Bring Back Sidney, Sidney, NE (2025)

09/04/2025

Good Morning, Sidney and Cheyenne County,
While looking into that destructive electrical rate increase that was put forth, our group started to put together several “numbers” we hadn't yet looked at. I post them in a photo here. As a businessman, this is scary... really, really scary. This is our electrical department from Exhibit H of the yearly audit. Notice the declining numbers each year? This is not profit. Profits are going up, but for how long? These are charges for services. This could be a “Contracting Economy” in Sidney. This is a first look, we can not say for sure, but I can tell you this, I would be looking deeper into the causes!!!! I would be concerned. The only reason we are not in trouble yet is that our Charges for Services are declining more slowly than our Distribution Costs. If that changes, we are in real trouble. We'd better pay attention.

Sales Tax Revenue
The vast majority of our sales tax revenue comes from the hill. Sad but true. Most of that is gasoline sales. Really sad. Gas prices are going down. It is logical, then, that our future sales tax revenues will also decrease, unless more people start traveling again. We need to plan for these reduced incomes. NOT BUDGET MORE SPENDING like our city is doing right now. This is a whole new definition of insanity.

2 years ago, I wrote a post quoting Winston Churchill, who famously said, "For a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle". For years, I have watched Sidney and Cheyenne County tax and tax and tax along with spending and more spending, each time trying to bring a new quality of life, but history has shown thousands of times that taxing does just the opposite. Not everyone plays pickleball, but everyone must pay for it. Wrong direction, Sidney.

Like last November, we will say yet again how we can fix this. First, spending cuts. There is waste in both the city and county budgets. Tighten the belt and spend only on necessities. We can all wait on a new parking lot while we recover our economy. Enterprise zones. Free up zones of capital improvements without tax consequences so that businesses can invest without increasing their tax bill. This will also increase wages, which we desperately need. In other words, let's stop standing in the bucket we are trying to lift. If this contraction is indeed true, we all need to pay attention and start doing something about it. This could be a warning sign, Sidney. We need more people liking, commenting on our page. Get the word out. Many don't know these things are happening. Working together for change. Share ideas, transparency. We all want the best for Sidney. Let's start working towards that goal. Get out of the bucket, everyone!

09/02/2025

Good Morning, Sidney and Cheyenne County,
September is the budget month. I pray that with the latest attempt by our City Manager to give us an unprecedented and unnecessary rate (tax) increase through the electrical department, everyone will follow and ask more questions. We need to stay vigilant.

Nebraska law says the city and county can not spend money outside the budget. So our leaders OVER BUDGET, creating the need. But is there one? The tax rate can then be increased to cover this false need.

In studying the upcoming budget, we are seeing this false need again. Our City Manager is calling this year “the most challenging” since the loss of Cabela's. Really? 6 months ago, in the audit, you said everything was great! Sidney, we have studied all the budgets back to 2012. IT IS NOT TRUE. The only worry we have is “ SPENDING”. For example, the budget shows $34 million in revenue and then $40 million in spending. The budget link is below. The city has added over $4 million in spending for street renovation, expanding our industrial park, and Hickory Square. Our industrial park is currently a corn field, and why are we spending money on that right now when we have so many vacant buildings downtown? Who is coming to Sidney with these high taxes? This would be like building an outdoor swimming pool in Nome, Alaska. Let's budget for it because we “want” one. Sure, fun to have, but is it practical? Is it smart spending? How about the AI tracking we all paid for? How did that work out? Time to be smart.

In the upcoming weeks, we are going to show you how our City Manager creates false needs, then over budgets in “restricted accounts”, transfers that money out to “unrestricted accounts” where it can be used on other projects we never hear about. This should be illegal, but it is not. It is deceptive to the people. Our City Manager thinks he can “Spend” our way to a greater Sidney. In reality, it is excessive spending that is causing increased taxes, which lowers wages and increases the cost of living for everyone. Did we need an electrical rate increase? NO. Did the city try to get one? YES. You stopped it. We need to fix spending. We need to trim the budget to only the necessary spending. We can not spend our way to a better Sidney. The economy doesn't work that way. Time to be adults.

