Bellevue to propose new Sarpy group

After voting in June to leave the United Cities of Sarpy County, Bellevue is sending City Administrator Dan Berlowitz to meet with other Sarpy County leaders to propose a new countywide cooperative body.

Tentatively dubbed United Sarpy, the proposed interlocal agreement would bring the mayors, city administrators and delegates from the city councils of Bellevue, Papillion, La Vista, Springfield and Gretna together with representatives of Sarpy County to discuss common issues, challenges, initiatives and negotiations.

Bellevue Councilwoman Carol Blood proposed the idea, which would have the same function as United Cities but would bring together everyone in the county. She said the new group would retain a lobbyist to represent the five cities and county in the Nebraska Legislature.

"The purpose of pulling out of United Cities really was to make Bellevue more of an inclusionist-type community than isolationist," Blood said. "Currently, the way United Cities works, the county is not allowed a seat at the table."

Leaders in the other four cities appear to have their doubts but are willing to hear the proposal.

United Cities was formed in 2007 as an interlocal agreement among the five cities of Sarpy County to share a lobbyist — Joe Kohout of the Kelly and Lehan law firm — to address legislative problems common among the cities. Bellevue signed off on the agreement on Sept. 24, 2007, with a unanimous vote of the City Council.

The United Cities agreement required each city to pay an equal portion of the lobbyist's fees, and unanimous consent was required for the group to take action.

The Sarpy County Board raised questions when United Cities was formed, asking why its members were excluded. Then-Mayor James Blinn of Papillion said United Cities was formed as a "response to what Sarpy County has already done."

At the time, Sarpy County had hired a lobbyist who opposed a bill pushed by Papillion and the other Sarpy cities to extend their extra-jurisdictional zone. The legislation would have created a 3-mile zone around the Sarpy cities where they could make decisions about design standards, just like the 3-mile zone around the City of Omaha.

United Cities has run counter to Sarpy County on some issues, including resisting three legislative bills proposed to fund Werner Park, the baseball stadium built last year and Sarpy's proposed Enhanced-911 agreement.

The primary focus of United Cities isn't on Sarpy County issues, however, but on statewide issues that could impact the suburban communities.

Those issues include supporting legislation blocking Omaha's proposed wheel tax, which would have charged anyone working in Omaha but living outside city limits a $50 annual fee, and encouraging the Legislature to apply a statewide smoking ban uniformly, without carving out a special exemption for Omaha or other cities that wanted to opt out of the ban.

United Cities helped pass Legislative Bill 589, which reversed a Nebraska Department of Roads policy that would have prohibited the use of state highways with speed limits above 45 mph for community events, including Papillion's annual triathlon, which closes a portion of Highway 370.

The coalition of cities also championed a legislative proposal to allow Nebraska cities to offer a sales-tax incentive to help partly offset development costs for projects that are aimed at tourism.

Because of those successes, Papillion Mayor David Black has noted, Gov. Dave Heineman singled out United Cities as a model for governmental cooperation.

The mayors of the other four Sarpy County cities said they are waiting to see the details of Bellevue's plan to change United Cities into United Sarpy before deciding whether to support a new group.

Berlowitz plans to discuss future meetings among Sarpy County, Bellevue and the other Sarpy cities at the Aug. 15 meeting of United Cities. The City of Bellevue is a member of United Cities through September.

Berlowitz said he has already informally approached the other Sarpy cities and was given the impression the cities were willing to talk about future joint meetings or other ways to foster cooperation.

"I feel confident that we would be able to have at least a productive level of dialogue," Berlowitz said.