OSMOND — The Osmond City Council held its annual reorganization meeting on Monday, Dec. 8. The list of city appointments for 2026 will be printed in the city minutes at a future date.
New Deputy Clerk Hired
Mayor Dennis Kuhl informed the council that he had requested Clerk/ Treasurer Brittney Timmerman to conduct the interviews for the vacant deputy clerk position. Since running the help wanted advertisement, there had only been three applicants and only one returned a call for an interview.
Timmerman stated she had completed the interview process with Adriona Buchanan the end of November and felt confident in offering her a position based on her past job experiences, as well as reference checks. She suggested the council hire Buchanan to start on Monday, Dec. 15, with a starting wage of $19.00 per hour due to past work experience. After some questions from council, the council approved hiring Adriona Buchanan.
Flood Reduction Plan Discussed
With one month to think about the information from last month's flood reduction project update from the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resource District (LENRD), some council members discussed conversations they have had with residents and don’t feel encouraged to keep moving forward using local tax payer dollars.
After discussing different options, the council approved a motion to continue into the design phase using Osmond’s remaining grant funds until those are all expended. Clerk Timmerman asked council if there is a future agenda to schedule again discussing different flood reduction options to help prevent some flooding issues in town. Council agreed to put it on the March agenda.
Other Agenda Items
After receiving a call from a Laser- fische representative, Clerk Timmer man decided to discuss the issue with council again this month because of a price increase happening after the first of the year. Timmerman once again provided the quotes from the company and, after some discussion, the council approved a motion to accept their services and chose price option one, digital essentials package for $1,788.00 annually.
Looking ahead to spring of 2026 projects, the 6th Street from Main Street to Meadow Street repairs were brought up again, before the planned discussion that is on the February agenda. Maintenance workers Caleb Eckstrom and Bert Wattier started putting together estimates for replacing that section of 6th Street with concrete instead of asphalt. After some discussion about the cost to the property owners, Councilman Doug Schmit agreed to talk to the abutting owners to see if they are still interested in having the street replaced next spring.
An update will be provided at the Jan.
12 meeting.
Updates on a few vacant properties along State Street were provided.
While one building is on the schedule to be demolished by end of winter, the discussion about the second property, the old city office, came to a standstill when council decided to postpone any work on the building until a later date because of the possible cost of upcom- ing street projects for this fiscal year.
With a busier bulk water season this year, the bulk water rate and setup fee were discussed and compared to a few other municipalities’ rates.
Council members approved a motion to increase the set-up fee from $50 to $250, increase the per thousandgallon charge from $2.50 to $5 and require companies to sign a meter and backflow preventer damage waiver.
Treasurer Timmerman reported on a mistake she made for last month’s motor vehicle transfer and informed council that all the documents to correct it were included in the claims to be approved this month. She also asked council if KENO funds are still going to be used to cover half the cost of CITY COUNCIL HIRES BUCHANAN AS CITY CLERK the new mower or if they want to do another transfer as well to cover the other portion. After some discussion, it was decided to only do half the cost transfer from KENO.
Correspondence received included thank you notes from the Osmond Community School trick or treaters and Norfolk Implement for the purchase of the new mower, and a letter providing an update for the water tower roof, for which council discussed switching back to white to prevent another fading issue to the colored top.
Clerk Timmerman reminded council members that, if their terms are up this next year, the incumbent filing deadline is Feb. 17, 2026, at 5 p.m.
and the non-incumbent filing deadline is March 2, 2026, at 5 p.m., both of which have to pay filing fees to the city office before filing at the county clerk's office.
Police Chief Tyler Wells presented a report on a busy month’s recent activity within the city, including one property welfare check, one report of harassment, one extra patrol request, one report of erratic driver, questions on a dog ordinance and five DHHS
intakes, to name a few. Wells informed council that the agency is officially accredited through the Nebraska Commission on law enforcement and criminal justice.
In other business, the council: — heard that the truck show committee requested to be postponed till the Jan. 12 meeting.
— approved and adopted Ordinance 2025-2, Alcoholic Beverages: Hours of Sale, which will terminate at noon on Jan. 1, 2027.
— approved removing, for free, all natural (no artificial) Christmas trees without any ornaments from curbs until Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026.
— approved Christmas remembrances of $50 in Osmond Dollars for regular and office employees and $25 in Osmond Dollars for part time employees/volunteers.
— set the city council meeting dates for 2026 as follows: Jan. 12, Feb. 9, March 9, April 13, May 11, June 8,
July 13, Aug. 10, Sept. 14, Oct. 12, Nov. 9 and Dec. 14.
— reviewed both November and December reconciliations and bank statements with no questions.
— heard Mayor Kuhl state city sales tax for September 2025 was $17,761.56 (of that amount $3,634.24 is from motor vehicle tax).