2025-2026 proposed budget
https://changecheyenne.com/images/PDF/Agenda%20and%20Budget%20Workshop%20August%2021%202025.pdf

09/01/2025

Good Morning, Sidney and Cheyenne County,
From the start, our page has shown you transparency. Shown you our monthly numbers and what the people of Cheyenne County are thinking. This last month, more people stood up and joined us in our quest for transparent government. Together we found the truth behind a destructive rate increase that in the end was NOT needed, not passed. Thank you.

This is budget month. The month when governing agencies have to submit the budget for the next year to the people and the state. Already, we are seeing fear-mongering by some local officials in attempts to increase spending. We are going to wait until they submit the budgets, then present the truth to you.

Here is the bottom line.....
The City Manager and City Council tried to pass an electrical rate increase of 24%. That is huge. Millions of dollars over the next 4 years. In the end, after we presented the numbers on this page, it was found that the NO rate increase was needed. Our City Manager was wrong. Together, we need to question each action. Make absolutely sure our money is spent wisely.

Thank you for this past month's support. Yes, we are working on recalls, budgets, and most importantly, transparency. Have a great holiday today. And thank you to our workers who are on the line, truly keeping our part of the panhandle running. We appreciate you.

08/29/2025

Good Morning, Sidney and Cheyenne County,
Well, you did it. You raised your voice and stopped the HUGE money grab that was called a “rate increase” by our city manager. That is exactly what it was, a money grab, a covert “tax increase”. Now, let's explain how all of us were duped by numbers that do not appear to be true at all.

Last month, our city manager, David Scott, hired an Electrical Consultant to come up with a scheme to raise our rates. It was explained at the meeting that we need this increase to pay for 4 Generators, which cost $4,000,000. It was explained that they were needed to protect our grid from data centers and electric cars. Councilman Kerkman said that at the meeting. That all turned out NOT to be true. We found out this week in the city council meeting that the generators are almost paid for. That there is no rate increase needed at all. We were being duped.

In last week's budget workshop on Aug. 21st. Our City Manager presented tough times ahead. A $6 million budget shortfall. But when you read his statements, he says we are in good financial shape. Debt is being paid off. Oh, and in the budget, it shows that the $4,000,000 in generators we needed to pay for, well, they are being paid off this fiscal year, which ends in 1 month. I will put a link to the budget workshop, page 22, below. It says they will be paid off. Guess it wasn't really necessary; we were duped, again. Can we believe anything our City Manager says?

The vast majority of our City Manager's “deficit” is because of excess spending. We have been saying this for 3 years. We are here today because of excessive spending. Millions of dollars of self-inflicted spending. He says some of this is because of the “Persistent inflation”. You decide..... Here is inflation...
https://www.statista.com/statistics/273418/unadjusted-monthly-inflation-rate-in-the-us/

As you can see, inflation has been pretty steady since June of 2023. For 2 years, but here comes the excuse again, like last year. Look at the date on last week's memo to the city council, Sept. 11, 2024. Last year. Maybe he just copied last year's memo and added a few numbers. Wrong date, wrong facts, are we being duped again? Pretty bad for a manager, we pay $130,000 a year when he doesn't even get the date correct. What is the truth? Can we believe anything he is saying now? How many of you feel duped like we do? How many of you believe what he says? We don't, and we are going to find out the truth.

Budget workshop look at page 22. Generators are almost paid for.....
https://changecheyenne.com/images/PDF/Budget%20Workshop%20August%2021%202025%201.pdf

08/27/2025

Good Morning, Sidney and Cheyenne County,
It is a good morning. A VERY GOOD MORNING!!! The Electrical Rate increase proposed was not passed last night. As a matter of fact, no city council member moved on the motion. So it died without a vote. This is a victory for the residents of Sidney. We the people said NO.

We want to especially thank Councilman Jeremy Lee for a couple of very insightful statements. His first one that was right on target was “The numbers just don't add up....” The numbers the city manager kept giving never added up to us as well. Now, we find out that the generators are almost paid for, we will have to only pull from the reserves, MAYBE a couple of hundred thousand, not the millions everyone was talking about, and this complete resolution to increase rates isn't really necessary. The numbers the city provided constantly changed and never added up to our group. It was a mess. Nothing about data centers and electric cars, all smoke and mirrors.

