Going up

HARTINGTON – Increases in two city services were approved by the Hartington City Council Monday night.

The Council voted to raise rates for garbage collection and for the Har tington Ambulance Service.

The increases are needed because of rising expenses.

Mayor Mark Becker said collecting garbage is just getting more expensive as the cost for dropping garbage at the landfill in Jackson and local wag es and insurance premiums have all gone up.

The city is also purchasing a new garbage truck and will soon have to replace the semi truck that hauls trash from the recycling center to the landfill.

New monthly garbage collection fees will be $19 per month per residential can and $4 for every extra bag collected. The monthly fee for a two-yard commercial dumpster with one-day-a-week service will be $55 per month.

Council members also discussed the possibility of purchasing a used semi truck from Peitz GMC to replace the truck at the recycling center. They agreed to hold off for a while to see whether they would be able to get a grant to help with the purchase.

Dirk Dailey, with the Hartington Ambulance Service, told Council members rates have not been raised for several years.

A comparison of other area ambulance services shows Hartington is charging a lot less than other Cedar County ambulance services and all of the ambulance services in Knox County.

Dailey said the Hartington Ambulance Service has not been charging for supplies used during calls, either, but they also would like to begin adding in that charge.

“Right now, we’re just leaving money on the table,” he said.

The ambulance service is currently charging $550 per call, plus $16 per mile. The new rate will be $800 per call, plus $16 per mile.

Dailey also told the Council the ambulance service planned to switch bill collection services.

The current bill collection service is just not adequate and is “really not getting the job done,” Dailey said.

The Council also held a second reading of an ordinance to annex property on the southwest edge of town.

The annexation includes Highway 84 out to the western edge of Pomp’s Tire Service, and the property adjoining the north side of the highway. This will include the new business park, Pomp’s and Cedar County Transit. None of the property on the south side of Highway 84 is being annexed, however.

The Council also adopted an ordinance allowing the city to publish ordinances on its website.

Cedar County News publishers Rob Dump and Peggy Year addressed the Council, urging them to continue publishing the ordinances in the newspaper, as well.

“We’re wondering what your rationale for passing this ordinance is,” Dump asked Council members. “If it’s economics, I would note, you spend more money on grass seed and fertilizer than you do on informing your constituents with public notices.”

Dump then asked whether the reason for passing the ordinance was to make the information more accessible to city residents.

“As far as getting your information in front of more eyeballs goes, this ordinance would do the exact opposite if you were to only publish it on your website,” he said. “By leaving it in the newspaper, you give newspaper readers a chance to see your ordinances, and also build a permanent archive of your public notices on the Nebraska Press Association Public Notices website, so people can look back at the ordinances you’ve published.”

Dump noted the Nebraska Press Association website — www. NePublicNotices.com — is the state repository for public notices.

“It’s fully searchable and very user-friendly,” he said.

Dump cautioned, though, that if the city ordinances were only published on the city website, they would not be available in the statewide database.

“If it’s not in the paper, it doesn’t go on that website,” he said. “By going on the Nebraska Press Association website, you have a permanent record that you can look back on years from now, of all ordinances you pass.”

Dump’s other concern with publishing ordinances only on a government website is that it removes checks and balances from the process since a third-party watchdog would not be involved.