Highlands Neighborhood Association Minutes

May 21, 2024

Board members present: Rod Hubbard, Rose Klein, Jennifer Hellwege, Brodey Weber and Jacob Leuenberger. Members and guests present: Jon Pfeifer, Lori Watts, Tracy Renner-Smith, Travis Laughlin, Gaylon Masek, and Thomas Shafer.

Rose Klein made a motion to suspend order of business to allow the guests from Lincoln Transportation to speak to us. Seconded by Rod Hubbard. Approved.

Thomas Shafer, Assistant Director of Transportation of LTU, announced that the road work on West Fletcher in on schedule. They will be milling the asphalt June 1-4, and then June 4-7 doing some base repair. First putting in concrete base and then asphalt, then raise manholes and water main openings, then striping. Two of the intersections at 4th, 7th and 12th will remain open.

Mr. Shafer said they should be done by mid to late June, at least by July 4th.  He encouraged people to test their lawn sprinklers, because they could be damaged by the work. He said to contact Galen Masek, Construction Manager, Lincoln Transportation & Utilities, (gmasek@lincoln.ne.gov) if you have any problems.

Mr. Shafer said that there have been problems with heavy trucks driving on West Fletcher. He said that they need to turn left at the bottom of the hill. Tracy Renner-Smith said that there are speeding problems with a Kawasaki shift change at the same time as kids are getting out of school. Brodey Weber said that he has been talking to Police Chief Morrow about speeding through the neighborhood. Brodey said we need police presence to deter speeders.

Tracy Renner-Smith suggested putting speed bumps by Fredstrom School on West Harvest or NW 10th or to add a round-about. Mr. Shafer said to go on Lincoln.ne.gov to make suggestions. Lori Watts came to protest the closing of the crossing at NW 4th and Fletcher. Transportation is proposing a crossing on the East Leg of 4th across Fletcher.

Mr. Shafer said that they are working with the railroad to remove the train tracks on NW 12th south of the Highlands on the way to the Airport. This may be done in late July. In 2025 they will resurface four lanes of NW 12th in that same area. These projects are funded through Lincoln on the Move through our sales taxes. This is to keep up existing roads and do new construction.

Travis Laughlin, LTU Security Manager, said they are trying to get more bang for the buck, doing repairs while it isn’t too late, so they don’t need to start over. He said you can go to Lincoln.ne.gov to search projects for the years 2024, 2025 and 2026. He said that A Street, 56th Street and Randolph need work and are scheduled in the next couple of years. He said they have to spread the Lincoln on the Move money equitably across the city.

Brodey Weber made a motion to accept the minutes of the last meeting as printed and emailed. Seconded by Jacob Leuenberger. Approved.

Jennifer Hellwege read the treasurer’s report. We had twelve new members sign up at garage sale time. We have $1,778.79 in checking and $4,077.78 in savings. Rose Klein made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report and pay all pending bills. Seconded by Brodey Weber. Approved. Rod Hubbard suggested that we give Spirit of Hope Church free ads in our newsletters since they host us for our meetings.

Rose Klein said that she worked at the Goodwill Pick-up with Michelle Birkel. She suggested that in next years Spring Newsletter we remind donators to bring glassware padded and protected in a box, not loose or it may get broken in the Goodwill bins. Jacob Leuenberger said that he had about 29 garage sales listed on the map. Rose Klein announced that we still have two Highlands Neighborhood Association sandwich board signs that can be used to announce meetings and events. She offered them to whoever would like to care for them and put them up for meetings.

Becky Cromer texted us that she has reserved the Highlands Pool for Sunday, July 21 for the Pool Party. We would like to reserve the pool for two hours, from 6-8 pm. Board members should start to solicit door prizes to be given to HNA members at the Pool Party. The deadline for articles for the summer newsletter is June 30th.

This meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm. The next meeting is Tuesday, June 18 at 7 pm at Spirit of Hope Church.