City of Tekamah PO Box 143 April 9, 2026 The regular meeting of the Mayor and the City Council of Tekamah, NE was held at 6:00 p.m. on April 9, 2026, and convened in open and public session at the Tekamah City Auditorium. Present were Mayor Jane Walford, Council members Steve Cass, Kelly Adamson and Matt Cass. Council member Colin Wright was absent. City Attorney Matt Munderloh and City Clerk Karolyn McElroy were also present. A quorum was established. Notice of the meeting was given in advance method of the City Council. Availability of the agenda was communicated in advance to the Mayor and Council. All proceedings hereafter shown were taken while the meeting was open to the public. Adamson moved to approve the consent agenda, Steve Cass seconded the motion. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright. The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. Department reports were given by Chief Goeken from the Police Department and from Jarrod McElroy, Water/Wastewater Superintendent. Public comments were heard regarding the City Police department from two citizens during the Public Comment section of the meeting. OLD BUSINESS: A. Steve Cass moved to approve renewal of the Cloud-Hosted SCADA software service agreement with HOA Solutions, Inc. for 2026 presented by Water/Wastewater Superintendent McElroy, Matt Cass seconded. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright. The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. NEW BUSINESS: A. Brittany Koenig, the city’s account manager with NPPD gave an Annual Retail Update for Tekamah with a one-page Energy Report handout. NPPD leases Tekamah’s equipment. B. Steve Cass moved to approve a quote presented by Water/Wastewater Superintendent McElroy of $4,220.00 from Electric Pump for an alarm dialer for the Kohler lift station. Matt Cass seconded the motion. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright. The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. C. Matt Cass moved to approve City Attorney Munderloh draft a Resolution to install a “No Parking” sign of the east side of the road across from 910 16th Street as presented by Street Supervisor Levi Warren. Adamson seconded. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright. The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. D. Adamson moved to table the purchase of lights for the swimming pool until a bid can be obtained for Allison Electric to install the lights. Matt Cass seconded. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright. The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. E. Adamson moved to approve a bid of $3,119.96 from Audio Video Specialist to upgrade the sound system at the swimming pool, Steve Cass seconded. Roll call is YEAS: Mayor Walford, Wright, Steve Cass, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Matt Cass, Adamson. The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. F. Matt Cass moved to approve a quote of $6,525.00 from OMNI Engineering for 30 tons of cold mix presented by Street Supervisor Levi Warren, Adamson seconded. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright. The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. G. Matt Cass moved to approve a quote of $3,600.00 from McCluskey Tree Service to remove three trees by the old tennis court, presented by Street Supervisor Levi Warren, Adamson seconded. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright. The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. H. Adamson moved to table a fencing quote of $20,069.64 from K & K Fence for the new pickleball court fence, Matt Cass moved to second.. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright. The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. I. Matt Cass moved to approve George Hill attending the NE Floodplain Conference in Lincoln April 22-23, 2026. Tuition is at no cost, two nights lodging, mileage and meals will be needed. Steve Cass seconded. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright, The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. J. Adamson moved to table a decision on training for Police Chief Goeken at the FBI/LEEDA Police Conference held in Lavista in May 2026. After some discussion Adamson’s motion died for a lack of a second. Matt Cass then made a motion to approve the training for Goeken, that motion also died for lack of a second. Adamson then made a motion to table the decision, Matt Cass seconded. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright, The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. K. Matt Cass moved to table a decision on a hiring bonus for future Police Employees. Police Chief Goeken said a bonus could be a good recruiting tool. Street Supervisor Warren asked if such a bonus could be offered to other city departments as well. Adamson seconded the motion. