Village of Brainard Board of Trustees
- Joel Vrbka, Chairman of the Board
- Jeff Karber, Board of Trustee
- Randy Robeson, Board of Trustee
- Tom Pesek, Board of Trustee
- Steve Hummel, Board of Trustee
The Village Board of Trustees meet on the third Monday of every month at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall located at 111 East Washington Street Brainard, NE. If you have a specific topic item you would like the Village of Brainard Board of Trustees to discuss, submit a Request for Future Agenda Items.
Village of Brainard Staff
Mitchell Janak, Utilities Superintendent, 402-803-9218
Carla Sander, Village Treasurer, 402-545-2701
Yolanda Bailey, Village Clerk, 402-545-2701
The Village of Brainard
Board of Trustees Board Meeting Minutes
March 17, 2025
The Board of Trustees of the Village of Brainard held a regular meeting on March 17, 2025 at 7:00 P.M. at City Hall. The meeting notice and agenda were posted at three public places: City Hall, the Community Bulletin Board, and the Brainard Post Office. The agenda is kept current at the City Clerk’s Office and available for public inspection. This method is designated by the public body.
Chair Vrbka called the meeting to order.
Roll Call: present: Joel Vrbka, Steve Hummel, Jeff Karber, Tom Pesek, and Randy Robeson.
Staff Present: Treasurer Sander, Clerk Bailey, and Maintenance Supervisor Janak
Guests included: Brian Foral, Elaine Fortik, Tom Bliss, Rachelle Pernicek, Norman Bruner
Public Comments:.
Business:
- 4. Business:
- a. Consider building permit for 107 S Madison St.
- Motion made by Trustee Robeson to approve the building permit for 107 S Washington St., seconded by Trustee Pesek.
Voting aye: Robeson, Pesek, Karber, and Vrbka.
Abstains: Hummel
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- b. Discuss SENDD membership and benefits with Tom Bliss.
- Mr. Bliss begins discussion by asking the Board what kinds of projects they are interested in doing that the Southeast Nebraska Developmental District organization can help with. He gives an overview of the services they oversee. The Board is interested mostly in doing something with our sidewalk situation at this time. Mr. Bliss goes over the categories of services SENDD can provide; Housing and Contracting, Economic Development, Emergency & Disaster Relief, and Community Development. The first step to any project will be a community survey. Discussion on the survey needed and how SENDD will help with this on multiple levels if we are a member.
- Motion made by Trustee Robeson to become a member of SENDD (Southeast Nebraska Development District), for $387.00, seconded by Trustee Hummel.
Voting aye: Karber, Robeson, Hummel, Pesek, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- c. Approve draft of Audit.
- Discussion on the findings of the Audit, and there were no surprises or unexpected findings.
- Motion made by Trustee Vrbka to approve the draft of the Audit, seconded by Trustee Pesek.
Voting aye: Vrbka, Pesek, Robeson, Karber, and Hummel.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- d. Approve Ordinance #322: changes to Personnel Manual.
- Discussion of the changes to the Personnel Manual regarding classification of full-time vs. part-time appointed employees and associated benefits.
- Motion made by Trustee Robeson to introduce and read Ordinance #322, changing the Personnel Manual, seconded by Trustee Pesek.
Voting aye: Robeson, Pesek, Karber, Hummel, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- Motion made by Trustee Hummel to accept the reading and waive the 2nd and 3rd readings of Ordinance #322, seconded by Trustee Karber.
Voting aye: Robeson, Pesek, Karber, Hummel, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- Motion made by Trustee Karber to Adopt Ordinance #322, seconded by Trustee Robeson.
Voting aye: Robeson, Pesek, Karber, Hummel, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- e. Discuss Road-Painting procedures and consider hiring outside company.
