BEATRICE – Eighteen years of service will be leaving the Beatrice City Council in early December. Second Ward Councilman Rick Clabaugh, a retired pharmacy owner, has served ten years on the city council. Fourth Ward Councilman Joe Billesbach, a local jewelry business owner, is completing eight years on the body.
Clabaugh was initially appointed to fill the position of a councilman who moved out of his ward.


"I really didn't have an agenda, at all...I just thought I might enjoy being on the city council. As it turned out, I absolutely loved it as time went on. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it really was a privilege and an honor to serve ward two."


Billesbach…well known for riding his bicycle to council meetings in all types of weather… said there really is a lot of work serving on the city council and there has to be a willingness to listen to ideas.


"You have to have an open mind. You have to work together with other people, and you can't go just off what the public says. Lots of times, people have their own opinion and you see it out on social media, but they don't have all the facts. I love to listen to everybody's opinion and form my own opinion. I think we've done a really good job over the years of working together and getting stuff accomplished."


Clabaugh says sometimes good things can arise when you maybe least expect them to. He cites as a recent example a move by a company to upgrade to a high-speed fiber network in the community. That happened after meeting with several potential companies over a period of time.


"We had several companies we thought we were going to land and for one reason or another it didn't. That was one of the things I really wanted to accomplish before I got off the council. And then, here in the last month...we had somebody who contacted us...they kind of fell into our lap, and so hopefully every house in Beatrice will...if they want...will be able to have fiber to the home...which I think will be awesome for the city and will really catch us up to where we need to be with connectivity."


Over the years, Billesbach says constituent-initiated contact has not really been frequent.  "I get a lot of people that stop into the store and talk to me. Not a lot, but probably two, three times a month. Or, somebody will call me. But, it isn't a weekly deal like some people have, I guess. But, I do talk when I'm out, to a lot of people. They know I'm a sounding board and they voice their opinion. I take it back to the Mayor or Tobias (Tempelmeyer) and get the answers. I used to get a lot of calls on little things, you know....my wire's hanging down in my back yard....and, have you called the city yet and checked with them? Because, I can't come out there and do it myself. So, I usually relay the messages to who needs to know."


Clabaugh says direct public input can be scarce.  "Over the ten years, I bet I didn't have fifteen, twenty calls in ten years. There just wasn't that much, and usually it was a major thing to them, but it wasn't about the taxes or anything like that. It was something like the light's out or something like that. But, when you're out in the public, you'll have people that will ask you about things, so that's when you have the most interaction, I think, with constituents."


Neither councilman completely ruled out possibly serving in a public elected capacity in the future. Taking their places on the Beatrice City Council in early December and winning council seats in the election will be Dave Eskra in the Second Ward….and Duane Ruh in the Fourth Ward.