor license.

“It looks like it outlines some good guidelines and training for people in the packet,” said Gaston.

The council members then listened to a public transportation presentation from Les Larsen, Sidney Public Transportation Coordinator.

It was moved by the members to approve the grant funding for the city government entity from the Nebraska Department of Roads and the bus fair increase proposed by Larsen. They also approved an amendment to the resolution that allowed the coordinator to purchase a new vehicle to replace a current one. The vehicle would not be officially purchased until the next fiscal year.

“Public transportation continues to be of critical importance as a part of the network of services provided by the City of Sidney,” said Larsen.

The transportation coordinator stated that for the Dial-A-Ride bus system the total miles driven last year was approximately 21,209, with 1,767 per month and 85 per day.

As for the number of passengers using Dial-A-Ride, there were 9,972 total last year, with 831 per month and 40 per day.

With the Stage Line bus system, 48,992 miles were driven in 2012, and that amounted to 4,082 miles per month and 163 miles per day.

There were 3,508 passengers for Stage Line in the year 2012, with 292 per month and approximately 12 per day.

Larsen noted that the Stage Line bus schedule ran from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, except on holidays.

The biggest stops of the year (meaning most passengers) were Cheyenne/Sioux Villa and Wal-Mart, according to the transportation coordinator.

Fairs currently for the fixed-route for Stage Line and Dial-A-Ride to downtown is $1 traveling one way, and $2 for a one-way bus ride using Dial-A-Ride to the interstate.

Larsen proposed a 25-cent increase on all fees.

The additional cost would go into effect the beginning of the next fiscal year, July 1, and revenue created from all fairs in 2012 was $13,366, he said.

“The State of Nebraska Department of Roads operates the public transportation services for the Federal Transit Administration,” he said. “They have decided it is time to update the state management program for public transportation in the rural areas of Nebraska.”

“They’re going to instill a program that your operating expenses are based against your fair recovery and that it needs to be in the 10 percent area of your total operating expenses,” he continued. “Otherwise what will happen if you don’t get to the 10 percent is your federal funding will be cut in half. Currently our operations are just above 8 percent. So we are requesting a 25-cent fair increase to get us up to the 10 percent fair recovery, effective in July.”

Council members had apprehension as to whether the 25-cent increase would be ensured to get them above the 10 percent mark.

“I guess my only concern is if we get to about two months before next year and we are only at 9.4 percent or something are we going to have a plan to get up there?” asked Gaston.

Larsen saidthat if need be the fair could be increased once more by another 25 cents.

Nienhueserinquired as to whether or not the fixed-route bus system could be extinguished to save funds.

“It’s twice the miles as the Dial-A-Ride for the third of the riders,” he said.

Person responded that the fixed-route required taxpayers nothing and it is a wish of the city visitor’s committee to keep it running to add appeal to the city and attract tourists.

The council members also passed an application for a Community Development Block Grant for the completion of downtown revitalization, as well as an application to the Department of Economic Development for a Nebraska Affordable Housing Program Grant.

Megan McGown, the City of Sidney Community Development Director and Main Street Manager for the Historic Downtown Sidney Program, explained both applications and what granting them could mean for the City of Sidney.

“Phase one in the Community Development Block Grant is the planning portion of our overall project,” said McGown. “We are applying for $30,000 in block grant funding and $1,500 for administration, which will be done through the Panhandle Area Development District. With a small match from our economic development funds the total planning budget would be $39,000.”

McGown said that this is the second time the city has applied for the program, with the first being back in 2008.

“In phase one we received the $30,000 which helped us to create a downtown master plan completed in 2008,” she said.

This 2008 project helped make many major improvements to the city, including the replacement of 8th and 9th street, according to McGown.

“We would like to update the 2008 masterplan and fully integrate the Hickory Square improvements into our continuing downtown revitalization efforts,” she said. “One new plan we have is to conduct an upper floor visibility study to better utilize some of our space in the downtown area and see what opportunities could be there.”

“We are judged by our downtown. Potential new residents judge us, businesses thinking about relocating or expanding judge us, and Sidney and our own residents judge us by the things we have going on in our downtown,” she said.

Though the council members passed the application, Nienhueser felt as though the upper floor visibility study could be taken out of the application because community members need places to rent now – not after the long process it would take to get the project moving via the grant funds.

McGown said that the plan details are available on the city website.

Members also passed an application to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development for a Nebraska Affordable Housing Program Grant.

“This would allow us access to the $500,000 in grant funds that remain in the final phase of the New Neighborhoods Initiative,” the community development director said.“The original grant application in 2008 set aside $1 million designated towards the development of workforce housing in Sidney.”

“The city was one of the three applicants selected out of the 24 applicant pilot communities,” she said. “The project consists of constructing two six-plex apartment complexes in the CottonWood addition in Daily Drive, which is where the previous neighborhood improvement project took place.”

That area of land has already gone through the state environmental review process, according to McGown, which if not already completed would add a significant amount of time to the process.

The apartments would be two to three bedroom units and add a total of 32 new bedrooms to the community, she said. The units also come with attached garages in the initial design.

The total project cost is projected to be $1.2 million, and the developer is Jerry Steffens.

Also approved by the council members is a new rural volunteer fire department agreement with the City of Sidney. The previous agreement is 50-years-old.

“This speaks to the fact that we have had this relationship with the rural fire department at least for 50 years,” said Person.

The only thing changed about the agreement was a $1 annual fee for the department; a fee is required to be put in place by law to make it an enforceable contract. Also the word “telephone” was stricken from record.

The roster for the volunteer fire department was also accepted and eight people at the station have had a combined 180 years of service to the Sidney community, said Keith Stone, City of Sidney Fire Chief.

Council members thanked the firemen for their ongoing service to the community.