OSMOND — The Osmond City Council met in the conference room on Monday, Feb. 9, and, among other things, granted requests by Chrome N Smoke and the Osmond post-prom committee.
Chrome N Smoke
In previous years, Chrome and Smoke used an area near the ball park to set up the eye-catching trucks and place the stage for a band to play music. Kris Schramm explained the show will be happening the same weekend as the alumni celebration, which in return could possibly double the number of people present at the show.
The committee asked if they are able to use the baseball outfield to place the stage, then more trucks can enter the show, more parking will be available, and campers can be placed if participants and their families want to stay. In 2025, campers were parked north of the softball field and were powered by generators.
Weather permitting, Plan B was also approved, allowing them to use a few of the side streets for overflow parking if needed, to close State Street from the alley by Lind-Gubbels to 4th Street, and to use certain side streets for overflow with the exception that they work with the businesses along State Street to prevent loss of business.
Council approved all that was asked and will give Chrome N Smoke full support for the 2026 show.
Post-Prom Request Also in attendance was Andrea Gardner for Osmond’s post prom committee. The committee is asking for a donation from the city KENO fund to help provide the 9-12 grade classes with a more magical night, she said.
Gardner stated she is unsure what dollar amount is needed to fund the after-prom activities, but the three fundraisers the committee planned didn’t pull the usual funds to pay the expenses for post prom.
The plan is to take the approximate 54 students and their dates to King’s Lanes in Norfolk, to bowl and play the arcade games. With the unusual request to use the funds, Treasurer Brittney Timmerman did reach out to the city's auditor to confirm KENO funds could be used in this situation.
It was determined that KENO funds could be used since the youth would be involved. After some discussion, Council approved granting the postprom committee $500 from KENO funds.
Public Works Grant to be Sought Treasurer Timmerman has been in contact with Sandra Goode, community planner with Northeast Nebraska Economic Development District (NENEDD), from the Jan. 12 survey results meeting about Public Works grants.
After the asphalt bid opening from January came in much higher than expected, Timmerman asked Goode about possible street grants. Goode mentioned there was a Public Works grant that the city could apply for, a maximum of $600,000 with a 20% match. Council decided that, if the help and money is available, the city should apply. Treasurer Timmerman will contact Goode with the needed information.
6th Street Residents Invited An update on the 6th Street project was provided by Treasurer Timmerman and Councilman Doug Schmit.
During the first week of February, a letter stating council is considering having the existing asphalt removed and replaced with concrete street was mailed to the residents needing to take action on 6th Street. The letter included an invite to the March 9th meeting to discuss the project and payment if the project moves forward.
W-S-G Billing Date Change Recently, the post office has changed the collection time for mail from 2:45 p.m. to 9:45 a.m. With that change, water, sewer, and garbage billing would be difficult to prepare and mail before 9:45 a.m.
The current billing period is the 26th of the previous month through the 25th of the current month, with roughly 10 days to pay. Since the mailing window is smaller, Clerk Brittney Timmerman and training Deputy Clerk Adriona Buchanan ask that the billing due date change from the 10th of every month to the 11th every month to give residents time to receive water, sewer and garbage billing in the mail.
Council decided changing the due date from the 10th to the 11th would be appropriate. Clerk Timmerman will prepare the billing ordinance for March 9th council meeting.
Eakes Suggests VoID System An Eakes Office Solutions repre - sentative stopped at the city office to discuss equipment updates and recommend their VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone system instead of the Fastwyre landlines the office uses now. Recently, the city office has expe -rienced some technical issues where people cannot hear Clerk Timmerman speaking or the line is staticky. Currently, Fastwyre is unable to allow porting, which allows the city to take its current number and transfer it to another phone company.
With VoIP systems, the city office would be able to transfer their calls as needed, an example being from the city office to the maintenance shop.
Council decided Fastwyre needs to be contacted before the city office could move forward with VoIP systems.
Claims Clarified
Treasurer Timmerman reported on January’s claims total in the amount of $75,601.00. Timmerman wanted to clarify that the $52.97 for QuickBooks employee pricing wasn’t included on the list of claims, but was included in the claims amount in the paper.
QuickBooks also included taxes on the invoice for employee pricing, but the city isn’t charged taxes, so Quick-Books will be sending a refund check making the final price for QuickBooks employee pricing $49.50. This change makes January’s claims total actually $75,498.53.
Councilman Schmit asked about the check made out for $4,000.00 to The Road Guy Construction Company for 16 tons of hot mix. Treasurer Timmerman stated that was the quarterly fake claims test made to ensure council members are checking what is spent, and the check was not actually cut.
Other Agenda Items
With summer around the corner, rerunning the lifeguard ad was questioned. Currently, two applications have been returned to the City Office, but 8-9 are out to be returned. Since applicants have till March 9th to apply and pass lifeguarding classes, Councilman Wattier thinks a rerunning of the lifeguard ad can wait, if it’ll even be needed at all.
A cemetery ad was created to be placed in the Osmond Republican. Treasurer Timmerman worked with Dennis Collins, city attorney, to reclaim more than 600 plots during the last year. Council thought the ad was an eye opener, to the point, and with a few changes would be perfect for the paper.
Updates on vacant properties discussed. A property on Logan Street showed improvements, but more work is still needing to be done. Another property a tenant moved out of was brought up for discussion, but the property’s owner has plans, so council would like to see the outcome of those plans before discussing matters further. A State Street property is still on the schedule for demolishing.
Mayor Dennis Kuhl reported $2,149.00 was received from ACE Public Alliance for the Community Energy revenue return program for Fiscal Year 2025-2026; $2,196.27 received from Black Hills Energy for the 2025 franchise fee; $39,964.24 received from Northeast Power, the lease payment ($29,121.02) and operations fee ($10,843.22) for the fourth quarter of 2025; $4,662.25 received from Fastwyre for the 2025 franchise fee.
The official Fiscal Year 2024-2025 audit from city auditors AMGL was received the morning of Feb. 9, and a copy was given to each council member. No significant findings were reported. All council members and Mayor Kuhl thanked Treasurer Timmerman for her time spent looking over information with the auditors.
Police Chief Tyler Wells presented a short report on recent activity within the city, including two unlicensed vehicle updates, two case updates, a dangerous dog letter, a dog welfare call, two unruly juveniles, one domestic 911 call, three HHS intakes, two HHS updates, and one assist for Pierce County Sheriff on a motorist assist, to name a few.
In other business, the council: — after reviewing the January 2026 reconciliations and bank statements, didn’t have any questions or concerns.
— heard Mayor Kuhl state city sales tax for November 2025 was $21,417.75 (of that amount $2,243.57 is from motor vehicle tax).
— heard correspondence read by Mayor Kuhl, including an appreciation letter from Rick and Bette Gardner thanking council for the floral ar rangement in memory of Del Gardner.
— after a short discussion, adopted Ordinance 2026-2, Installation of New Septic System; the full ordinance is printed on Page 4 of this issue.
— approved Main Street Alley’s special designated liquor license application for New Frontier’s customer appreciation at the city auditorium on March 17.
— approved a building permit for Hoppe Motors, a commercial building to be built at 203 East Highway 20 in the southeast corner of the lot.
