by Mari Radtke
Isaac Cruz with Cruz Electric of Larrabee presented Council with his assessment of the lighting in Sutherland buildings and facilities. The baseball field does not qualify. The lights are used less than 1000 hours in a year. Costs for different City buildings were given to council members; fire station, maintenance building, library, park. Each facility has its own price estimate. The MidAmerican rebate for this “Small Business Express Program” is 50%. The bids are all-inclusive, parts and labor. Upgrading to LED lighting is said to save considerable energy use, reducing the electric bills. The payback period is set at 2-3 years. Council just received the bids on Monday evening. Further action was tabled until council members could study the bids and consider benefits.
Residential lot development in Sutherland’s northeast area, the Williams’ property, got attention Monday, September 9. In August questions about moving the overhead power lines and crossing the ditch were asked. The first lot buyer is ready to get started and needs answers. MidAmerican doesn’t see a need to move the power lines. The cost to bury the lines is estimated from $50-$60,000. Council indicated no interest in moving the lines. Installation of a culvert across the ditch for driveway access would bear a cost of $5-7,000 per driveway. No decisions were made about who would pay that cost. Consideration to just filling the ditch was also left on the table for consideration. The southern-most lot owner, Austin Brown, is ready to start building, asked if his lot is a corner lot. A street is platted next to his lot. Setback for where a structure is built on a lot are affected by being a corner lot or not. Council took the position that is an Economic Development decision.
The goal posts from the football field were donated to and accepted by South O’Brien. The City is covering the cost of removal and delivery.
A discussion of county development dollars to Sutherland shared that the dollars can be used for paying a neighboring community for responding to calls. There was discussion about a single incident that prompted Sutherland to be the latest community to get charged by a neighbor responding to a call.
The police report, included information about accessing Army surplus for supplies and other software for use with the city and the low cost. Chief Brent noted that there is 1 officer currently certified as an EMT and that others have expressed interest in becoming certified. Mayor Kay Gifford updated council on the happenings with Paullina about police coverage. Since the resignation of Adam McQueen from the Sutherland Police Department, the 28E with Paullina has been inactive. She set up a meeting and assured the Sutherland Council that she did, in fact, reach out to Paullina about staffing but got no response. She also reported that the Calumet Council was expected to consider joining in the Sutherland Law Enforcement staffing.
The Snowtracker route request for Sutherland was approved.
October 7, 2024 was confirmed as the Budget Amendment date. The bid date for Industrial Park farm ground was also set for October 7, 2024.