City Council Discuss Swimming Pool Boiler

The O'Neill City Council met on Monday evening with all members present except Councilman Tim Gleason.

The council, after approving the minutes of the previous meeting, moved on to the discussion of the boiler at the swimming pool. 

"The boiler is now running", said City Clerk Sarah Sidak. "We have a company out of Sioux City come in and do maintenance on the boiler." 

The State of Nebraska is supposed to do routine inspections on the boiler, but according to the state, they are undermanned and are unable to get to it for a while. The state instructed the City to proceed with running it. The last inspection was done in 2022. Heating costs for the gas alone on the pool run about $5,000 per summer. The boiler did not run last year because maintenance wasn't able to be completed on it early in the summer. By the time the maintenance was done, it was late summer, and the water was warm enough to avoid using it.

The next agenda item was the consideration of the $850,000 general obligation Highway Allocation Fund. This is regarding the fiscal shortfall of the street department and the subsequent shortfall to the general fund due to the funding of 2019 flood damage, for which FEMA promised money that they later approved and then denied. 

The City has used money from the general fund to help with the project and now needs to finance an additional $1.7 million. To alleviate the debt, the City requested that Scott Keene of Piper Sandler advise and assist with bond funding.

The City has used money from the general fund to help with the project and now needs to finance an additional $1.7 million. 

The financing would be covered by a gas tax that the City receives annually. The tax remains relatively the same year to year, with slight fluctuations. This year's revenues are $562,000. The tax is already funding a bond from the paving project from 2021 on Hynes Street.

The City is using about 65-75 percent of the funding available from the amount of gas tax being generated, so the city is still sitting pretty well on their  funding options. The council still has the option to levy taxes to meet the payment obligations on the bonds.

The council moved on to addressing some housekeeping items, including a change to the liquor license at the I Don't Care Bar and Cafe from a liquor license to a liquor with catering license. As well as approving a street closure on Hancock from Hwy. 281 to Second Street and a noise waiver for the Summerfest Concert on Saturday, July 19. The council approved four new members for the fire department and ambulance. Two requests for the use of LB840 money were approved, with one for demolition for $10,750.00 and the other for the acquisition of equipment for $50,000.

The council approved the bills before adjourning for the night.

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