FRIEND CITY COUNCIL MINUTES-REGULAR MEETING February 3, 2026 Mayor Judith Knoke called the regular meeting of the City Council to order at 7:00 p.m. Councilmembers present: Kristen Milton, David Sladek, Phyllis Schwab and Jeremy Collier. A quorum being present, the meeting was duly convened. Mayor Knoke led the meeting in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. As required by the Nebraska Open Meetings Act, Mayor Knoke announced that a copy of the Nebraska Open Meetings Act has been posted on the south door of the City Hall meeting. Motions were made, seconded, and passed unanimously for the following: -to approve the minutes from January 6, 2026 Regular meeting -to approve the January Treasurer report -to approve January claims and payroll -to approve Hospital Financial report -to approve Isabel Cheesman of Bruning Law as Deputy City Attorney -to approve postponing other appointments until March meeting -to approve Rick Kubicek’s property replotting based on Planning & Zoning’s recommendation -to approve City contributing $4000.00 toward Independence Day fireworks show -to postpone vote on 34 Electric’s bid to replace lights at Ball Field and have Norris PPD supply and set the poles until March meeting -to postpone vote on raises for Public Works crew until March meeting -to postpone vote on purchasing pickleball nets until March meeting -to approve trash service rate increase of 3% per the contract with Waste Connections -to postpone vote on outsourcing payroll and possible other account function and other solutions for office staff shortage until March meeting -to approve changing that all preceding votes be to postpone “until next meeting” instead of “until March meeting” -to approve $200.00/calendar year stipend for work clothing/boots for City staff, including shirts/jackets with City logo to be reimbursed -to approve sending Public Works Supervisor Trent Roesler to water conference in March -to adjourn meeting at 9:18 pm The claims approved were as follows: January Payroll, 11795.99; Ameritas, 1655.88; EFTPS, 2888.84; NE Dept of Rev SWH, 479.12; Architectural Design Assoc., fe 1943.00; Allen Bruntz, se 1618.38; Black Hills Energy, fe 2614.92; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska, fe 4608.23; Bruning Law Group, fe 840.00; Cengage Group, su 197.92; Center Point Large Print, su 98.28; Jacob & Johnathan Clouse, fe 850.00; Community Redevelopment Authority, re 610.15; Country Compost LLC, se 2000.00; Culligan Water Service, se 150.00; Eakes Office Solutions, su 610.89; Guardian Life, fe 269.53; Hampton Commercial Construction, fe 237043.37; Hometown Leasing, fe 98.60; Lee Enterprises, fe 2097.00; MMC Consulting, se 4832.75; Mastiff Systems, se 210.00; Midwest Laboratories Inc, se 442.62; Miller & Associates, fe 11625.00; NE Dept. of Revenue ST, fe 1145.87; NE Public Health Environmental Lab, se 30.00; NE Statewide EMS Conference, fe 1100.00; NEMSA, fe 260.00; Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center, fe 800.00; Norris Public Power District, fe 8116.00; Diane Odoski, re 184.49; One Billing Solutions, LLC, se 212.00; One Call Concepts, Inc., se 18.86; Police Chiefs Assn. of Nebr., fe 120.00; Postmaster, se/su 305.00; Principal Mutual Life Ins. Co., se 114.75; Qwik 6, su 500.58; Reminisce, su 42.98; Saline County Clerk, fe 159.00; Sargent Drilling, se 29049.59; Schindler Elevator Corporation, se 206.49; Sudrla Water Service, se 3500.00; TIME, su 20.16; TextMyGov, se 2000.00; US Cellular, se 255.97; Visa, su 3144.54; Waste Connections, se 6174.75; White Electric Supply Co., se 1235.03; Windstream, se 542.79. Total Claims Approved: 348819.32 Doug Yancy from Sargent Drill and Chris Miller from Miller & Associates led discussion about drilling new well. No action taken. Father Kenneth Borowiak led discussion about his requests. No action taken. Discussion about baseball field use and maintenance. No action taken. Discussion about utility deposits. Council confirmed that all property owners are required to make utility deposit or face disconnection. No action taken. Trent Roesler gave Public Works Report. No action taken. Jared Chaffin gave Hospital report. No action taken. Mark Stutzman gave Building Inspector report. No action taken. Stanley Krause gave Fire Department Report. No action taken. Ray Rohrig gave Rescue Squad Report. No action taken. Kristen Milton gave Police Report. No action taken. Kristen Milton gave Pool Report. No action taken. Heather Varney gave Clerk Report. Diane Odoski gave Library Report. No action taken. Judith K. Knoke, Mayor ATTEST Heather L. Varney, Deputy City Clerk A complete copy of the minutes is available for review upon request at City Hall during regular office hours. FS — February 25, 2026 ZNEZ
