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
February 18, 2025
The Board of Trustees of the Village of Brainard held a regular meeting on February 18, 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, Valerie Vandenberg, Tasha Eldridge, and Mark Sander
Public Comments: Valerie Vandenberg reports on the fundraising effort for the Pool Renovation. The balance is close to $20,000. Water’s Edge met with Valerie and Mitchell at the pool recently, and the company will put together a plan based on that visit. They will bring the plan to the pool committee, and then meet with the Village Board in April to consider the bid. Trustee Vrbka reports Olssen’s Pool would also like to submit a bid.
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Business:
- 4. Business:
- a. Consider building Permit for 105 E Washington St.
- Discussion on the new addition to the Husker Bar III.
- Motion made by Trustee Robeson to approve the building permit for 105 E. Washington St., seconded by Trustee Pesek.
Voting aye: Robeson, Pesek, Karber, Hummel, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- b. Consider closing Washington St. – in front of Husker Bar III – from 8am 07/12/25 – 8 pm 07/13/25.
- Motion made by Trustee Vrbka to approve closing Washington St. – in front of Husker Bar III – from 8am 07/12/25 – 8 pm 07/13/25,seconded by Trustee Hummel.
Voting aye: Robeson, Hummel, Karber, Pesek, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- c. Discuss adding Illegal Dumping Fee to Resolution 2025-01.
- Discussion on the dumping fee being considered for the City Dump. Trustee Vrbka reports he is going to be ordering a new sign for the dump soon, and it would be good to have a fee decided on before the sign gets ordered. There is only supposed to be yard waste and trees put into the dump; no construction lumber, household trash, or concrete is allowed. The Board reserves some discretion on whether or not to give the offending residents a chance to rectify before administering a fine for them.
Motion made by Trustee Robeson to add a $500 fee for Illegal Dumping to Resolution 2025-01, seconded by Trustee Karber.
Voting aye: Robeson, Karber, Hummel, Pesek, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- d. Consider a donation for Rising City Fire Dept. for use of the ambulance.
- Discussion on the fact that we have been using Rising City’s ambulance for about 3 weeks now, while ours is getting repaired, and the Trustee’s would like to give them a donation for the use.
Motion made by Trustee Karber to donate $250 to Rising City for the use of their ambulance, seconded by Trustee Hummel.
Voting aye: Karber, Hummel, Robeson, Pesek, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- e. Approve Wage Ordinance #321.
- This is an Ordinance to clean-up the wage ordinance that was passed when the Utilities Superintendent was not yet appointed, and was classified as “interim”.
Motion made by Trustee Karber to introduce Ordinance #321, seconded by Trustee Robeson.
Voting aye; Karber, Robeson, Hummel, Pesek, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
Motion made by Trustee Robeson to accept the 1st reading and waive the 2nd and 3rd readings of Ordinance #321, seconded by Trustee Hummel.
Voting aye: Robeson, Hummel, Karber, Pesek, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
Motion made by Trustee Vrbka to adopt Ordinance #321 seconded by Trustee Hummel.
Voting aye: Vrbka, Hummel, Robeson, Karber, and Pesek.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- f. Consider Sid Dillon bid for Village vehicle.
- Supervisor Janak got a bid for a new Village truck from Sid Dillon. They have a state contract, so the Village does not need to get 3 bids for this purchase. He found a 2025, 3/4 ton Chevy Silverado for $42,630. There are some extras listed as well, including a utility body, which would bring the cost up by approximately $12,000. It was decided the truck would need to be outfitted with emergency lights as well, which could add up to $1,500.
Motion made by Trustee Robeson to buy the 2025 Chevrolet Silverado from Sid Dillon, cost to be capped at $55,860 plus an emergency light kit (up to $1,500), seconded by Trustee Hummel.
Voting aye: Robeson, Hummel, Karber, Pesek, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- g. Consider replacing drainage grate at 503 W Adams.
- This grate gets clogged easily because the holes are too small to let debris through, causing runoff damage.
Motion made by Trustee Vrbka to contact Josh Hlavac to replace the grate at 503 W Adams with one that has larger holes, seconded by Trustee Pesek.
Voting aye: Vrbka, Pesek, Robeson, Karber, and Hummel.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
- h. Discuss sidewalk grant opportunities.
