KIMBALL -- The City Council continued to review the changes being made to the Contractor Registration ordinance #848 in the meeting Tuesday evening.

The council began the process of updating the ordinance in the meeting Dec. 2 to be more detailed and precise. 

“This goes back to discussion with the building permit process and making sure that contractors are registered and viable contractors,” said City Administrator Annette Brower. “This will basically require all contractors in town to register with the city, then we will verify that they are registered with the State of Nebraska as well and that they are properly insured – not just for city purposes but for the homeowners as well.” 

Brower said the city has at least two dozen registered contractors that do work in Kimball who are either local or come from out of town occasionally to work. 

The city has sent letters to the registered contractors to inform them of the changes being made. 

Council member Austin Garner suggested adding a grace period for local contractors to get registered if they aren’t already. 

The biggest change is the addition of the homeowner exemption and the landlord non-exemption, which means that the homeowner will be exempt from the contractor registration fee as long as he/she is the sole owner of the residence and is the primary resident of the property; however, landlords are not considered under homeowner exemptions, said City Building Inspector Rod Sterkel. 

A landlord is required to be registered with the city and the state if they are doing significant remodeling or construction on the property that would otherwise require them to pull a permit. 

“If the general public is involved as tenants, we want to make sure the landlord is following code, so it is safe for everybody to occupy,” he said. 

For example, Brower said, “If I am the resident, and it’s my house, I am the homeowner, but if I own two or three other properties, I cannot do work on those properties under the homeowners exemption because I am a landlord and it’s being resided in by the public.” 

The council decided to add an addendum to the homeowner's extension to allow homeowners who have a secondary home that is not occupied by residents and is not planned to be rented to the public, then they would be allowed to make the same changes under the homeowner's exemption. 

“The intent is not to be burdensome to the landlords because I know we have several in town, we just want to keep everybody following the same guidelines,” Brower said. 

Garner also suggested in the meeting Tuesday evening to add a list of the items that are considered structural, so it is clear what is covered and what is not. 

The final approval has not been made as the council continues to make any necessary changes. 

Brian Johnson of Johnson Construction said: “With what we see as contractors going in and doing remodels, not having had any inspections or codes followed, there are a lot of structural things that are not up to where it should be because no one has been held accountable, so whatever steps we're taking is in the right direction. It’s in everybody’s best interest that we’re doing this and getting quality work done in Kimball.”