NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) – The North Platte City Council held a third unique meeting of the month on Tuesday.

Mayor Brandon Kelliher said the special meeting will allow for a lighter agenda at his next council meeting next Tuesday, Election Day.

“We have a meeting scheduled for election night this year, Nov. 5, and we’re going to have a special meeting in part to make the Nov. 5 meeting as short as possible,” Kelliher said. “I think people should focus on the election and not what their city council is doing that night, so we’re going to try to limit the number of topics and hopefully have a shorter agenda that night.”

Among the special meeting’s action items was final approval of an ordinance to allow solar farms within the city’s jurisdiction.

“I’m probably still in favor of this because I think it maybe tells us that we’re open to doing business with a company that’s thinking about something like this,” District Two Rep. Ty Lucas said. “There was an article recently in the Wall Street Journal about churches adding solar panels because the tax credits are so lucrative. I support passing this so we can turn on the light that we are open for business if a company would like to move to this area if a tax credit is important to them or if they have cultural elements within their company that promote alternative energy. “I think once the county realizes what they are doing, we may have to look at this again.”

Kelliher said there are currently no solar farm developers looking to join the North Platte business community, and emphasized the ordinance was a proactive approach.

“We don’t have anyone lining up, saying, we want to do this right now, but we could do it in the next year, so we thought we should put some ordinances in place,” Kelliher said.

Lincoln County commissioners have discussed similar solar farm ordinances for the county, but have placed a moratorium on all solar farm discussions until their updated comprehensive plan is completed.

The North Platte solar farm ordinance passed with a 5-2 vote, with District One Council member Donna Tryon joining District Four Councilman Mark Woods in voting against the measure.

In other business, the council approved a paving district to allow a major road near Sustainable Beef, LLC to be paved before the winter season.

“I am confident that the Council will tonight award the contract for the paving of Golden Road to the highest bidder and will pave most of Golden Road. The road needs to be paved, preferably before winter, so construction can be completed,” Kelliher said.

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