City moves ahead with solar farm

The Imperial City Council  approved contracting with Sandhills Solar, a private energy firm based in Omaha, at its Monday meeting.
The Sandhills Solar project is forecasted to build a solar farm for the primary purpose of increasing electricity production. The location of the solar farm would be on the grassy area east of the city transfer station, according to public works director Pat Davison. In addition to the land, cost to the city would be to purchase and hookup a transformer.
The agreement between the city and Sandhills Solar would initially be for twenty-five years. Sandhills Solar would have an option to continue of up to ten additional years.
Currently there are roughly two dozen communities throughout Nebraska looking into solar farms that could power thousands of homes with the financial objective of lowering electrical costs.
OK pay increase for lifeguards
The council unanimously approved a weekend wage differential increase of $2.50 per hour for lifeguards.
This is in response to the difficulty the city had been experiencing obtaining qualified people to work weekends. The primary role of city lifeguards is to provide a safe swimming environment for the community.
Lifeguards currently earn  $9 to $12.50 per hour. With the approved wage differential, lifeguards will earn up to $15 per hour.
Code book update
The council also approved an update to the city code book. Overnight camping is officially prohibited in all city parks. The council waived a second and third reading and implemented the ban immediately.
The ban did leave the possibility of allowing approved overnight camping for special events such as Bike across Nebraska. Requests for overnight events would need to be submitted to the city administrator or mayor for special approval.
Nuisance resolution
Nine city properties were identified as nuisances with a handful of previously identified nuisance properties declared rescinded.
Amber Kuskie, executive director with West Central Nebraska Development District presented property slides via Zoom describing the specifics for each of the nine properties declared a nuisance. The city contracts with WCNDD to identify nuisance properties within city limits.
Initially, a property owner receives a courtesy letter outlining issues to be resolved within thirty days. Subsequently, a second letter via certified mail is issued. After another thirty days, WCNDD notifies the property owner if their property issues have or haven’t been resolved and notifies the city of such information.
Kuskie said that before a property is finally declared a nuisance WCNDD makes every good faith effort to work with property owners to find a solution.