Another statement councilman Lee made was, “I feel like it is a tax increase without doing a tax increase....” Again, a great statement. This scheme, put forth by our city manager, was exactly that. It was to increase revenue through the electrical department without telling the residents. It was wrong; it should be illegal. If this were called by its true name... a tax increase, it would have been one of the largest in American history. 29% the first year and 32% the next. Massive strain on Sidney's economy, all for what?

The last statement Councilman Lee made was also right on target. “We pay low wages....” Again, a very important point. Our city council concentrates more on material things and very little on the residents and employees on the line, doing the daily work. Wages are low for them. It needs to be addressed, and it was not in this resolution that failed. Wages need to be fixed in Sidney.

We, all of us, the people of Sidney, put pressure on the City Council. You raised your voice. You liked and set new records by sharing our posts. This victory belongs to you. It was wrong, it was truly a money grab by our city manager, and it needed to fail. You made it fail by supporting our posts, and we thank you for that. We, the people, spoke; we took control of our taxes. Let's keep going......

Now, we need accountability. Our City Manager, David Scott, tried to pull a fast one on every resident in Sidney. We need to hold him accountable for this “TAX” action. He needs to be fired for “cause” and removed so he can not try this again in some other form, and we believe he will do that. Money is power here in Sidney. No city manager with his own agenda controls OUR money. We the people do, and with this vote, the people of Sidney said NO loud and clear. We thank you. Now, let's keep going and rebuild our amazing city! We can do this together. We stopped this. Together we can do so much more!

08/26/2025

Today is a sad day for Sidney,
Tonight, the city council will vote on a massive rate increase that will affect every single resident in Sidney. It is a shameful money grab. Let us show you the numbers.

A city makes money from property taxes, sales taxes, and selling services like electricity, sewer, water, etc. It all goes to the same place, the City of Sidney. We have shown you those numbers. Sidney's new electrical rate increase is a HUGE money grab by the city through the electrical department. Here is how they will do it.

Instead of raising property taxes this year, like normal, they will be raising electrical rates over the next few years. 8% this year, 8% next year, and so on. Now, how much will that be? It will be equivalent to a 29% increase in your property taxes this year and another 32% increase next year. Here are the shocking numbers.....

In 2024, the City of Sidney collected $2,465,027 in Property Taxes from Residents.

In 2024, the City of Sidney collected $8,978,697 in Fees from Residents for Electrical Service. We will post Exhibit H from the audits below so you can see.

An 8% increase in Electrical Fees brings in $718,296 to the city. 8% of Property Taxes, which is HUGE, would bring in much less, $197,202. You would have to increase property taxes 29% to make the same amount as this increase in electricity. This is a huge grab of residents' money hidden by the electrical department and the city manager.

By funding an increase through the electrical department, and not property taxes, they get to say, “We didn't raise property taxes, look what a great job we are doing,” while also grabbing a record amount from your wallet. This is a 29% “de facto” property tax in Sidney. Next year 32%. This money grab should be illegal. Please like and share this post, spread it out across Sidney. Shine a light on this enormous scam on the residents. Speak up!!! Email your council. Links below.

Email Your City Council
https://www.cityofsidney.org/187/City-Council

City Audits Exhibit H
https://changecheyenne.com/images/PDF/Sidney_Audits_Exhibit_H.pdf

08/22/2025

Good Morning, Sidney and Cheyenne County,
For the last 2 years, we have been showing just how our City Manager, David Scott, misleads the council and the residents of Sidney with what we see as misinformation. Today, we would like to point out another example of what he said to the city council and residents, and also show documentation that clearly shows his misinformation.

With this article, I posted his Background/Discussion statement, which is as follows. “The City Council had concerns about the rising costs of energy and declining net revenue in the electrical department and asked staff to engage a power consultant.

What decline is he seeing? Below are the ACTUAL FIGURES. We went through all budgets and audits from 2018 to 2024. Net revenues in the electrical department are increasing, not declining, as stated by City Manager David Scott. In 2018, net revenues were $1,067,872. In 2024, net revenues were $1,539,497. This is an overall increase of not only net revenues but also profit by 44%. INCREASE in profits!!

If you use a CPI calculator and adjust for those terrible years of inflation we experienced during COVID, we still have a positive rate of growing profits by 16%. So what decline is our City Manager referring to?

