SIDNEY — The city of Sidney will be going blue on Saturday, along with landmarks all around the world, in honor of World Autism Awareness Day.
At the Sidney City Council meeting Monday night, Mayor Michael Barhorst proclaimed April 2, 2016, Autism Day in Sidney. In addition, blue light bulbs were passed out to all council members and city officials to “Light it up Blue” for the special day, and whole month of April, as it’s Autism Awareness Month.
The disease affects one in 68 children in the United States and is more prevalent in boys. It is one of the fastest developing disabilities in the country and within the next decade, 500,000 autistic adolescents will grow into adulthood. Treatment and services cost each affected family an average of $60,000 per year.
For information about Light It Up Blue or to donate to Autism Speaks, visit www.autismspeaks.org/LIUB.
Also at the Sidney City Council meeting Monday night, the council adopted an ordinance assessing certain property owners the cost of weed mowing, or junk removal.
Each property owner was notified that their property was not in compliance with the city code and was given an opportunity to mow the weeds or remove the junk. When the owners failed to comply, the city paid to have the work performed. The property owners were then invoiced.
For weed mowing violations, the invoiced amount is the actual cost of the mowing, plus $50 for the first weed cutting, $75 for the second, and $1oo for each thereafter. For junk removal violations, the invoiced amount is the actual cost of the junk removal plus 20 percent.
The special assessment will be collected with other property tax obligations. A total of 15 properties will be assessed at a total of $2,209.01 for weed cutting and another 14 properties will be assessed a total of $1,351.03 for junk removal.
Outstanding invoiced included in this ordinance are from Oct. 17, 2015 through Feb. 13, 2016.
Also at the meeting, a resolution was adopted establishing the 2016 Sidney Municipal Swimming Pool rates.
The following rates and changes to rates were approved by all members of council with Councilman Darryl Thurber abstaining:
• Daily passes for adults, seniors and youth to remain at $4
• Daily passes for pre-school children to increase to $2.50
• Individual season pass to remain at $30 per person; no family passes
• Training rentals to remain at $15 per hour per guard required
• Pool rentals to increase by $25 to $250 per two-hour rental
• Replacement photo season passes increase to $10
The council also adopted a resolution of necessity for 2016 street lighting assessments.
This resolution will follow a process required by the city code when requesting adopting of assessments for street lighting.
The simplified steps are as follows:
1. A Resolution of Necessity is declared by Council; 2. Notice is filed in the newspaper once a week for two consecutive weeks; 3. Property owners have two additional weeks to object to the proposed assessment; 4. City Council considers Introduction of Ordinance establishing street lighting assessments; 5. City Council adopts Ordinance establishing street lighting assessments for 2016 and 2017.
The annual costs of the street lighting improvements are 31 cents per front foot in 2016; 31 cents per front foot on all the lots and lands in the city of Sidney, which are not located in a Special Decorative Street Lighting District in 2015; $1.11 per front foot for 2014; and $1.11 per front foot on all lots and lands within the Special Decorative Streetlight District in the city of Sidney in 2017.
Questions about this proposed street lighting assessment project can be addressed to Gary Clough, assistant city manager and public works director.
