Playground now officially 'A Street Park'

A forgotten park in east McCook now has official status as A Street Park, thanks to a change approved by the McCook City Council Monday. (Bruce Crosby/McCook Gazette)

McCOOK, Neb. -- A small city playground on East A Street will now be listed among other Public Parks in the McCook Code of Ordinances. The McCook City Council approved the change Monday evening after city staff said some language was inadvertently left out of the ordinance book.

The park will now be officially known as the A Street Park.

The A Street Park, Karrer Park and the "Walking Trail extending from Kelley Park to Karrer Park" were added to the ordinance book listing on Public Parks.

City Council unanimously approved suspending the three-reading rule for the change.

Public Works Director Kyle Potthoff said the change caught the attention of city staff during discussions for the need of rules governing the walking trail.

"We noticed there were a couple of parks that weren't included in the ordinance, so we went ahead and added those. Karrer Park being one of those, as well as the A Street Park," said Potthoff.

Potthoff also said city staff would be sending out information in the near future concerning the A Street Park and its usage. He indicated the information stemmed from prior discussions about the park but didn't elaborate.

"So hopefully we'll have some answers back on that one come budget time," he said.

Councilwoman Janet Hepp asked if there were different rules for different parks. Potthoff replied there was not, with the exception that Karrer Park allowed overnight usage.

Hepp asked about park visitors staying past the three-night rule at Karrer Park and how enforcement was handled.

"We try to limit the camping at Karrer Park to three nights. Does that always happen? No, it doesn't always happen," said Potthoff, adding his staff tried to do their best and he felt they did a pretty good job of monitoring it but some did slip through.

Hepp said there was a camper there all last week and the week before, prompting Potthoff to reiterate, "And we do our best. That's all I can say is we do our best."

Potthoff said the police department does a good job of assisting the parks department but indicated he realized enforcement wasn't always perfect. Councilors thanked Potthoff before unanimously approving the ordinance changes.

City Council also approved changes to city ordinance intended to provide city staff with more flexibility when working with property owners that fail to remove snow, ice or other substances from adjacent sidewalks. The changes also removed inadvertent language that might have required city staff to begin clearing sidewalks of privately owned properties immediately following a 24 hour period.

City Council suspended the three-reading for the item, as well as for a variety of changes to the City zoning ordinance said to be necessary to "clear up non-material ambiguities."

"It's just cleaning up language. This doesn't change the intent of anything," said Councilman Bruce McDowell, adding he saw no reason to drag it out for three readings.

City Manager Nate Schneider indicated he agreed and said a different route would likely be chosen if material changes were included.

A joint entity agreement between the McCook City Library and Pioneer Consortium was also approved Monday. The agreement authorized a grant from the Library Services and Technology Act to help with updating the library's integrated library system and will enhance library services, according to city staff.