You can look for yourself. Below we put a link to exhibit H from each Sidney City audit from 2018- 2024. See for yourself. You can see the “Net Revenue” figure towards the bottom. The electrical department has made profits in excess of $1 million consistently since 2018. Here are the years.

Net Income (PROFIT) by Year for Electrical Department
Exhibit H- Total Income before Transfers
2018- $1,067,872
2019- $1,279,334
2020- $1,139,527
2021- $1,225,250
2022- $1,652,850
2023- $1,436,852
2024- $1,539,497
The numbers support an increase of 44%, not a decline. This is an outrageous and deceptive statement by our city manager. You be the judge. Look at the figures. Why are they voting a rate increase on the residents of Sidney when they make over $1 million in profits each year? This will put an increased hardship on many families in Sidney, and for what? More spending...... Shameful.

Sidney Audits Exhibit H, 2018-2024
https://changecheyenne.com/images/PDF/Sidney_Audits_Exhibit_H.pdf
Look towards the bottom for Income.
Also, notice how our "Net Position" at the bottom increases each year. There is no loss!

08/20/2025

Good Morning, Sidney and Cheyenne County,
It is time to wake up. Look at this map. These are homes for sale in Sidney. It has doubled this year so far. Look at the prices. One listed just 2 months ago is now $16,000 cheaper. Why? People are leaving, homes aren't selling. Why? Because they can no longer afford Sidney. I have seen it before.

PLEASE read this article. Takes 2 minutes. This is the LB644 meeting from 3 years ago. Read the last paragraph. It says Jansen, who owns the Sidney Fine Art Center, spoke for 24 minutes. The article did not say I quoted study after study. Statistics showing how a huge tax increase that year would slowly destroy the downtown and the community. Taxes destroy. https://panhandle.newschannelnebraska.com/story/47368528/residents-voice-concerns-on-taxes-transparency-at-cheyenne-county-joint-public-hearing?fbclid=IwY2xjawMSG0tleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETE3N09NWTNKRG12a2Nocm1iAR5b3kyR_xWH_vcOwjFldsM5zg7QuMI-P6TyN13USjS5hjlgC9MlS6PsXuC4sA_aem_wAPCEzX62m4RKEfEagt_pg

Read in the article where Commissioner Miller said that because of the cost of gasoline and other factors, they have to raise taxes 8%. Yes, gasoline in June of 2022 hit $5 a gallon. But that was only an excuse. The County had spent too much money on new buildings for our County Attorney. Wasted dollars. Today, the average gasoline is $3.25 a gallon. (link below) Did we ever get our 8% tax increase back now that gasoline is much cheaper? Nope. Because no politician here cuts spending or gives it back.

I lived and worked in Southern California. I moved 13 hours away to a small community in Northern California in 1982 when special interests destroyed our community with high taxes and regulations. Over the next 20 years, those spenders, those special interests, took over our community in Northern California. Destroying the salmon fishing, hunting, and amazing coastlines I moved there for. Destroying businesses. Spending billions to support the ever-increasing Hollywood lifestyle. Rich and famous. Spending billions that no one had. I got out. I moved to Pennsylvania.

We are a small rural Nebraska town. We are not a big city. I love our gravel roads, friendly neighbors, and small community. It is being destroyed by people trying to turn us into something we are not. Raising taxes, spending money on silly things like pickleball courts when people are having a difficult time just paying the electric bill. You invest in people first, then once they are successful, you invest in the luxuries. We spend too much time trying to be something we are not, and we are destroying the future for our kids. The harsh reality is that California is coming here. It needs to stop. We are Nebraska. I came here for Nebraska.

3 more homes for sale in Sidney this week. 3 more! We have about 70 homes for sale. Last year, it was less than ½ of that. The cost of living in Sidney is too high. For 3 years, I have been fighting ridiculous spending and high taxes. Time to make some noise. Time to save our community. We need to cut taxes and lean out our spending before it is too late. People matter. They are the key to a successful community, just like customers are to a business. Take care of them first.

Price of Gasoline
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/leafhandler.ashx?f=m&n=pet&s=emm_epm0_pte_nus_dpg

08/19/2025

Good Morning, Sidney and Cheyenne County,
Let's look at this electric issue. How many here knew the city was spending $4,000,000 last year on new generators? Why didn't we have a public hearing to make sure everyone knew about this?

