Nebraska City Municipal Code Book, Chapter 12, Article II
DUTIES (for complete description, see the Municipal Code):
12-29. The dock board shall from time to time adopt rules and regulations consistent with the provisions of this chapter and state law, which shall be adopted by resolution and shall be recorded in a book kept by the board and known as the book of rules and regulations. Such rules and regulations shall be in force and effect after one (1) publication in some legal newspaper published in or circulating in the city.
12-31. The dock board shall have the power and it shall be its duty for and in behalf of the city to prepare or cause to be prepared a comprehensive general plan for the construction and improvement of its harbor, waterfront, dock, and terminal facilities as it may deem necessary, to promote commerce and for the convenient and economical accommodation and handling of watercraft of all kinds and of freight and passengers, and the free interchange, receipt, and delivery of traffic between water and land transportation agencies. Such plan shall be filed in the office of the board and be open to public inspection, and may from time to time be changed, altered or amended by the board, as the requirements of shipping and commerce and the advance of knowledge and information on the subject may suggest. The board shall procure or construct such harbor, waterfront, dock, and terminal facilities in accord with such plan.
12-32. The dock board shall have power to purchase or acquire by any lawful means, such personal property and lands or rights or interest therein, including easements and leaseholds, as may be necessary for use in the provision and in the construction of any publicly owned harbor and terminal facilities and appurtenances as provided for in such plan as may be adopted by the board. If the board shall deem it proper and expedient that the city shall acquire possession or ownership of such property and lands or rights or interest therein, including easement and leaseholds, and no price can be agreed upon by the board and the owner or owners thereof, the board may cause legal proceedings to be taken to acquire same for the city by the exercise of the right of eminent domain hereby conferred. The procedure to condemn property shall be exercised in the manner set forth in state law. The title of all lands, property, and rights acquired by the board shall vest in the city.
12-33. The city may turn over any property owned by it to the dock board to be controlled by it; and the board shall have exclusive charge and control of all such property turned over to it and all harbor and water terminal structures, facilities, and appurtenances connected therewith, and which the city or the board may acquire under the provisions hereof or otherwise. The board shall have the exclusive charge and control of the building, rebuilding, alteration, repairing, operation and leasing of said property, and every part thereof, and of the cleaning, grading, paving, sewering, dredging and deepening necessary in and about the same.
12-34. The dock board is hereby vested with jurisdiction and authority over that part of any street and alley and public grounds of the city which may abut upon or intersect its navigable waters, lying between the harbor line and the first intersecting street measuring backward from high watermark, to the extent only that may be necessary or requisite in carrying out the powers vested in it by this article and state law. It is hereby declared that such jurisdiction and authority shall include the right to build retaining or quay walls, docks, levees, wharves, piers, warehouses or other constructions, including belt railways and railway switches, across and upon such streets and alleys and public grounds and all other property owned or acquired by it or by the city for such purposes, and to grade, fill, and pave the same to conform to the general level of the wharf, or for suitable approaches thereto; provided, that such improvements shall be paid out of funds in the hands of the board and not be assessment against abutting property.
12-35. The dock board is also vested with exclusive regulation and control of the harbor and the waterfront within or abutting upon the territorial limits of the city, consistent with the laws of the United States governing navigation, and may make reasonable rules and regulations governing the traffic and use thereof, and to promote the sanitary condition of said harbor and waterfront and to prevent the pollution of the waters within said harbor and governing the use and improvement of riparian land, and structures thereon, within and abutting upon the territorial limits of the city.
12-36. The dock board shall have authority, either alone or jointly with any similar body, to petition any interstate commerce commission, railway commission or any like body or any federal, municipal, state or local authority, administrative, executive, judicial or legislative, having jurisdiction in the premises, for any relief, rates, charges, regulations or action which in the opinion of said body may be designed to improve or better the handling of commerce in and through the said harbor or port, or improve terminal or transportation facilities therein. It may intervene before any such body in any proceeding affecting the commerce of said harbor or port and in any such matters, the board shall be considered, along with other interested persons, one of the official representatives of the district in which said harbor or port is situated. The board shall have the authority to promote maritime and commercial interests of the harbor or port by the proper advertisement of its advantages and by the solicitation of business, through agencies established within or without said harbor or port within the United States or in foreign countries; and it shall endeavor to bring to the attention of the people of this state, and of other states which may be properly served by the harbor or port, the economical advantages to be derived from the use of the harbor or port and its facilities.
12-37. The dock board shall have the power to fix and regulate and from time to time to alter the tolls, fees, and other charges for all facilities under its management and control and for the use thereof, which charges shall be collectible by the board and shall be reasonable and with the view of defraying the capital expenditures, interest charges, maintenance and operating expenses, and indebtedness of the board in constructing and operating the improvements and works herein authorized. The charges shall be adopted by resolution and shall be recorded in the board’s book of rules and regulations. A schedule of such charges shall be enacted by the board, and a certified copy thereof shall be transmitted to the city clerk in like manner as other rules and regulations of the board, and the clerk shall forthwith cause the same to be published in the same manner as other rules and regulations of the board, and such charges shall be in force and effect from and after the date of publication.
APPOINTMENT & COMPOSITION:
12-19. The dock board shall be composed of seven (7) members, who shall be known as commissioners of public docks.
12-21. The commissioners of the dock board shall be appointed by the mayor and council.
TERM:
12-22. The commissioners of the dock board shall, serve for terms of three (3) years each; provided however, that such commissioners shall be appointed in such fashion that their terms shall be staggered.
CURRENT MEMBERS:
| Dan Swanson | Cleon Popelka |
| Deb Weddle | Lynn Heng |
| David Messing | Doug Friedli |
| Emil Vollman (Chair) |
DEPARTMENT CONTACT:
City Administration, Randy Dunster, City Clerk, 402-873-5515