Wheat Belt challenges sign ordinance;

Tim Lindahl, Wheat Belt PPD CEO, protested Sidney's sign ordinance Tuesday after the company's 2104 Illinois St. facility was cited.

The Wheat Belt building was used in promoting the ordinance, Lindahl claimed at the regular meeting of the City Council.

"If I had known we were to be one of the intended targets for this code we would have voiced our concern at that time," he said.

Wheat Belt continues to use the Illinois Street facility, Lindahl said.

"We have ceased to use it as our daily headquarters operation," he said. "Beyond utilizing it for warehousing, we use it for our contractors performing work on our behalf. We also continue to have the facility ready to serve as a backup operations center in the event of a disaster."

Though not specified in the ordinance, Lindahl said, the citation argues it applies because the building "does not allow a person to walk into the building to conzduct business."

"This is language I could not find anywhere in the code," he said. "The facility is not open with set hours to the public. However, we continue to utilize the facility and have a need for the public to find this facility."

Among its uses, Lindahl said, the site hosted an annual regional school for professionals, and is being used during an auction of surplus items that are staged at the facility, and available there for inspection.

The site and its sign are also not being poorly maintained, Lindahl argued.

"Unless we're missing something, our sign and facility are maintained at or above levels specified in the code," he said.

The ordinance, based on its language, Lindahl concluded, does not apply to Wheat Belt.

"Our board of directors has agreed to temporarily comply with the notice by inserting blank panels so our customers do not incur an undue additional cost from the city," he said. "It is our firm belief that this notice is not valid for this facility."

City Manager Ed Sadler was not available for comment Tuesday evening, as he was attending a meeting of city managers being held in Texas.

In other business:

Rob Kuhns, Sidney water superintendent, requested the city purchase a BobCat mini-excavator that had previously been approved in its budget.

"We went out and got four different bids through the Nebraska state bid association and BobCat came back with the lowest of all of them and the most options we can have on it," Kuhns said.

The excavator will cost $39,396, under the department's $41,000 budget.

Among its features, the mini-excavator boasts a retractable thumb.

"It's like a clamp on your bucket so you can pick up trees, cement," Kuhns said. "This actual one is the first one to come out with the extendable arm. That will add another two to three feet of digging capacity."

The new excavator will benefit the city in other ways, Kuhns said.

"The water department also digs all the graves for the cemetery, which is getting pretty tight, to where getting the backhoe between the rows, especially in the older areas is a little tougher without moving stones," he said. "This will be able to drive between them."

Council member Wendall Gaston provided an update on the Highway 30/Illinois Street resurfacing project, which resumed Wednesday.

"The contractor is hoping to have everything ready to go from the railroad crossing east by the end of today (Tuesday)," Gaston said. "They plan on continuing leveling course back through town tomorrow (Wednesday)."

Simon Contractors lost two days when its paver broke down.

"That was still under warranty, so they had to take it all the way to Denver to have it worked on and it's now back," he said.

Efforts are being doubled to get back on track, Gaston said.

"To help catch up, the contractor is planning on running two pavers simultaneously to cut the time down to four or five days," he said. "Weather permitting they plan to work every day except Sundays. Every day they can possible work on it with good weather they're planning on doing it."