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§ 32.03 BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT.
   (A)   If the City Council adopts zoning or other regulations pursuant to Neb. RS 19-901 et seq., except as provided in division (B) below, the City Council shall provide for the appointment of a Board of Adjustment. Any actions taken by the Board of Adjustment shall not exceed the powers granted by division (F) below.
(Neb. RS 19-907)
   (B)   If the county has adopted a comprehensive development plan, as defined by Neb. RS 23-114.02, and is enforcing zoning regulations based upon such a plan, the zoning board of adjustment of the county shall, upon request of the City Council, serve as the Zoning Board of Adjustment for the city. If the city is located in more than one county, it shall be served by request or otherwise only by the County Zoning Board of Adjustment in which the greatest area of the city is located, and the jurisdiction of such County Zoning Board of Adjustment shall include all portions of the city and its extraterritorial control, regardless of county lines.
(Neb. RS 19-912.01)
    (C)   (1)   The Board of Adjustment shall consist of five regular members, plus one additional member designated as an alternate who shall attend and serve only when one of the regular members is unable to attend for any reason, each to be appointed for a term of three years and removable for cause by the appointing authority upon written charges and after public hearings. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term of any member whose term becomes vacant. One member only of the Board of Adjustment shall be appointed from the membership of the Planning Commission, and the loss of membership on the Planning Commission by such member shall also result in his or her immediate loss of membership on the Board of Adjustment and the appointment of another Planning Commissioner to the Board of Adjustment. The first vacancy occurring on the Board of Adjustment shall be filled by the appointment of a person who resides in the extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction of the city at such time as more than 200 persons reside within such area if the Board does not already include such a person. Thereafter, at all times, at least one member of the Board of Adjustment shall reside outside of the corporate boundaries of the city but within its extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction.
      (2)   The Board of Adjustment shall adopt rules in accordance with the provisions of any ordinance adopted pursuant to Neb. RS 19-901 to 19-914. Meetings of the Board of Adjustment shall be held at the call of the chairperson and at such other times as the Board may determine. Such chairperson, or in his or her absence the acting chairperson, may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses. All meetings of the Board shall be open to the public. The Board shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member upon each question, or, if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall keep records of its examinations and other official actions, all of which shall be immediately filed in the office of the Board of Adjustment and shall be a public record.
(Neb. RS 19-908)
   (D)   A number of members equal to a majority of the number of regular members appointed to the Board of Adjustment shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business. All members of an appointed Board of Adjustment shall serve without compensation and shall hold no other city office except for the member of the Planning Commission appointed to serve on the Board of Adjustment. No member of the Board of Adjustment shall serve in the capacity of both chairperson and secretary of the Board. The secretary shall keep the full and correct minutes and records of all meetings and file them with the City Clerk where they shall be available for public inspection during office hours.
   (E)   Appeals to the Board of Adjustment may be taken by any person aggrieved or by any officer, department, board or bureau of the city affected by any decision of the administrative officer. Such appeal shall be taken within a reasonable time, as provided by the rules of the Board of Adjustment, by filing with the officer from whom the appeal is taken and with the Board of Adjustment a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof. The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall forthwith transmit to the Board of Adjustment all the papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken. An appeal stays all proceedings in furtherance of the action appealed from, unless the officer from whom the appeal is taken certifies to the Board of Adjustment, after the notice of appeal shall have been filed with him or her, that by reason of facts stated in the certificate a stay would, in his or her opinion, cause imminent peril to life or property. In such case, proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order which may be granted by the Board of Adjustment or by a court of record on application on notice to the officer from whom the appeal is taken and on due cause shown. The Board of Adjustment shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of the appeal, give public notice thereof, as well as due notice to the parties in interest, and decide the same within a reasonable time. Upon the hearing, any party may appear in person or by agent or by attorney.