- Trustee Vrbka is wondering if we should hire a company to do the street striping, or continue to do it ourselves. Discussion surrounds the fact that it seems the paint fades quickly, and if we got professionals to do it – maybe it would last longer. Especially regarding the new lines that will be needed in front of East Butler school, this might be the time to try a service. Buying better quality paint might make a difference. For this year it was decided to try to buy better paint, and observe if this makes a difference.
- f. Review and consider approval of draft copy of Village Audit.
- (Oops, Duplicate agenda item!)
- g. Consider agreement with Sargent Drilling to perform well and pump performance tests.
- Sargent Drilling performs annual performance tests for wells and pumps. This item is to consider if we want them to do this service for us. The test checks the pump’s RPM, shut-off pressure, gpm pumping pressure, KWA/h, total dynamic head, input horsepower, voltage balance, amperage balance and overall pump efficiency. The test also records the well’s static water level, drawdown, pumping level and specific capacity. This maintenance agreement includes an oil change for the electric motor, packing replacement and impeller adjustment. The cost per pump is $450.00, and there are three wells, for a total of $1,350.00
- Motion made by Trustee Pesek to enter in an agreement with Sargent Drilling to perform well and pump performance tests for the Village of Brainard, NE., seconded by Trustee Hummel.
Voting aye: Robeson, Pesek, Karber, Hummel, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- h. Consider Building permit for new home in Foral’s Addition.
- Motion made by Trustee Karber to approve the building permit for new home in Foral’s Addition, seconded by Trustee Hummel.
Voting aye: Karber, Hummel, Robeson, Pesek, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- 5. Approve minutes from February meeting.
- Motion made by Trustee Robeson to approve the minutes with corrections, seconded by Trustee Vrbka.
Voting aye: Robeson, Vrbka, Pesek, Karber, and Hummel.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
6. Consider March claims.
- Motion made by Trustee Vrbka to pay March claims minus Spark Electric, seconded by Trustee Pesek..
Voting aye: Vrbka, Pesek, Robeson, Karber, and Hummel.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- Motion made by Trustee Robeson to pay Spark Electric, seconded by Trustee Vrbka.
Voting aye: Robeson, Vrbka, Pesek, and Karber.
Abstain: Hummel
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
7. Committee Reports.
Electric, Sewer, Water: Trustee Vrbka reports that he talked to Dane Simonsen from JEO, he said the USDA are working on an offer for the Village water main replacements, he thinks he has them convinced to kick in some grant money, but is not sure how much yet.
Parks, Pool, Trees: There are six applicants for lifeguards currently. It was discussed that we could use a few more, and the Trustees will ask the applicants to recruit some of their friends when they interview them.
Supervisor Janak would like the Trustees to ask the new hires to clean out the pool on a Saturday in the end of April. Mitch will have a trailer and buckets there for them to use to clean out the leaves and dirt. He plans to fill the pool around the 10th of May.
Discussion on other repairs needed at the pool, and it was discussed that the slide could use some work as well as the concrete deck. Mitch will have the water softener installed in the middle of April. Discussion on cleaning the pool without peeling off the new paint. Discussion on shining up the chrome around the pool.
Trustee Pesek reports the two Island Maintenance employees from last year, Kate Janak and Courtney Tejral, are interested in doing the job again this year.
Discussion on trees, regarding watering – it was discussed whether or not it would be worth it to get a watering tank, and it was decided the new trees could be watered by the bucket once a week by the summer help.
8. Employee Reports.
Clerk Report: Yolanda Bailey
We have been considering switching the Village email to a GMAIL account, and we are going to do that this next month. We will have both accounts for some time. I will inform you when the new account is set up so you can add it then.
The dumpsters will be here for Spring Clean-Up days, from April 11, to April 21st. I will be posting flyers around town and on Facebook. Note: do not post on Facebook.
We received a letter from Don Raskey, who was responding to our letter asking him to clean up the concrete at the dump. His letter is in your packets. He apologized for the misunderstanding, and enclosed a check for $500. The Village will need to clean-up the concrete. Note: Mitch contacted Scott Foral to remove it.
