With a relatively tight agenda, the Fremont City Council meeting ended just before 8 p.m. on Nov. 12 with the passage of a number of ordinances and resolutions, mostly unanimously.
The City Council approved Ordinance 5699, which allows the deployment of small wireless cell sites on utility poles, streetlights and in city rights-of-way.
Small wireless facilities, also called “small cells,” are low-power cellular access nodes that include antennas, fiber optics, power, and equipment cabinets that have limited range compared to traditional cell towers but are specifically used to increase network capacity in areas, that is it in the personnel report.
By adopting the ordinance, the city is complying with Nebraska Legislative Bill 184, passed in 2019, which states that the deployment of small wireless facilities is a matter of statewide interest and public policy.
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The ordinance is modeled after similar laws in Omaha, Papillion and La Vista.
Ward 2 Councilmember Blair Horner took a moment to address concerns raised at the previous council meeting about the security of this wireless equipment.
“I started thinking about it and researched as much as I could just by looking, and I found some relatively solid scientific studies and things like that on the subject that say that these small wireless devices in particular emit so little radiation that they don't “There is no, if any, impact on humans or other organisms in the environment,” Horner said.
The City Council also approved Resolution 2024-261, which allows the city to begin contract negotiations with Kansas City-based Burns & McDonnell Engineering to develop an airport layout plan. If a contract is reached, it will be presented to the city council for approval.
City Engineer Troy Schaben said the city's 2024-25 budget allocated $440,000 for the ALP and the selection of a consulting firm was based on qualifications, not cost, in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.
“Burns & McDonnell was considered to have the best and most comprehensive offering,” Schaben said.
Two other firms – Kirkham Michael and Coffman Associates – also submitted proposals.
The City Council also voted to approve Resolution 2024-267 authorizing the purchase of a multi-year subscription to a city vehicle GPS tracking system from Teletrac Navman.
“We wanted to have GPS on some of our vehicles so that in the event of a storm or an emergency, we could look at the computers and see where the closest vehicle was to be able to respond to the incident,” Utility Manager Jeff Shanahan said.
The subscription covers approximately 220 city vehicles, with different types of tracking software available depending on the vehicle's intended use.
“Some vehicles would have cameras and GPS, some would just be tracked for maintenance purposes, some would just have GPS and things like that,” Shanahan said. “Teletrac offered the most cost-effective monthly and annual fees.”
Police and fire vehicles are not counted among the 220 vehicles because they already have cameras and GPS through a different system. However, those vehicles are entered into the city's database to track maintenance such as oil changes, Shanahan said.
In other news from the council meeting, the council also approved Ordinance 5700, which amends a portion of the city code to allow the council to waive minimum lot size requirements to allow for the subdivision of one lot into two lots to accommodate the To enable construction of two attached single-family homes through a conditional use permit.
The vote for this ordinance was 7-1 in favor, with Ward 1 Councilman Paul von Behren the only one voting “no.”
Von Behren requested that the ordinance be put on hold until the Planning Department completes the city's updated Uniform Development Code in order to “have a more precise definition of the possible exceptions.”
Planning Director Jennifer Dam said she expects a draft of the updated UDC to be ready before Thanksgiving, presented to the Planning Commission in January and to the City Council in February.
The amended ordinance only affects properties created before January 1, 1971.
Council also voted, as part of its consent agenda, to postpone the scheduled Tuesday, Dec. 31 meeting to Monday, Dec. 30.
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 26th at the Keene Memorial Library. The meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. and the public comment period begins at 6:30 p.m
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