(Neb. RS 19-909)
   (F)   (1)   The Board of Adjustment shall, subject to such appropriate conditions and safeguards as may be established by the City Council, have only the following powers:
         (a)   To hear and decide appeals when it is alleged there is error in any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by an administrative official or agency based on or made in the enforcement of any zoning regulation or any regulation relating to the location or soundness of structures, except that the authority to hear and decide appeals shall not apply to decisions made by the City Council or Planning Commission regarding a conditional use or special exception under Neb. RS 19-929(3);
         (b)   To hear and decide, in accordance with the provisions of any zoning regulation or requests for interpretation of any map; and
         (c)   When by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness, or shape of a specific piece of property at the time of the enactment of the zoning regulations, or by reason of exceptional topographic conditions or other extraordinary and exceptional situation or condition of such piece of property, the strict application of any enacted regulation under Neb. RS 19-901 and 19-903 to 19-904.01 and divisions (C) and (F) above would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties to or exceptional and undue hardships upon the owner of such property, to authorize, upon an appeal relating to the property, a variance from such strict application so as to relieve such difficulties or hardship, if such relief may be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and without substantially impairing the intent and purpose of any ordinance or resolution.
      (2)   (a)   No such variance shall be authorized by the Board of Adjustment unless it finds that:
            1.   The strict application of the zoning regulation would produce undue hardship;
            2.   Such hardship is not shared generally by other properties in the same zoning district and the same vicinity;
            3.   The authorization of such variance will not be of substantial detriment to adjacent property and the character of the district will not be changed by the granting of the variance; and
            4.   The granting of such variance is based upon reason of demonstrable and exceptional hardship as distinguished from variations for purposes of convenience, profit, or caprice.
         (b)   No variance shall be authorized unless the Board of Adjustment finds that the condition or situation of the property concerned or the intended use of the property is not of so general or recurring a nature as to make reasonably practicable the formulation of a general regulation to be adopted as an amendment to the zoning regulations.
      (3)   In exercising the powers granted in this division (F), the Board of Adjustment may, in conformity with Neb. RS 19-901 to 19-915, reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision, or determination appealed from, and may make such order, requirement, decision, or determination as ought to be made, and to that end shall have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal is taken. The concurring vote of four members of the board shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision, or determination of any such administrative official or to decide in favor of the applicant on any matter upon which it is required to pass under any such regulation or to effect any variation in such regulation.
(Neb. RS 19-910)
   (G)   Any person or persons, jointly or severally, aggrieved by any decision of the Board of Adjustment, or any taxpayer, or any officer, department, board, or bureau of the city, may present to the district court a petition duly verified, setting forth that such decision is illegal, in whole or in part, and specifying the grounds of such illegality. Such petition must be presented to the court within 15 days after the filing of the decision in the office of the Board of Adjustment. Upon the filing of such petition a summons shall be issued and be served upon the Board of Adjustment, together with a copy of the petition. Return of service shall be made within four days after the issuance of the summons. Within ten days after the return day of such summons, the Board of Adjustment shall file an answer to the petition which shall admit or deny the substantial averments of the petition and shall state the contentions of the Board with reference to the matters in dispute as disclosed by the petition. The answer shall be verified in like manner as required for the petition. At the expiration of the time for filing answer, the court shall proceed to hear and determine the cause without delay and shall render judgment thereon according to the forms of law. If, upon the hearing, it appears to the court that testimony is necessary for the proper disposition of the matter, it may take evidence or appoint a referee to take such evidence as it may direct and report the same to the court with his or her findings of fact and conclusions of law, which shall constitute a part of the proceedings upon which the determination of the court shall be made. The court may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the decision brought up for review. The appeal to the district court shall not stay proceedings upon the decision appealed from, but the court may, on application, on notice to the Board of Adjustment and on due cause shown, grant a restraining order. Any appeal from such judgment of the district court shall be prosecuted in accordance with the general laws of the state regulating appeals in actions at law.
(Neb. RS 19-912)
§ 32.04 BOARD OF HEALTH.
   (A)   (1)   The Board of Health shall consist of four members: The Mayor, who shall be chairperson, the President of the City Council, and two other members. One member shall be a physician or health care provider, if one can be found who is willing to serve. Such physician or health care provider, if appointed, shall be the Board of Health’s medical advisor. If the Mayor has appointed a Chief of Police, the Chief of Police shall serve on the Board of Health as secretary and quarantine officer.