We had been getting ready to complete the paperwork for grant money for a new siren with NEMA, but the progress on that is stalled now. I asked the person at NEMA a couple of weeks ago whether there was a point to spending time on this if the funds were frozen, and he has not responded yet.
If we are determined to get a new siren, I would suggest getting an updated bid, as the one we have is a couple of years old. Similarly, if we want to install a generator at the Fire Hall, it is probably prudent to get a bid for it soon and consider looking for private grants–or funding it ourselves–instead of waiting for Federal grant money.
Discussion follows on purchasing a generator for the Fire Hall to use it as a shelter, and the possibility of sharing a generator between the well and the Fire Hall. It was decided you could not have a three-phase generator work for both places at once.
Treasurer Report: Carla Sander
1. A February profit and loss report has been provided. Positive projections in all classes, except fire.
2. The bank account balance report is provided in the Board packets. An increase of $42,506.56 in bank deposits since February is reported.
3. A February employee pay report is provided in the Board reports. A decrease of $1,153.04 since January.
4. Collection Report- 21 overdue utility bills, 4 more than in February. Shut offs went out 3/17/25, shut offs will be due on 3/27/25, therefore, Shut offs will take place on 3/28/25. There is 2 past due accounts where utilities are off and no reconnection fees paid.
5. a. A donation pool report was provided from January 01 2024-March 10 2025.
b. We received a $5,000 grant from the Nebraska Community Foundation.
6. A NPPD charge comparison is in your packets. Red = a higher charge in 2023 and Green = a lower charge in 2024. Generally cost’s for power went down last year 2024 from the previous year 2023. Three months in the negative and nine months in the positive.
Maintenance Report: Mitch Janak
The water tower was last inspected in 2020, and needs to be inspected this year. Discussion on getting bids for the inspection – Mitch will call a couple of companies and report back. Some of the paint on the leg is coming off, and needs to be touched up.
Mitch reports they did find the water line from the school. (Thanks to a map from Brian Foral from the 80’s.)
Mitch has been trimming trees from the wind lately.
Mitch has supplied an annual nitrate test result for the Board. The results were good, and show no problem with nitrates in our water.
Mitch attended a water conference to get his education hours completed.
There is a tree by 220 W Hamilton St. which has a crack and probably needs to come down. There is also a tree at 316 S Lincoln St. brought one to Mitch’s attention and we might need BPPD for this one.
504 S Lincoln resident has a maple with a limb hanging over the house. It was decided the Tree Board (Bill Perk, Kevin Behne, Greg Havlovic) should go around and make a new list of trees to be removed.
9. Petitions, Communications, Correspondence.
Follow up from the school board special meeting by Trustee Vrbka: Discussion on what we need to advertise for JEO for the bids on the school drainage project. Bid opening will be April 15th at the school at 10:00 am. On the Parking Resolution, the only change would be to cross out “visitor” and just leave it “parking”. Handicapped parking will be to the South and not the North. We will wait on changing this Resolution until the project is finished.
10. Additional Business/Items for next meeting.
Trustee Hummel reports they are getting a router for the Fire Hall, and it should work, but one thing they would like to have is a wireless mobile hot-spot for the Ambulance. This is due to EMT training that will happen twice a month for 10 months, and they need better service. The Fire Hall is trying to use wireless from City Hall across the street, and it’s not working. There is a device you can buy for $80, which is associated with a $10 monthly fee.
- Motion made by Trustee Vrbka to add a Mobile Hot Spot for the Ambulance for $80 plus $10 monthly to the Village’s Verizon account, seconded by Trustee Karber.
Voting aye: Vrbka, Karber, Robeson, Hummel, and Pesek..
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
11. Adjournment.
- Motion made by Trustee Robeson to adjourn at 9:35 pm, seconded by Trustee Pesek.
Voting aye: Robeson, Pesek, Karber, Hummel, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried