City buildings being closed; library receives grants

By GREG SCELLIN
Signal Editor

The Geneva City Council worked through a light agenda at the council’s March 16 regularly-scheduled meeting.
Geneva Mayor Eric Kamler began the meeting giving the council, staff and an audience of about 10 several updates. He noted some changes made to State Sen. Tom Brandt’s LB1150 proposal that would call for boys-only at the Kearney YRTC and have Geneva be the major location for female youth in the Nebraska YRTC system. He also mentioned that the new Geneva Dog park should be operational in about 10 days and a formal ribbon-cutting is planned for the spring. He also commented that he attended the March 10 mock spill exercise at Fortigen.
Geneva City Administrator Kyle Svec noted that observers at the demonstration commented that they were impressed at how well all the entities worked together.

“I think the drill went really, really good,” Geneva Fire Chief Mike Grothe said. “It also showed some places where we can get better.”
The largest portion of the meeting was spent addressing the current, and ever-changing COVID-19 pandemic. Fillmore County Hospital (FCH) CEO Chris Nichols outlined the screening process that is now being used at the hospital in Geneva. He said people will be given verbal commands when they enter FCH and should always call ahead before they come. Also, if they have any health concerns, there first call should be made to their provider. He also discussed the new guidelines for hospital employees.
Fillmore County Sheriff Bill Burgess said there is currently no visitation allowed at the FC Jail.
Kamler outlined a protocol system that will be followed inside the Geneva City Limits. One coronavirus positive in Fillmore County will start a series of events and a second positive in the county will cause more triggers to happen.
“We want to take the proper steps to mitigate the spread of this virus,” Kamler said. “This is a very uncertain time…we have a good number of elderly in town and we have to protect this population. These are some very important steps to take.”