FRIEND CITY COUNCIL MINUTES-REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 4, 2025 Mayor Knoke called the regular meeting of the City Council to order at 7:00 p.m. Councilmembers were present: Kristen Milton, David Sladek, Phyllis Schwab & Jeremy Collier. 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 room. Motions were made, seconded and passed unanimously for the following: to approve the minutes from the January 7, 2025 Regular meeting and the January 28, 2025 Special Meeting to approve the January Treasurer report to approve the claims and payroll, except payment to Nebraska Sign. to deny payment of Paul Johansen’s bill -to approve hiring Steve Osmon as Police Chief pending reactivation test on February 18th. Because he must be hired before testing, he will start at a rate of $15/hour, without getting hours, and upon passing his wage will increase to a salary of $55,000/year to approve Mayor’s recommendations for appointments to boards & committees to approve proclamation for March as Problem Gambling Awareness Month to pay same amount as last year ($20.00) to Arbor Day Foundation as membership dues to approve payment of $450.00 to Rico’s Mexican Restaurant for catering City Appreciation Dinner to table discussion of Employee benefits & Vacation Days until later in the meeting to postpone discussion of Notification Proposals; TextMyGov and UpAhead until have had more time to review to post ad for Pool Manager & Assistant Manager for 2 weeks beginning March 1st, and then running ad for lifeguards to approve payment to Burton Asphalt of $9712.00 for paving already finished, and remaining $3788.00 upon completion -to adjourn at 8:40pm No Hospital Financial report. The claims approved were as follows: January Payroll, 21213.86; Ameritas, 2398.53; EFTPS, 6368.43; NE Dept of Rev SWH, 1117.22; Architectural Design Assoc, se 17895.00; Aqua-Chem Inc., su 6165.86; Baker & Taylor Books, su 108.47; Barco Municipal Products, su 1587.97; Beatrice Concrete Co., Inc., se 894.66; Birds & Blooms, su 11.00; ; Black Hills Energy, se 3255.06; Blue Cross Blue Shield, fe 3059.25; Blue360 Media, LLC, su 296.08; Bound Tree Medical LLC, su 178.74; CLIA Laboratory Program, se 248.00; Center Point Large Print, su 191.76; City of Friend, se 370.00; Jacob & Johnathan Clouse, fe 1700.00; Community Redevelopment Authority, fe 14167.99; Country Compost LLC, fe 4000.00; Crete veterinary Clinic, se 154.00; Culligan Water Service, se 179.75; Depository Trust Corp. fe 5715.00; Drake Refrigeration, se 263.18; Eakes Office Solutions, su 343.53; Farmer’s Union Cooperative Co., su 360.40; Food Network magazine, su 19.97; Friend Country Club, se 1275.00; Gale, su 292.38; Generations Insurance Group, se 45.00; HGTV Magazine & Food Network Magazine, su 19.97; Holiday Inn of Kearney, fe 124.95; Hometown Leasing, fe 191.22; IIMC, fe 235.00; MMC Consulting, se 2775.00; MacQueen Equipment, su 195.91; Mastiff Systems, se 397.50; Matt Friend Truck Equipment, su 129.00; Chris Michl, se 436.80; Midwest Laboratories Inc, se 697.69; Midwest Living Magazine, su 7.00; Mutual of Omaha, fe 220.26; NE Public Health Environmental Lab, fe 55.00; ; NE Rural Water Assoc, fe 445.00; NEMSA, fe 520.00 NE Dept. of Environment and Energy, su 280.00; Norris Public Power District, fe 8836.00; Diane Odoski, re 150.44; One Billing Solutions, LLC, se 48.00; One Call Concepts, Inc. se 4.92; ; Postmaster, se 283.36; Principal Mutual Life Ins. Co., fe 47.88; Qwik 6, su 1494.19; Reader’s Digest, su 13.92; Reminisce Books, su 42.78; Rico’s Mexican Restaurant, su 450.00; Sargent Drilling, se 1687.00; Schindler Elevator Corporation, se 198.12; Seward County Independent, fe 497.24; Southeast Nebraska Development Dist., fe 6446.82;Stutzman Digging & Excavating LLC, se 8276.00; Time Magazine, su 15.00; Taste of the South, su 49.98; US Cellular, se 507.80; USA Blue Book, su 225.56; Verizon Wireless, se 213.32; Visa, su 2913.18; Waste Connections of Nebraska, se 6433.91; Total Claims Approved: 139.141.81 Jared Chaffin gave Friend Healthcare Systems report. No Action. Building Inspector – No report. Stanley Krause gave Fire Department report. No Action. Rescue Squad- No report Police report- given by Saline County Sheriff’s office Billy Baugh Public Works Supervisor gave his report. Discussion about employee paid time off and benefits. 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 — March 05, 2025 ZNEZ
