The Seward Rotary Club meeting was conducted by President Kurth Brashear. He opened with the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag and prayer was offered by Rotarian Pastor Scott Bruick. The recitation by the Rotary Club members of the Rotary Four Way Test followed. Melanie Ayres announced the 53 rd Wedding Anniversary of Bonnie Kruse and her Birthday. Russ Sommerfeld announced that the Seward Rotary Club would be collecting pairs of shoes to donate to the Seward High Marching Band program, collecting shoes to sell with funding going to assist the expenses towards the band’s Peach Bowl trip at the end of the year. He also announced that the Rotary Arbor Day and Kite Contest were canceled. Jon and Bonnie Kruse updated the Rotary Club on the proposed District Grant and the status of the Rotary Clubs Global Grant request for the Bahama hospital. Russ Sommerfeld and Phil Bangert encouraged promotion of the Rotary Club’s Miss Independence and Mr. Firecracker essay contest where essays are due by May 20 th , 2020 to Phil Bangert at the Jones Bank. New member, Anita Foor was inducted into membership by Membership Committee member Rick Gray.
The Seward Rotary Club meeting was conducted by President Kurth Brashear. He opened with the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag and prayer was offered by Rotarian Pastor Scott Bruick. The recitation by the Rotary Club members of the Rotary Four Way Test followed. Melanie Ayres announced the 53rd Wedding Anniversary of Bonnie Kruse and her Birthday. Russ Sommerfeld announced that the Seward Rotary Club would be collecting pairs of shoes to donate to the Seward High Marching Band program, collecting shoes to sell with funding going to assist the expenses towards the band’s Peach Bowl trip at the end of the year. He also announced that the Rotary Arbor Day and Kite Contest were canceled. Jon and Bonnie Kruse updated the Rotary Club on the proposed District Grant and the status of the Rotary Clubs Global Grant request for the Bahama hospital. Russ Sommerfeld and Phil Bangert encouraged promotion of the Rotary Club’s Miss Independence and Mr. Firecracker essay contest where essays are due by May 20 th , 2020 to Phil Bangert at the Jones Bank. New member, Anita Foor was inducted into membership by Membership Committee member Rick Gray.
The City of Seward leadership presented the weekly program at the Seward Rotary Club Zoom meeting on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 during the noon hour. Rotarians and guests lunched by their computers and joined in the program. The program was introduced by Rotary President Kurth Brashear and coordinated by the Rotarian of the Month and Program Chair –Todd LaVelle. Kurth introduced Josh Eickmeier-Mayor of Seward, Greg Butcher-Seward City Administrator and Alan Baldwin-Seward Chief of Police. The meeting presentation was to inform the membership on issues facing the City of Seward and how they were being handled in regards to the Corona Virus. It was noted that all three leaders are also members of the Seward Rotary Club and they were thanked for their service and leadership during this major community, national and world wide crisis.
City of Seward Mayor Josh Eickmeier first addressed the Rotary membership and pointed out that “no one really knows the answer to so many of the issues.” He stressed that their decisions have all been based on guidance from experts in the various fields of study. For example, the City of Seward turns to health recommendations from the experts from Four Corners Health and the State of Nebraska and also the Lincoln/Lancaster Health Departments because of our proximity to Lincoln and Lancaster County.
Both Josh Eickmeier and Greg Butcher addressed that the process of closing the barber, beauty and nail salons in Seward and how they came about closing. It was a result of Lincoln/Lancaster closing their beauty operations and to avoid a major influx of people from outside of the community, Seward felt they needed to close the shops as well.
Mayor Eickmeier said he has met with many youth in the community to discuss the closing down of the Seward Recreation program and personally had dialoged with students who voiced concerns as to when they could “play ball?” He stressed that time is a major factor, whether we are dealing with the timing of the Fourth of July, the Seward Pool opening and even football in the fall, we will know more in a couple of weeks.
City Administrator, Greg Butcher noted he is in his third year as the Seward Administrator and each year had its own issue, as in 2018 it was the water/well issue, 2019 we had flooding and now in 2020 we have the Corona Virus. So he feels he is familiar in dealing with major issues but each is so different.
“We are really lucky because of our proximity in the USA.” he stated “As in dealing with this virus, we can rely on what has happened in other parts of the country-the coasts and even the world. It gives us advance notice on how to respond to the variety of issues we need to deal with each day.” He noted that the response from the residents of the City of Seward have been incredible as to compliance with the guidelines and that Seward has not had many issues of noncompliance.
He pointed out that one of the first things that City Hall did was establish “Emergency Protocol” and developed a committee with the City, School and Four Corners Health. That group has evolved into a new “Team-Unified Command” and that expanded group meets up to two times a week involving leaders of Polk, York, Butler and Seward Counties. The group has bi-weekly updates and information filters down to the various levels. He praised the work of Four Corners Health and their director Laura McDougall, who have worked “round the clock” to serve our area with information and guidance.
The City of Seward has work with Central Personnel and put plans in place to guarantee continued service and there would be no shut down with Police, Electric and Water services. They also reached out to the major employers in the City of Seward and assured them that they would continue with service and promised to “keep them in the loop.” He noted they divided the staff and each half does not have physical contact with the other, to avoid problems with contamination.
He spoke on the wonderful volunteers with the Seward Fire Department and EMS services. He noted that they are all required to wear PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for all of their calls, and this can create some issues as well as shortages in PPE materials.
Butcher stressed that a variance in dates and deadlines has been a confusing problem, as the City of Seward and State have differing deadline dates as to when operations can reopen, but that is being worked out and they hope to have more concrete insight in a few days. He hopes to resolve the same confusion when opening up businesses and allowing them to reopen for business.
He did comment that there have been some very stressful situations, when asking businesses to shut down completely and some of that could have been avoided, had they waited a day and let the Governor “take the heat” when he then shut every shop down.
The Seward Golf Course does not have any PPE’s and thus the carts and equipment cannot be rented and reused. He has been happy with the number of people golfing this season to date and encourages all to use this beautiful facility. Greg Butcher said the Seward Golf Course is open but no carts are being rented. Golfers can use their own carts or walk the course and they hoped to have league golf this season as well.
The City has canceled all Spring Sports in the Recreation Program but hopes to salvage some form of T Ball and Baseball season yet this year. Butcher noted the Dowding Memorial Pool is being prepped and cleaned but will not be filled or heated until they receive word as to permission and guidelines to open the pool.
Chief Alan Baldwin commended the City of Seward residents on the great job of following the spirit of the law and compliance with the mandates created by the Corona Virus. He noted that once an infraction is addressed and the officer talks with the individuals and explains the situation, most often the citizens are very willing to comply and so, as a result, they have seen very few issues.
He did state that their policing situation has changed in that there are more “service calls” by phone or discussed in the parking lot or contact is by mail instead of person. Officers are to stay six feet away from those in they are in communication with and that they often are required to use PPE materials as well, but are dealing with shortages of PPE materials, which can create problems.
He has been pleasantly surprised at the willingness of the community to work with the local Seward Police Department and thanked the Community of Seward and the Seward Rotary for their support.
A time for questions and answers followed.
Rotarians Max Wake and Mark Kolterman addressed the Rotary Club and informed them on the Seward Legacy Fund, developed to assist small businesses invited those with concerns or questions to contact either of them for assistance. They shared some approaching programs to assist in funding businesses hurt by the Corona Virus regulations that will be funded though the Seward County Legacy Fund and LB840. They encouraged continued financial investments to the Seward County Legacy Fund, to assist those businesses most impacted by the Corona virus.