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Beatrice council adopts recodified city code, approves grant extensions and park improvements in unanimous votes
Summary
The Beatrice City Council unanimously approved a city code recodification and a slate of resolutions and ordinances including a downtown CDBG contract extension, a LWCF grant administration agreement for new pickleball courts, and vacation/platting of Jamestown Square lots. The council also heard a presentation on a county tourism app.
The Beatrice City Council on March 2026 adopted a recodified municipal code and approved a package of routine and substantive items in unanimous votes.
Mayor Robert Morgan read a proclamation naming March 2026 Problem Gambling Awareness Month; council then moved through the consent agenda and passed routine measures including a treasurer's report showing claims of $589,160.93, Boswell reported claims of $20,289.14, and BPW reported claims of $1,591,474.29.
City staff described the code recodification project as an 18-month review that removed redundant references to state law, updated gendered language, and reorganized numbering. "Nothing substantively," the Staff member said of the changes, "we removed anything that had to do with state statute" to avoid conflicts and make the book consistent; the recodified code (about 556 pages in the final draft) was adopted by a unanimous vote.
Council also approved several resolutions and ordinances by voice votes (all 8–0): it set a public hearing for a proposed annexation near the industrial park (Resolution 7734); asked the Nebraska Department of Economic Development for a one-year contract extension for the downtown revitalization CDBG project (Resolution 7735) to allow more time to complete eight awarded projects with roughly $400,000 in grant funds; executed a union-contract amendment with IBEW Local 1536 to create separate qualified and nonqualified comp-time banks (Resolution 7736); and authorized the city to retain the Southeast Nebraska Development District (SEND) to administer a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant for pickleball courts at Chautauqua Park (Resolution 7737), with a SEND administration amount shown as $10,000 in the agreement.
On planning matters, the council approved an ordinance vacating Lots 9 through 15 of Jamestown Square to allow Christ Community Church to replat and adjust property lines after long-standing encroachments, and then approved the first-edition Jamestown Square plat; planning and zoning had recommended approval. Staff members said the church expects to give some additional ground back to adjacent properties (roughly 10–20 feet) as part of the replatting.
The meeting included a public forum comment from Ari Wilkin, who said the city charges $50 for limb loads from rental properties and urged more equitable pricing for property owners cleaning up rental units.
The council adjourned at 7:12 p.m.; all listed motions and ordinances passed by unanimous votes.