So what is the truth about this rate increase, massive spending on generators and use of reserves? Well, the latest I heard directly from our city leadership was that these generators were only to be used in emergencies. Then we heard and documented other plans where they can be used to boost power for such things as small data centers that can come to Sidney. Then let's all go back to the 2024 election and Councilman Radcliffe's answer to a question. “𝐼'𝑚 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 (ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛 2024) 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑓𝑦 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡-𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑖𝑥𝑒𝑑. 𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑢𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡.”

Which is it? These so-called dreams and schemes never work. How much are those solar panels helping us?

So what IS the plan? Are these generators truly for emergencies, or are they to sell power back? Are they to help power a small data center or other business? Will they do all that and more? The story keeps changing. And why, for heaven's sake, haven't they had a public meeting and asked us?

How are we paying for them? Councilman Radcliffe said we can sell some electricity back to the supplier. The document filed with the state (link below) says it will be paid for with the budget and reserve cash on hand. We have over $8,000,000 in the fund. More than enough. Now, the city is discussing a potential massive rate increase to help pay for them, to save the reserves for future needs when data centers and electric cars put a strain on our electricity in Sidney.

Everyone needs to watch the council meeting from last week. Link below. Why? Because our city doesn't even know how much money we will need for this entire situation. The city manager is not sure how many reserves will be needed this year if they don't increase rates. Isn't that his job? He doesn't have the answers.

So they don't have an idea how much money will be needed from the reserves, but they DO know we need a 24% rate increase to cover it? How is that possible? How did you come up with a 24% increase when you don't show how much money, if any, we will lose without a rate increase? Show us your calculations. This is utter insanity. Raising rates without a clue, and we will be paying for it. More businesses will close. More people will leave. I have never seen a government that is supposed to serve the interests of the people run like this. Insanity.

City Council Meeting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtaUBH9UUuk

Document Filed with State of Nebraska
https://changecheyenne.com/images/PDF/PRB-4039-G%20--%20City%20of%20Sidney.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawMRP6VleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETE4NDNrb09GaUhDZldPQktUAR7xxksKQwY_zepxjkDGCxyIGtb4lluzqHjOWHKOft4vfAznWmoq4ZpJL1fP3w_aem_N56h_wDHQglIRwwhLrPvDw

08/15/2025

Where are we going? What is our plan?
I like gravel roads. Drive on them every day. They mean I am not in the traffic of a big city. I completely disagree with Councilman Kerkman saying we shouldn't use reserve money to lessen the impact of high electricity rates because we need to save those reserves in case more electric cars and data centers come to Sidney. Data centers don't go with gravel. Yes, cover reserves in case of storms. I agree with that. How much do you need? No one at the last council meeting actually knew how much money it would take!

MEAN (Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska) will raise WHOLESALE power rates 9.8% this year. https://www.nmppenergy.org/news/mean-board-approves-rate-adjustment-2025-26

Nebraska Public Power District says the rate increase will be about $3.25 on the average household in Nebraska. They actually say on their website less than the average cost of a donut and coffee.
https://www.nppd.com/accounts-billing/your-rates/2025-rate-faqs

So why 24% Sidney? To cover the purchase of $4,000,000 in new generators that some want to save for data centers? Use the generators to sell power? Is our City Manager dragging us into yet another get-rich scheme that will end up costing us millions like he has in the past? This is NOT what they filed with the State of Nebraska.
https://changecheyenne.com/images/PDF/PRB-4039-G%20--%20City%20of%20Sidney.pdf

Sidney, yesterday my neighbor moved. Young family, 3 kids. He tried finding good work here so he could buy a home. He is a veteran. Tried for over 2 years. Last year, he got a great job with the state of Colorado. He commuted, wanting to stay in Sidney. Couldn't find a home in Sidney that they could afford. Yesterday they told us they bought a home in Colorado and they moved. This is not unique, Sidney. This is just another story.

Next week, we will be launching a website with a lot of information about where our money is going. Things you should know. We will also outline what we can do as taxpayers and voters to bring accountability to these representatives who do not work for the good of the people. Yes, we will outline all the steps we need to recall and let you decide if it is going to happen. Until then, share our posts. Comment that helps distribution. We need everyone. They vote in just over a week. We can stop this. Like, share, comment, and go on every social media page you know and say we need change. CHANGE! We need to remember we are a small rural Nebraska town. We don't mind gravel roads. We help each other. We don't need get-rich schemes. We need lower taxes, better-paying jobs, and much better representation. More coming.....

