The Fremont City Council meeting on Tuesday night, Jan. 31, is expected to be long and possibly controversial.
Along with a lengthy agenda of items for discussion and possible action, the council will hear public comment during the usual end-of-the-month 30-minute period open to residents. Local grandmother Sandra Murray has stated she plans to speak during the meeting about her efforts to remove sexual education and LGBT-themed books in the Keene Memorial Library.
One main item on the Tuesday agenda is Mayor Joey Spellerberg’s appointment of Tad Dinkins, a 10-year resident of the city, to fill the seat of now-retired Ward 1 council Vern Gibson.
Dinkins is the head store manager for Butler Ag Equipment in Fremont, a job he has had since May 2013 when he and his family relocated to Dodge County from Minot, South Dakota. A native of the St. Louis, Missouri, area, Dinkins graduated from the Missouri University of Science and Technology in 1995. He is married to his wife, Lynn – a teacher at Archbishop Bergan Elementary School – and has three daughters.
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Spellerberg received only two applications to replace Gibson, who resigned from the council in December due to health issues. The other applicant was six-year Fremont resident Scott Uehling.
Another mayoral appointment on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting is a Fremont Planning Commission appointment, to replace recently elected Ward 4 Council Member Lori Schmidt-Lathrop. According to the posted agenda packet, Spellerberg has chosen Stan Darling, vice president of Pinnacle Bank, to replace Schmidt-Lathrop.
In addition to the city council and planning commission appointments, several other local residents are expected to be appointed to other entities. Schmidt-Lathrop is slated to be appointed to the Local Option Review Team; Scott Brown is to be re-appointed to the Building Code Advisory and Appeal Board; and both Chuck Johannsen and Michelle Wiese are to be re-appointed to the Citizen’s Advisory Review Committee of the City.
Also on the agenda are four public hearings about assorted land use issues before the council.
The meeting kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, with the end-of-the-month citizens’ public comment period, which runs until 7 p.m. The City Council meeting begins at 7 p.m. once public comment is over. Meetings are hosted on the second floor of the City Administrative Building, 400 E. Military Ave.