      (2)   A majority of the Board of Health shall constitute a quorum and shall enact rules and regulations, which shall have the full force and effect of law, to safeguard the health of the people of the city, may enforce them, and may provide fines and punishments for the violation of such rules and regulations. The Board of Health shall have power to and shall make all needful rules and regulations relating to matters of sanitation of the city, including the removal of dead animals, the sanitary condition of the streets, alleys, vacant grounds, stockyards, cattle and hog pens, wells, cisterns, privies, waterclosets, cesspools, stables, and all buildings and places not specified where filth, nuisances, or offensive matter is kept or is liable to or does accumulate. It may regulate, suppress, and prevent the occurrence of nuisances and enforce all laws of the state and ordinances of the city relating to nuisances or to matters of sanitation of the city. The Board of Health shall also have control of hospitals, dispensaries, places for treatment of sick, and matters relating to the same under such restrictions and provisions as may be provided by ordinance of the city.
(Neb. RS 17-121)
   (B)   The members of the Board of Health other than the Mayor, President of the Council, and Chief of Police shall serve terms of office of the length specified by the City Council and may be reappointed.
   (C)   The Board of Health shall reorganize at its meeting after appointments are regularly considered by the City Council and, if necessary, select a member to serve as secretary. No member of the Board of Health shall hold more than one Board of Health position. The secretary shall keep full and correct minutes and records of all meetings and file the same with the City Clerk where they shall be available for public inspection during office hours.
   (D)   The Board of Health shall meet at such times as the City Council may designate. Special meetings may be held upon the call of the Chairperson or any two members of the Board of Health.
   (E)   The members of the Board of Health shall serve without compensation. The Board of Health shall be funded by the City Council from time to time out of the General Fund.
   (F)   The Board of Health shall regularly inspect such premises and businesses as the City Council may direct.
   (G)   All members of the Board of Health shall be responsible for making such reports and performing such other duties as the City Council may, from time to time, designate.
Cross-reference: 
   Health and safety regulations, see Chapter 93
§ 32.05 BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS.
   (A)   Whenever the city has or is about to establish or acquire any system of waterworks, power plant, ice plant, gas plant, sewerage, heating or lighting plant, or distribution system and the City Council has created a Board of Public Works, the Board shall consist of not less than three, nor more than six members, residents of the city, to be appointed by the Mayor, subject to the approval of the City Council. The members may be removed by the Mayor and a majority of the members elected to the City Council at any time. The term of the first members of the Board of Public Works shall be one, two, three, or four years in the manner designated by the Mayor, as the case may be, after which the term of each member shall be four years; and the terms of not more than two members shall expire at any one time.
(Neb. RS 17-801)
   (B)   The Board of Public Works shall have the active direction and supervision of any or all of the utility systems owned or operated by the city as conferred on it by the City Council. The City Council shall approve the budget of each proprietary function as provided in the Municipal Proprietary Function Act. The Board of Public Works shall have the power to operate any utility referred to it and to exercise all powers conferred by law upon the city for the operation and government of such utility to the same extent, in the same manner, and under the same restrictions as the City Council could do if no such Board of Public Works existed, except that the Board of Public Works shall not make any expenditure or contract any indebtedness other than for ordinary running expenses, exceeding the amount established by the City Council, without first obtaining the approval of the City Council. The Board of Public Works shall report to the City Council at regular intervals as it may require.
(Neb. RS 17-802)
   (C)   If so authorized and empowered by the Mayor and Council, the Board of Public Works may cooperate and participate in a plan of insurance designed and intended for the benefit of the employees of any public utility operated by the city. For that purpose the Board of Public Works may make contributions to pay premiums or dues under such plan, authorize deductions from salaries of employees, and take such other steps as may be necessary to effectuate such plan of insurance.
(Neb. RS 17-802.01)
   (D)   The members of the Board of Public Works shall organize as soon as practicable after their appointment, by electing a chairperson and secretary, who shall serve until the first meeting in June next following; and thereafter the Board of Public Works shall elect a chairperson and secretary at the first meeting in June each year. In the absence of the regular officers, temporary officers to serve in their places may be chosen by the members present at any meeting. They shall establish regular times for meeting and may adopt such rules as may be necessary or desirable for the conduct of their business. They shall keep a record of their proceedings and if there is a legal newspaper published in or of general circulation in the city, shall publish therein the minutes of each meeting within 30 days after it is held.
