Cigarettes light up council debate

Smoking in parks and an agreement to allow nearby villages use the services of Sidney's chief building official were hot topics at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Several complaints received through the city website about smoking in Legion Park ignited discussion from the start, before the council determined to urge residents to act responsibly.

"It continues to be a subject in almost all communities," said City Manager Gary Person, referring to lighting up in public.

Most of the complaints reportedly came from those who visit the park with their children.

"If you've taken kids or grandkids to the park, you can see it in action," Person continued.

The council settled on three options during their debate. The city could adopt a policy or an ordinance against smoking in the park, specific sections of the park, or just ask the public to be more courteous.

Councilman Chris Gay asked for clarification as to what defined a policy and an ordinance

"An ordinance is your law," city attorney, J. Leef responded. "It's enforceable by fines, a policy is not."

Some of the councilmen thought that trash associated with cigarettes was already covered by other ordinances.

"It seems like the cigarette butt situation would be addressed by littering laws," said councilman Joe Arterburn .

Arterburn asked if there were receptacles for butts anywhere in the park.

"We tried it downtown and if you'll watch people who kind of hang around the corner and smoke, it'll go on the ground more often than it does in the receptacle," Person reported.

The city manager did think that citizens would probably pay attention to "no smoking" signs if they were posted. Gay agreed that issuing a policy instead of an ordinance was the best course of action.

"I'd be reluctant to pass an ordinance," Gay said. "I'm not sure if it's my job to tell people what they can and can't do. I might be inclined to have a policy and ask people to not smoke."

Gay suggested keeping the no smoking area as small as possible and perhaps limiting it to the playground instead of the entire park.

"I'm not in favor of a new ordinance," Vice Mayor Mark Nienhueser said. "I think we do enough of those here."

Still, Councilman Roger Gallaway expressed concern about children coming into contact with cigarette butts.

"I've been in the park and cigarette butts in the playground area are an issue," Gallaway said. "I've seen kids pick them up, playing with them or whatever."

Yet he agreed with the rest of the council that an ordinance did not need to be put in place.

"I think signage might help more than anything," Gallaway said. "I think it'd be a good first step."

Mayor Wendall Gaston also acknowledged that signs would likely take care of the problem.

"The best action is probably allowing people to police themselves," Gaston said.

The council ultimately decided to put up some signs asking smokers to respect others and to take care of their own litter.

Tabling the matter

The second issue at the meeting involved a possible interlocal agreement allowing Lodgepole to use the services of Sidney's chief building official, Brad Rowan. Eventually the body decided to let it sit.

Leef began by informing the council that officials with the village hope that they won't need Rowan's services very frequently. They mostly need assistance with hazardous or dangerous buildings. Rowan expressed concern that Lodgepole didn't want him to do the original plan reviews on projects, just the inspections.

"I feel uncomfortable doing inspections on projects that I don't have knowledge on," pointed out.

Rowan would like to be involved in any projects from beginning to end instead of just working on one portion of them.

"It's the right way to do it," Rowan said. "Either do it whole heartedly or don't do it at all."

Because Rowan already does some work for the county and also has an interlocal agreement with Potter, some of the councilmen expressed concern that Rowan's services were being spread too thin. Rowan issues permits for the county, but doesn't do inspections for them and currently does both the planning reviews and issues permits in Potter at a cost of $30 per hour.

"This could develop into a real nightmare," Rowan said. Sidney could bear some responsibility if an inspected building in Lodgepole collapses. Meanwhile the village pondered the cost of involving the inspector in projects from start to finish. "If it was up to me, I'd just as soon do the city."

Nienhueser wondered if the city had the time to take care of its own business.

"We need to make sure we're enforcing all the ordinances around here," he said. "We need to make sure we're taking care of our own house first."

Rowan agreed that adding services in Lodgepole could be too big of an undertaking for him. "It would bog me down," he explained. "I've got enough things to do without going to Lodgepole or even the county."

Nienhueser also commented on $50 per hour amount that the city would charge Lodgepole for Rowan's time and expertise.

"These rates don't really cover the services," Nienhueser said. He also mentioned that Rowan would have to take extra time to stay up to date on Lodgepole's ordinances that are different than Sidney's. Nienhueser suggested charging $100 per hour.

The council decided to table this issue for the present and plan to revisit it in the future. In the meantime, they'll gauge how the agreement with Potter is working out and how much work Rowan has to do in Sidney.

Block grants, liquor licenses and other topics

Person asked the council to acknowledge that the city had gone through the proper processes for the Community Development Block Grant funding for the project replacing the streets, curbs, gutters and sidewalks on Forrest street from 14th to 17th. The city advertised for engineering services and had two proposals.

They chose to hire Baker and Associates out of Scottsbluff because they could get started more quickly and finish earlier. The city would like this project to be completed by fall.

The council passed the acknowledgement.

The council also approved a retail class C liquor license manager application for Paul Senor at the Safeway on Illinois. The council made a recommendation to the Nebraska liquor control commission for this license.

The council read ordinance 1698 regarding the evacuation of the alley and street row at 13th and Illinois and ordinance 1699 regarding the storm water development policy both for the second time.