08/13/2025

Good Morning, Sidney and Cheyenne County,
Those of us who watched the city council meeting last night now know to get ready for a massive electrical rate increase. Everyone should watch the meeting on YouTube. Buckle up, Sidney, a massive rate increase is coming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtaUBH9UUuk

The rate increase and use of reserve funds instead of such a large rate increase were debated. We were impressed with Councilman Lee's suggestion of a smaller 1-year rate increase followed by revisiting it a year from now to see if any more are needed. Seemed like a reasonable compromise that would reduce the negative impact on the residents. No one else on the council voted for it. It failed. What did pass was Councilman Kerkman's 2-year massive rate increase. Councilman Kerkman, Kuhns, and Mayor Bondegard voted for a 2-year massive electrical rate increase. Councilman Lee voted against it. Councilman Radcliffe was absent.

As far as using reserves to reduce the impact of the rate hike, councilman Kerkman expressed concern for future storms and the increasing use of electric cars, and future data centers on the electrical demand. So he felt it unwise to spend any reserves, to reduce the impact on residents and businesses, because of the growing demand for power, especially in electric cars, here in Sidney.

For us, the disturbing part of the meeting was when the City Manager David Scott called “A Point of Order”, and stopped councilman Lee's line of questions. I used Robert's Rules of Order and parliamentary procedures in many board meetings for over 20 years. A point of order under those rules can only be called by a voting member, in other words, a sitting city council member. It then has to be ruled on by the presiding officer, which in our case is the Mayor. None of that happened. It came to a stop with our City Manager raised an objection. Now, maybe Sidney flies by their own rules, but there is no way a city manager has the authority to call a point of order on a voting councilman. It should never be done. We will be checking with the state officials of Nebraska to see if Sidney has violated the law.

Watch the meeting, everyone. Watch your representatives at work. Watch our little part of the panhandle evaporate because of concern for electric cars. In any event, get ready for a massive electrical rate increase. It seems this issue has already been decided by some on the city council.

08/12/2025

I usually start each post with good morning. But today it is not. Yesterday, while digging through state records, we came across a couple of documents. Here is one of them....
https://changecheyenne.com/images/PDF/PRB-4039-G%20--%20City%20of%20Sidney.pdf
There is more.

All along, city leaders knew exactly why they wanted an electrical rate increase. They spent $4,200,615.80 without consulting or telling the residents of Sidney. It never made sense to us why we needed a rate increase when our electrical department has made millions in profits in the last couple of years. Now we know the city was hiding a huge purchase. Over $4 million, which equates to over $1,300 per household in Sidney. Your money. They took it without telling you. $4 million dollars.

Here is the really disturbing part...... On July 22, just a few weeks ago, David Scott, City Manager, wrote a memo saying the council was concerned about “declining net revenues” and the costs of energy. He was setting the table for a massive 24% electrical rate increase. We questioned that because in 2024 the net position exceeded that of 2023. The electrical department is making money! We have learned over the last couple of years that our City Manager plays a game called “word perfect”. He said “net revenues”. Yes, you spend $4 million dollars of your profits, of course, your revenues go down. Now, we know the truth. It is from spending, and we found a document with the state of Nebraska, not Sidney. He deceived all of us. This is a blatant “violation of the public trust”. His memo is deceptive, and the council should have addressed it, but they didn't tell us either. They play his game.

We are not going to argue the need for the generators because it is a good idea. We need backups. But $4 million in spending should have been placed on the ballot for the people to decide. It was not. It would have been so easy since this document was signed in September, and we have an election in November. Easy to present it to the resident and ask for a vote. They didn't.

From this point on, don't ask us to believe a single thing the city or the city manager says. They deceived us with this document and hid a $4 million purchase. They want a rate increase when even John Krajewski, whom they hired to evaluate it, said we can do this purchase without a rate increase. He said that at the meeting. They will force a rate increase on us, just watch. It is a very sad day.....

Here is David Scott's memo... Never mentions revenues going down because we spent $4 million dollars.....
https://changecheyenne.com/images/PDF/David%20Scott%20Memo.jpg

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