(Neb. RS 17-805)
   (E)   Each of the members of the Board of Public Works shall take an oath to discharge faithfully the duties of the office before entering upon the discharge thereof. Each of the members of the Board of Public Works before entering upon the duties of the office shall be required to give bond to the city with corporate surety. Such bond shall be in the sum of $5,000 and shall be conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of member of the Board of Public Works; and the surety on such bond shall be approved by the Mayor and City Council and shall be filed with the City Treasurer, provided that the premium on the bond shall be paid out of any public utility fund designated by the Mayor and City Council.
(Neb. RS 17-806)
   (F)   No member of the Board of Public Works shall ever be financially interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract entered into by them on behalf of such city for more than $10,000 in one year.
(Neb. RS 17-807)
   (G)   If the Board of Public Works determines that the best interests of the city and the patrons of the utility will be better or more economically served, they may employ the duly elected City Clerk as ex officio bookkeeper and collector for the utility or utilities, and he or she may be paid a reasonable salary for the extra services required of him or her in such position in addition to his or her salary as City Clerk.
(Neb. RS 17-808)
   (H)   Rates or charges for service may be fixed or changed by resolution duly adopted by the Board of Public Works.
(Neb. RS 17-810)
§ 32.06 CEMETERY BOARD.
   (A)   Generally. The governing body shall appoint the Cemetery Board, which shall consist of five members who are residents of the 68771 zip code and who shall serve without compensation for a term of three years. Two members shall be appointed each year, with three members appointed on the third year, and these members may be required, in the discretion of the governing body, to give a bond in a sum set by resolution of the governing body and conditioned upon the faithful performance of their duties. At the annual meeting each year, the Cemetery Board shall organize by selecting from its membership, a chairperson and secretary. The secretary shall keep the full and correct minutes and records of all meetings and file the same with the City Clerk where they shall be available for public inspection at any reasonable time. A two-thirds majority of the Cemetery Board members shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of doing business. Special meetings may be held upon the call of the chairperson or any three members of the Cemetery Board. The Cemetery Board shall have the power and authority to limit and regulate the number of cemetery lots that may be owned by the same person; to prescribe rules for enclosing, adorning, and erecting monuments and tombstones on cemetery lots; and to prohibit any diverse or improper use thereof; provided, no religious tests shall be made as to the ownership of lots, the burial therein, and the ornamentation of graves. The Cemetery Board shall pass rules and regulations for the proper use of the cemetery. The Cemetery Board shall use all revenue received from the sale of lots, gifts, or by devise for the care, management, and administration of the cemetery. All actions of the Cemetery Board shall be subject to the review and supervision of the governing body and it shall be responsible for making such reports and performing such additional duties as the governing body may designate.
(Neb. RS 12-402) (Prior Code, § 2-204)
   (B)   Mayor as member. One of the members of the Cemetery Board may be the Mayor of the city and the Mayor may appoint himself or herself with the approval of the City Council to said Cemetery Board. The Mayor member shall be governed by all of the other rules and regulations in the municipal code relative to the activities of the cemetery.
(Neb. RS 12-401 through 12-403) (Prior Code, § 2-205) (Ord. 723, passed 2-2-2022; Ord. 746, passed 12-13-2023)
§ 32.07 PARK BOARD.
    The city owns and operates the municipal parks and other recreational areas through the Board of Park Commissioners (hereinafter “Park Board"). The Park Board shall be appointed by the governing body and shall consist of no less than seven members, each of whom shall be residents of the 68771 zip code. Each Park Board member shall serve a three-year term unless reappointed. All Park Board members shall serve without compensation. The governing body, for the purpose of defraying the cost of the care, management, and maintenance of the municipal parks, may each year levy a tax not exceeding the maximum limit prescribed by state law on the actual valuation of all real estate and personal property within the corporate limits that is subject to taxation. The necessary revenue from the said tax shall be allocated to a specific fund within the city, which fund shall be known as the Park Fund and shall remain the custody of the City Treasurer. The Park Board shall monitor the needs of the premises of the municipal parks and shall submit budgetary requests to the governing body for items necessary for the repair, maintenance, and upkeep of the park premises. The Park Board shall not enter into a contract of any nature which involves an expenditure of funds, unless the contract has been approved by resolution of the majority of the members of the governing body prior to the contractual agreement.
(Prior Code, § 2-203) (Ord. 672, passed 10-7-2015; Ord. 723, passed 2-2-2022)
Statutory reference:
   Generally, see Neb. RS 17-948 through 17-952
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