North Side Park Project Discussed at City Council Meeting

SIDNEY--The Sidney City council held its regular meeting on April 9, and recognized Arbor Day and National Library Week and addressed other items on their agenda. After approving the minutes from the last council meeting, Parks Superintendent Tom VonSeggern read the "Tree City USA" and Arbor Day Proclamations. He stated that the City of Sidney will hold their annual Tree Giveaway on April 20 at the Legion Park Shelter House. Usually the event is held at the Lodgepole Valley Youth Camp, but had to be moved this year due to a scheduling conflict. VonSeggern expects 80-90 trees to be given away. The trees are free, and all that is required is for those who want trees to listen to a presentation and how to properly plant the tree by Nebraska Game and Parks workers. This year, Arbor Day falls on the last Friday of April.

Sidney Library Director Amanda Eastin was up next, and explained that April 7-13 was National Library Week. Mayor Brad Sherman read the declaration of National Library Week, and urged all citizens to visit the library during the month of April. Marva Ellwanger was also appointed to the Library Board by unanimous vote.

City Manager David Scott next came up and discussed a parks amenities project for North Side Park. Scott said that in 2022, initial discussions were held about a beautification/amenities project for the park as one of the initiatives to be funded by the voter-approved additional sales tax measure. Scott said that although the discussions were general up to this time, all of the strategic planners and council members agreed that North Side Park was in need of this type of a project. He said that Nebraska Game & Parks is offering a 600k matching grant for parks projects, and that they really favor areas in western Nebraska for these grants. There are some stipulations, like having handicap access and some type of educational aspect and certain facility requirements, but the requirements were in line with what the planners had been proposing. Scott said that a small amount of money would need to be approved for some type of design to be submitted with the application. Not a full-fledged architectural/engineering design layout, but something basic which would give the Games & Parks people something to see and help in their grant decision. The grant would be awarded in January of 2025, with a projected start date for the project being in Spring of 2026 if the grant is approved. Scott asked for approval from the council to contract a designer and move forward with the application process, which the council approved unanimously.

Scott also spoke about attending the Developer Expo in Lincoln this year, and bringing additional people. Last year, two people from the City of Sidney attended, and Scott believes the city would get more out of the event if it brought four this year. The Expo would give a chance for developers to see the benefits of building in Sidney.

The meeting wrapped up with Mayor Sherman polling the Department Heads about any issues or commentary they had. Finance Director Kegan Carwin said that a maximum of 12 people had watched the meeting on the live YouTube feed. There was much praise for the city workers who braved the high winds and challenging weather conditions over the past weekend to restore downed power lines and keep the city working during the recent storm that brought snow and high winds into the area.