City appoints electrical superintendent as MEAN director; Josh Hanson named alternate

The City of Sydney council appointed Electrical Superintendent Tom Athal to serve as the city's director on the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska board and designated Josh Hanson as the alternate.
Athal told the council MEAN is the city’s wholesale power supplier and that participation on its board gives the community a voice in power-supply and rate decisions. He said MEAN represents roughly 50 municipalities across multiple states and that each town typically sends a representative.
“I'm trying to think — the last meeting was when they decided to vote for an increase in rates,” Athal said. “We were the only town that voted no out of all 50 of them.”
Athal said he has attended past MEAN meetings with the outgoing representative, Mike Palmer, and that if appointed he would report key updates back to council. The appointment was made by resolution (20250904) and approved by council vote.