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright, The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. L. Matt Cass moved to table a decision on hiring a potential Police Officer James Harrington. Chief Goeken introduced Harrington as a certified Officer from Indiana with prior military experience and feels he would be a good fit for Tekamah. Harrington addressed the Council reviewing some of this background and referred to his application and resume for specifics. Council member Steve Cass asked Harrington about the hiring bonus, Harrington said he isn’t worried about a bonus. Goeken reported on the reciprocity process for an out of state officer to complete Nebraska’s Police certification. Currently an answer would need to be sought to the question, if Harrington would need to be hired to be able to complete Nebraska’s reciprocity process, or can that be done without employment in NE? Steve Cass seconded. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright, The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. M. Mayor Walford asked if this agenda item could be heard in Executive Session and City Attorney Matt Munderloh said no. Munderloh asked to hear from Council Member Adamson since she sponsored this item of drafting a Resolution of no confidence in the Mayor, then in between the motion and second he has some things to say. Paraphrasing Adamson; we have the ability as council, we have brought concerns and citizens have concerns about the actions, lack of actions and overreactions of the City’s Police force. There has been controversary and it is our right to say they have lost confidence in the Mayor, saying that the Mayor isn’t in town much. Adamson feels when there is an incident and she has pictures, recordings, dates and times and she brings it up the incident is not being addressed and thought it would be a good thing to show concerned citizens that we have lost confidence in the leadership. Attorney Munderloh asked Adamson if she wanted him to prepare this Resolution? Adamson answered mostly it’s a discussion of where we are and a tool, but it doesn’t change the Mayor’s leadership or role, it shows they have lost some confidence in the leadership of the town. Council Member Matt Cass said when this discussion point came up, he was not opposed to it. Paraphrasing Attorney Munderloh: he shared a list of duties as Tekamah’s City Attorney such as, drafting contracts, Ordinances, and Resolutions, assisting with Zoning, subdivisions, and the LB 840 program, attending Planning Committee and Council meetings, representing the City in civil litigation and being the City’s legal advisor. One thing he has not done in approximately his 23 years of representing cities is to draft Resolutions that he feels aren’t in the best interest of the City over all and he doesn’t intend to start doing so tonight. So, make the motion, second and vote on it then he will need to think about whether the Resolution is something the legal advisor as a whole for the City should be doing or not. He will review and decide if in his professional opinion it’s within his duties we will receive a Resolution. If he decides it’s not within his duties we will not receive a Resolution and we will go from there. Matt Cass then in fairness to the absent Council Member he moves to table this item, Adamson seconded the motion. Roll call is as follows: YEAS: All, NAYS: None, ABSTAIN: None, ABSENT: Wright. The result being a majority YEAS, it is declared the motion carried. Council meeting was adjourned at 6:59 p.m. Claims 4/9/2026 Vendor Amt. Amazon Capital Services books 813.95 Ameritas pension 1,815.89 Black Hills service 3,282.54 Bomgaars main,supplies 992.60 Braniff Service fuel 1,586.24 Brummond Disposal service 80.00 Burt Co Sheriff teletype 48.00 Century Link service 238.75 Demco supplies 29.14 Devin Jansen supplies 16.40 Enterprise Media service 134.02 First National Bank Omaha suppl,maint,PO 2,920.38 Great Plains Uniforms uniform 1,506.43 Heartland Nat'l Gas utilities 836.78 Jray's Repair repair 301.89 Karolyn McElroy ins. 634.32 Layne rehab Well #2 103,826.00 Lester Gerch ins. 754.93 Levi Warren ins. 754.93 Lincoln Winwater parts 4,633.10 Logan East Rural Water utilities 51.77 Mackin Educ. Resources books 157.21 MCH & Health Systems service 62.00 Menards maint 722.03 Michelle Roach ins. 754.93 Nathan Lund ins. 838.19 NE Public Power District maint 2,041.67 Novus service 1995.55 NPPD utilities 1629.43 One Call service 22.45 Petty cash supplies 55.83 Ryan Murphy ins. 754.93 Sandy Schueler overpay on bill 500.00 Shamburg Auto Supply maint 500.90 Tekamah Airport support 2,176.84 Verizon service 1,179.68 WCB HSA 314.65 FES service 725.00 Heartland Nat'l Gas utilities 362.80 NPPD utilities 4,436.45 Payroll PPE 3/6/26 29,902.87 ZNEZ BCI 04/30/26
