(KTNC) --  The Falls City, City Council, received the fourth quarter report from Falls City Economic Development and Growth Enterprise, and the Year-end Library Report Monday night.
 Executive Director Beckie Cromer presented the EDGE report.  She provided an update on a few projects the organization was involved with in the latter part of the year. 
 Cromer said Airlanco submitted its second quarter employment retention report, which notes 81 employees.
 The North Highway 73 Development that Cromer had mentioned in a previous report didn't materialize.  Cromer said that was due largely to the cost of land for the proprosed project - $26,000 an acre.  Cromer said the client appears to have found an alternate location in Falls City.
 Cromer said EDGE also helped Tom Townsend find an alterate location for the ambulance squad after the hospital sold the house they were located in.
 Employment numbers at Falls City industries looked strong at the end of the year.  Cromer said Vantec, Airlanco, and WASP were at five-year highs in terms of numbers of employees.
 Cromer noted that EDGE has submitted an application to the Department of Economic Development for Falls City to be recertified as an Economic Development Certified Community, and EDGE is working with Excel Development on the second phase of the Wilderness Falls housing development.
 Cromer also said that the Department of Economic Development sent out 43 requests for proposals to communities in 2013 from businesses looking to locate in Nebraska.  Falls City did not qualify for any of those opportunities, and Cromer speculated that was due to limited power capacity.
 Library Director Hope Schawang presented the Library’s annual report.  She thanked the Library staff, Pat Deckinger, Kathy Kirkendall, and Dianne Hinz, along with the Library Trustees, the Library and Community Foundation of Richardson County, and volunteers, who worked more than one thousand hours at the Library last year. 
 A statistical review shows more than 41,000 separate visits to the library in 2013 by more than 4,100 patrons, and a total circulation of nearly 143,000. 
 In the Library’s three-year plan, Schawang says they’d like to expand the number of hours the Library is open.  But, she says they can’t do that with their current staffing numbers, with only four full-time staff members. 
 Schawang said she proposed hiring a couple part-time staff members to allow the Library to be open additional hours, but that wasn’t included in the budget for this year.  Council member Judy Murphy agreed and said she’d like to see the Library open not only on Fridays, but also on Saturday afternoons.  The Falls City Library is open from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9:00 a.m. till noon on Saturday.
 Schawang also noted in her report that the library received nearly $35,000 in 2013 from the Gates Foundation and the Nebraska Library Commission for 23 new public access computers.