By Allison Peck
Listen to the full interview with Kevin Wilkins on our Kubota Podcast
The Ogallala City Council covered a range of topics during Monday night’s meeting, including updates on healthcare services, housing development progress and upcoming improvements at the Ogallala Municipal Airport.
Ogallala City Manager Kevin Wilkins said the meeting moved quickly thanks to efficient discussions among council members.
“We got a pretty good council. They’re pretty efficient,” Wilkins said.
Representatives from Banner Health opened the meeting with a presentation highlighting the hospital’s impact in the community.
Wilkins said one notable detail was the hospital system’s long history in Ogallala.
“I didn’t realize they’d been in Ogallala for 40 years,” he said.
Banner Health employs 146 people locally with a payroll of about $17.4 million, and about 90 percent of employees live in the community. Wilkins also noted the hospital is recognized as an age-friendly health system and is one of only two critical access hospitals in Nebraska accredited by The Joint Commission.
The hospital also plays an important role in regional maternity care.
“Only hospital within a 50 mile radius that provides OB labor and delivery,” Wilkins said.
Banner Health averages about 63 deliveries each year. Wilkins said the hospital’s care model also helps maintain continuity for families.
“The doctors here are also your family practitioners,” he said. “So there’s a continuum of healthcare that goes from all the way through.”
Council members also heard a progress update on the 77-unit housing development under construction near the Bumgarner area.
Project manager Justin Hernandez reported the project continues moving forward despite earlier delays.
“He acknowledged it’s been a slow project,” Wilkins said.
Construction crews are expected to finish exterior work soon and begin landscaping at the site. While Hernandez avoided committing to a firm timeline, Wilkins said leasing could begin sometime later this year.
“He’s looking second quarter lease,” Wilkins said.
The council also addressed a potential conflict-of-interest issue involving equipment rentals from A&B Rental, a business owned by council member Austin Dupriere.
Wilkins said the city formally acknowledged the potential conflict and approved an open contract while still maintaining the city’s purchasing policies.
“What we’ve done is we’ve entered into an open contract with A&B,” Wilkins said. “So like if we need to go rent a aerator or go rent a skid steer, we can do that without being encumbered by any conflict of interest.”
When claims involving the business appear on council agendas, Dupriere will abstain from voting.
The council also corrected an earlier mistake in the city’s ambulance fee schedule after the wrong section of a document was adopted during a previous meeting.
“We made a mistake,” Wilkins said. “We went on the last fee schedule, so we needed to revisit this item.”
Another significant step forward involved improvements planned for the Ogallala Municipal Airport. Council members accepted engineering documents for rehabilitation work on the airport’s longest runway.
Wilkins said the runway has developed issues with expansion joints breaking apart.
“That’s a 5,200 foot runway that was breaking up in the expansion joints and causing debris,” he said.
He added that debris on a runway can create serious problems for aircraft.
“You don’t want debris in your propeller,” Wilkins said.
The runway project has been under discussion since early 2023. With the engineering plans now accepted, the project will move forward to the bidding stage once final concurrence is received from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Wilkins said the city hopes to have the project out for bid by next month.
The council also approved a lot split and replat requested by Kent Stelling and Caleb Johnson.
Wilkins said city officials are also evaluating next steps after receiving no responses to a request for proposals seeking a fixed-base operator for the airport.
“Plan A was to do a request for a proposal, get a fixed base operator,” Wilkins said. “Plan B was to reach out and see if we could do some individual negotiations.”
With little interest so far, the city is now exploring additional options.
“Plan C is what I’m trying to contemplate right now,” Wilkins said.