Council receives details on WayneAmerica Fly-In

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Details on the upcoming WayneAmerica Fly-In were presented during Tuesday's meeting of the Wayne City Council.

Travis Meyer, Chair of the Wayne Airport Authority, shared information on the this year's event, scheduled for Thursday through Sunday, May 25 - 28.

He told council members that this year both STOL (Short Take Off and Landing) Drag events and National STOL competition will be held at the Wayne Airport.

"National STOL can happen when there are winds up to 25 knots per hour. These events will also be livestreamed so people all over the world could potentially be watching what is happening at the Wayne Airport," Meyer said.

Meyer also said that this is the first time STOL Drag and National STOL will be competing at the same time at the same location. It is anticipated that because of this, the Wayne event will bring in more pilots who will be able to compete in both categories.

Plans call for a free movie at the airport on Thursday night, a car show in conjunction with the event and a regional corn hole tournament.

Campers will be located in a different area this year, allowing them to be closer to the action.

Meyer said volunteers are needed in many different areas to help make the event run smoothly.

In conjunction with the event, a Special Designated Liquor Permit was granted to the Wayne Airport Authority for May 25-28. 

Andrea Henderson spoke to the council on the plans for serving alcohol during the four day event. She said it will be similar to past events with the exception of having some type of "Happy Hour" for the competitors at the event following each day's events.

The annual report from Wayne Public Library Director Heather Headley was part of Tuesday's meeting. 

Headley told the council that the library is getting back to pre-pandemic numbers in terms of in-person visits to the library.

Library patrons have provided positive feed-back on programing offered by the library and library staff are "seeing lots of new faces at the library."

Changes in the way the library handles overdue materials has been beneficial for all involved.

Headley also thanked the city for allowing the Friends of the Wayne Public Library to hold book sales in the new location and noted that proceeds from the sales help off-set costs of some of the programs the library is able to offer.

New cabinets will be installed in coming months to allow for better organization of materials at the library.

She listed inflation as one of the library's biggest challenges and shared information on the changes in costs for various materials, including books and audio materials.

In other action, Ordinance 2023-1 and 2023-2 received third reading approval. The two ordinances deal with the collection and distribution of sales tax in the city of Wayne. 

Council members approved a request by Anthony Cantrell on behalf of Wayne High School for the Electric Vehicle Energy Research of Nebraska (EVERON) Rally on Saturday, May 6.

Cantrell told the council he would like to close off 10th Street from Angel Avenue to Hillside Drive from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the state championship event. In addition, he asked for portable restrooms to be placed on the former Praise Assembly of God property and requested the city sweep the street prior to the event to remove gravel and rocks.

A Liquor License Manager Application for  Christopher C. Sieck for Casey's Retail Company (Casey's 2738) was approved.

Resolution 2023-19, which deals with a community-wide blanket construction permit agreement between the City of Wayne and Black Hills Nebraska Gas, LLC, doing business as Black Hills Energy, received unanimous approval.

Work will be done in the southwest quadrant of the city in coming months.

A pay application for $19,566 to OCC Builders, LLC was approved. It involves work done on the Freedom Park Trailhead Project.

The final item on the agenda was a resolution approving a Renewable Energy Certificate Purchase and Sale agreement between the City of Wayne and STX Commodities, LLC. 

City Administrator Wes Blecke told the council that new regulations require the city to be responsible for the contract. It involves the city's renewable energy credits.

The Wayne City Council will next meet in regular session on Tuesday, March 21 at 5:30 p.m. in council chambers.