You ready?

Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome to our uh city council meeting for November the 28th.

Uh if you would rise, we'll have uh a moment of silence and then we'll have a pledge of allegiance.

Okay, thank you.

I please do the flag of the United States of America and to the Republican undergo any visible with liberty.

In accordance with section 84, 1412 of the Nebraska revised statutes a current copy of the open meetings act is available for you as posted on the wall.

The council chambers uh pay you would take roll, please.

Mayor Klaus Cutter here Nicola Moore here.

Okay, we have no oral communications and no unfinished business and uh no public hearings.

So we move right into consent agenda items one through eight and any item on the consent agenda made by the request of any council member because there's a separate item.

Are there any items in council need to be removed for consideration?

Okay, do we have a motion?

I move to approve items one through eight of the consent agenda.

Second.

Nicola, more aye, Bush Cutter.

Okay, thank you.

And we have no consent agenda ordinances, so move right into regular agenda item one, and that pertains to the adoption of resolution number one 2023-149A, amending resolution one uh 2023-149 regarding the placement of conspicuously placed signage on publicly accessed city buildings pertaining to the carrying of weapons.

Um this is not a public hearing, however, council members, and we will receive public input on this.

Uh but first we'll have uh uh city attorney Mike Ty and Chief Wah, they'll uh have some discussion, and then afterwards, uh if we have speakers that would like to come to the podium, uh provide your name, uh address, and then uh we'll have three minutes uh so we can have it kind of controlled a little bit, and then uh Peggy will have a flag, so when you get close, it's kind of like the old Toastmasters thing, uh, when we're getting close to three minutes.

Um, but uh we'll address some of that again after um uh Mike Ty and Chief Wah uh address the council and the crowd.

So Mike.

Mayor, members of council, uh Michael Ty, City Attorney, 1419 Central Avenue.

You'll have to unlock your device first.

As the mayor has indicated, um I I was gonna start you off with uh uh just a framework, some background, um, and uh answer questions, and then I do believe that uh Chief Waugh um is gonna speak after me.

Um as you uh know the city of Carney has had a policy um of limiting uh firearms in publicly accessible buildings, some of our publicly accessible buildings since 2013.

Um and that has been in place without any issues or incidences since that time.

Um as you also know that uh in the last uh session of the unicameral there were a number of modifications that were made to um state statutes relating to firearms, and as a result of that, the uh Nebraska Attorney General Um actually created a memorandum that was um then sent to all law enforcement agencies and county attorneys in the state of Nebraska and outlined many of those changes um and the legal authority for um certain aspects of of firearm law in Nebraska.

Um as a result of of receiving that uh the chief and I had a conversation and um that that's where we came with uh a policy to essentially confirm what uh what the city has been doing and also um looking at other buildings that that we anticipate will be coming online um in the fairly near future.

The what I guess I would be referring to would be the pavilion and the sports plex.

Um and and so that that's the source of uh uh what has occurred as you know a policy was presented to you uh at your October 10th meeting, and that was was uh approved.

Um, but but subsequent to that we've had questions from the mayor as well as a number of citizens as to whether or not that policy was perhaps too broad and potentially confusing, and of course, there are some citizens that wouldn't want you to have a policy at all, would want you to rescind it completely.

And so city staff then prepared the amendment that's before you tonight which narrows the focus to publicly accessible buildings where it is conspicuously posted.

Um just for a little more framework on the statutory authority for what we're talking about, and I know this is in your your council memo.

It's actually it's been both in both of your council memos, but um Nebraska revised statute section 281202.01 subparent five specifically indicates that person or persons, entities or entities that are in control of a place or premises, or or an employer in control of a place or of business, can prohibit the carrying of concealed handguns into their premises so long as they post a conspicuous notice that they are they are barred or banned, and representatives of those individuals can also indicate that that's the policy with either their place of business or premises.

So that's the source of the authority that uh we've been talking about when we've been uh presenting these potential policies.

Also of note in the same statutory section, just so people are aware, there's a list of places where guns are not allowed.

And this is even without posting, they're just simply not allowed.

And I I wanted to go through that for you just so you have some idea of some of those places as are listed in in state law.

Um, and those those include police, sheriff, or Nebraska State Patrol stations or offices.

It includes detention facilities, prisons, or jails.

It includes courtrooms or buildings that contain a courtroom, so a courthouse.

Um it includes a polling place during a bona fide election.

Um it includes and again, these are where firearms are banned.

It includes me the meeting of the governing body of a county, public school district, municipality, or other political subdivision.

So the meeting place while the meeting is happening, it is it is barred at that location.

But if that meeting is not occurring, would not necessarily continue for that location.

Um it's also barred for a meeting of the legislature or a committee of the legislature, a financial institution, so banks, um, professional or semi-professional athletic events, um, buildings, grounds, vehicles, or sponsored activities for an athletic event of any public, private, denominational or parochial elementary or secondary school, um, and the thing to to note about that is um so basically school athletic activities or school-sponsored activities, with our of note for our sports plex.

Um we may have some of those those age young people who are participating in activities at the sportsplex, but it's likely many of those activities will not be school sponsored.

There'll be a travel league or a uh a travel team having a uh a tournament.

So that exclusion that doesn't necessarily carry over to the sportsplex, okay, because it requires that it be a sponsored activity of a school or parochial school.

Um they are firearms are also limited at a communic community college or a public or private college, junior college or university.

Um they're also limited at a place of worship, a hospital emergency room or trauma center, a political rally or fundraiser, um, or an establishment that has a license issued by the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, so someone who has a liquor license if if more than one half of their income is derived from the sale of alcoholic beverages, so a bar.

So those are prohibited places as well as any place elsewhere where you are specifically limited from carrying a firearm by state or federal law, because there are their separate federal law that applies to some of this.

The other thing of note is with churches and with financial institutions, they are are allowed to hire their own separate security should they choose to do so.

And those security people can be armed if they choose to have those folks in their facilities.

And there's a a paragraph that that uh deals with that.

There's also a specific exception that deals with if you are um securing your firearm in your vehicle in a parking lot.

That's perfectly acceptable.

And and even if that parking lot is in a location that where the firearm might be banned, if it's a public parking lot, perfectly fine that it's it's secured in the vehicle in some fashion.

Just so you have that background and know that those are all locations where firearms are not allowed.