- Discussion on looking into possible grants to fix/repair sidewalks in town. The Village of Bellwood got a CDBG grant to repair their sidewalks. Discussion on the membership fee for the group SENDD, who did complete the grant for Bellwood. It was decided to contact the Southeast Nebraska Economic Development group and see if they can visit with the Board about this, and also ask the clerk email and League of Municipality for input.
- i. Consider DRAFT copy of Village audit.
- This item is tabled until next month.
- 5. Approve minutes from January meeting.
Motion made by Trustee Vrbka to approve the January minutes with changes, seconded by Trustee Robeson.
Voting aye: Vrbka, Robeson, Karber, Hummel, and Pesek.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
6. Consider February claims.
Motion made by Trustee Robeson to approve the February claims, minus Spark Electric, seconded by Trustee Karber.
Voting aye: Robeson, Karber, Hummel, Pesek, and Vrbka.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
Motion made by Trustee Vrbka to approve Spark Electric February claim, seconded by Trustee Pesek.
Voting aye: Vrbka, Pesek, Robeson, and Karber.
Trustee Hummel abstains
Voting nay: none
The motion carried
7. Committee Reports.
Electric, sewer, water: Utility Superintendent Janak talked to Art Pelan about the school sewer situation, and he explained there is a pipe within a pipe there. This explains the issues when they were jetting the main under there. As it is right now, Wright Way goes to the school monthly to jet it out, but there are still problems there. Discussion on putting risers on the manholes through town, to bring them up to street grade.
Trustee Vrbka reports that Eli Green from JEO contacted him last week, and they are designing the school drainage project and are wanting to know where the curb stop for the school is, and what the depth of the water main is. Vrbka and Janak worked on finding it, but could not. Rural Water is coming out to help locate this and get a rough estimate of the depth. There might be a problem with the depth of the water main and the school project, where the main might have to be dug up. This could possibly add $10,000 to the project.
Pool, Parks, Trees: Discussion on planting trees. There is an Oak on the east side of the school that needs to be replanted/transplanted. Pesek will contact the tree committee and see if there are spaces for 10 new trees this year. Superintendent Janak is requesting a water tank setup to be able to water the new trees. Right now there is no way of doing this. A 100 gallon tank would work. Discussion on whether the old one is still around to be purchased or borrowed from M. Bruner.
Discussion on hiring two more students for Island Maintenance this year. The school should be contacted to see if there are students who are interested. Clerk Bailey will work on updating the Island binder with pictures.
8. Employee Reports.
Clerk Report: Yolanda Bailey
Lifeguards-wanted ads went out three weeks ago, and we have received four applications; two returning employees, and two potential new ones.
I completed the annual Sewer Adjustment on the utilities – we averaged two months’ usage to arrive at the new rates for the year.
The Planning Commission meeting is tomorrow night – here at City Hall. There is a copy of the minutes from their November meeting in the packets.
There are two items to replace in your big Ordinance Book, one for Fireworks, and one for Utilities. Please replace the old ordinances.
February Treasurer Report: Carla Sander
1. A fiscal year profit and loss report has been provided. Positive projections in all classes.
2. The bank account balance report is provided in the Board packets. Please note, the new CD created for $200,000 at FNB.
3. A January employee pay report is provided in the Board reports.
4. Collection Report- 21 overdue utility bills, 5 more than in January. Shut offs will go out on the 19th & will be due on Feb 28.
5. A pool donation report since 10.1.24-2.16.25 has been provided.
Utility Report: Mitch Janak
There is a report of a tree with a crack that Mitch will check out. This might be a site for a tree removal and replacement. Mitch has heard from Wyatt Jelinek that he wants to work for the Village again this year. He did a great job last year, so we will contact him by email with an application. Mitchell reports he went to a water class this month. There was an issue with the Skid Loader cameras, the shims on the boom needed pivot pins, and they came out and fixed it.
9. Petitions, Communications, Correspondence.
10. Additional Business/Items for next meeting.
Discuss sidewalks
Approve Audit draft
11. Adjournment.
Motion made by Trustee Robeson to adjourn at 8:38 pm, seconded by Trustee Pesek.
Voting aye: Robeson, Pesek, Vrbka, Karber, and Hummel.
Voting nay: none
The motion carried