After getting approval for the appointment of new City Council member Kim Christensen, newly appointed Mayor James Schnell told the Kimball City Council that some direction needed to be given for the Phase II part of the annexation project.Schnell was appointed Mayor after former Mayor Greg Dinges resigned at the last council meeting. By becoming Mayor, it left two vacancies on the city council. First was his seat and second was the position of council president, which was Schnell’s position at the time of the appointment to Mayor.  Before the council tackled the annexation issue, Council Member Ann Warner was voted to become the new council president. During Wednesday nights meeting, Schnell told the council that the annexation project has been going on for a while and a decision needed to be made to either move forward, downsize the annexation or cancel it all together.The annexation project first went before a public forum on April 29, 2009 at the Kimball County Planning Commission meeting. Phase I of the annexation took place last May and included the areas east of Kimball for the rail spur project. Phase II includes several residential areas that currently have city utilities, the fairgrounds, and the cemetery.Council members Kim Baliman and Scott Haun said at this time they would only be interested in annexing the fairgrounds, the state of Nebraska building, and the cemetery. “We need to focus on the areas that will promote growth,” said Baliman, “areas like the fairgrounds and to the east by the bypass.”Council President Warner took a moment to go over the map that City Manager Harold Farrar had projected onto the wall. She questioned Farrar on each of the properties and clarified which properties were or were not receiving services from the city of Kimball. While the council pondered their next move, property owners Steve and Dianne Diemoz expressed their desire not to be annexed into the city.  Also expressing a lack of desire for annexation was Ann Perry.Considering the annexation of just the three parcels, Christensen asked, “By piece mealing the properties in this way, are we setting a policy that will make this more difficult in the future?”Both Farrar and City Attorney Darrell Huenegardt said no, it would not. With that cleared, the council directed Huenegardt to draft a resolution for the annexation of the fairgrounds, the cemetery and the state building only. Perry asked if the council had plans for a Phase III to the annexation.“Unless the council directs it, there is no plans at this time,” Farrar said. Before moving on to new business Warner said that although there are properties being left out of the current Phase II annexation, it doesn’t mean that those properties couldn’t be annexed at a different date. Water TruckIn other business Farrar presented to the city council a request to purchase a water truck for the city. Farrar said the current water truck is at least 40 years old and they are finding it difficult to get parts for it. The replacement truck would be purchased in used condition for just over $11,000 less than what was originally budgeted. “We originally budgeted $25,000 for a water truck and $15,000 for a snow plow,” Farrar said. The truck would cost the city $13,950. Warner asked if Farrar had checked with the fire department to see if they had a truck that was no longer able to meet water pressure standards. She said she understood that there was one there and would like to have Farrar check into it. Farrar said that he would but reminded the council that the truck they are looking at buying is used and might not be available by the next council meeting. Farrar also explained that because the item was already budgeted for, he technically did not need the council to approve the purchase. By presenting it to them now he was keeping them informed of the purchase.The council approved the purchase of the truck pending research of any available truck at the local fire department. Once a truck is obtained, Farrar said the old truck my be relegated to the landfill for use there. After hearing reports about different conferences the council agreed not to have another meeting in October because of scheduling issues. They will instead meet on Nov. 4.