Council Hears ‘Gift’ Definition

SIDNEY – A report on the definition of the word “gift” used in the city council’s code of conduct and an update on sales tax legislation were two of 10 agenda items for Sidney’s City Council at its regular Tuesday night meeting. City Attorney Jordan Ball provided multiple definitions for the word “gift” in response to a concern of Mayor David Weiderspon, discussed at the previous council meeting in February.

After researching various sources, including Internet and book dictionaries, Ball provided council a hybrid definition of gift, which stated it was a “a present, offering or transfer to an official of anything of value, made gratuitously, without valuable consideration or compensation and without obligation of agreement or contract and, for which value, service or good is not received in return.”

Ball said the code of conduct, for which the research was conducted, was based upon the state’s accountability statue. Another subsection of the code calls for city officials to uphold the accountability act as well as other state and federal laws, he said.

“This is important that I tell you, subsection two of the code of conduct says … we will abide by provisions of law,” Ball said. “So it basically incorporates those statutes that are mentioned in subsection two as requirements under the code of conduct.”

Mayor Weiderspon thanked Ball for his research, and opened the floor to further discussion, to which there was none.

“I think you made it perfectly clear,” Weiderspon said.

No further action was taken on the agenda item.

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In other business, City Manager Gary Person, who was absent from the previous council meeting in order to attend a three-hour public hearing in Lincoln on a sales tax issue, updated council members on what took place during his visit to the Capitol.

“I think the fact that we’ve been at this for two years trying to provide some legislation and then meeting with them individually [state senators on the revenue committee] prior to the hearing and trying to educate them on the fact, they truly wanted to understand what the issues were and how it impacts communities in a negative way on the back side of this,” Person said.

The issue at hand for the hearing was District 47 Sen. Ken Schilz’s legislative bill 967 that seeks to create a fund municipalities could pull from to cover state refunds on local option sales tax, should more than 10 percent of a given year’s sales tax be refunded.

A funding mechanism in the bill turned a previously unanimous League of Municipalities support into an issue of concern, Person said. He added that compromise has been the result of talks at the hearing.

Other communities now coming forward with similar problems help catch the attention of senators on the committee, Person said, and the state tax commissioner’s appearance at the hearing helped further educate those in attendance on the 22-year cycle the state’s incentive program creates with businesses.

The tax commissioner, Doug Ewald, also confirmed that municipalities do not know how much refunds will be until 30 days before they are taken, which makes local government budgeting a difficult task, Person and other city administrators say.

Schilz was unable to attend the public hearing on the bill as he attended the hearing on possible wind energy legislation. Person said landmark legislation that would enhance Nebraska’s stance on power could be the result of those hearings.

“I think we will see some landmark legislation come out of legislature this year that will put Nebraska in the wind energy game,” he said. “They’re tweaking it right now, and I think it will be the best of all worlds; we could keep public power, we could keep low-cost energy in Nebraska, yet we could accommodate developers.”

Prior to adjournment, council also:

•    Approved claims for Convert-A-Ball, Endurance Flag and Sidney Farm Supply, businesses owned by councilman Bob VanVleet, who declared his ownership of the businesses prior to the vote. The motion to approve passed with a 4-0 vote. VanVleet abstained.

•    Approved claims for Filsinger Excavating with a 4-0 vote. Owner, and councilman, Marvin Filsinger abstained.

•    Approved claims for Hillsides Ventures with a 4-0 vote. Filsinger again abstained.

•    Approved claims for White Bluffs with a  4-0 vote. Mayor Weiderspon, owner of the veterinarian hospital, abstained from voting.

•    Approved all other claims unanimously.

•    Removed item 4 – reappointment of Jim Jones to the Library Board – from the agenda.