Fremont Mayor Dev Sookram highlighted the city’s accomplishments during his first State of the City address Tuesday at the Fremont Golf Club.
Sookram, the former Fremont City Council president, ascended to mayor when former Mayor Joey Spellerberg accepted the job as Nebraska Treasurer in November.
U.S. Rep Mike Flood
Sookram was introduced by U.S. Rep. Mike Flood. The congressman gave a brief synopsis of Sookram’s work history and added that Spellerberg is confident in his replacement’s abilities.
“I can tell you that Joey talked to me and he said that Dev is going to do a great job,” Flood said. “He said (Dev) understands how the City of Fremont works. He’s been in the trenches and he’ll do a wonderful job.”
Sookram thanked Spellerberg for his leadership, faith and vision for the community. He said the city had numerous accomplishments in 2025.
“Fremont has good momentum going into 2026 and I expect it to continue with a strong city council and a professional staff,” the mayor said.
Sookram noted there were many achievements last year, including fiscal responsibility, housing and business expansion, downtown revitalization, street infrastructure improvements, workforce development, investment in public safety and essential work bridging cultural gaps in bringing the community together.
The mayor said that fiscal responsibility is a core value of Fremont.
“In 2025, we continued to take the conservative approach with the passage of the 2026-27 biennial budget,” he said. “The City of Fremont’s portion of the local property tax levy is the second-lowest of all first-class cities in eastern Nebraska and the sixth-lowest of all 31 first-class cities in the state.”
Sookram said that while valuations in Fremont have grown over 67 percent in the past five years, the city’s property tax request has only increased on average less than one percent per year.
“This accomplishment has been based on the city’s conservative budgeting and spending over the last decade,” he said. “Now, Fremont is an example that even during record inflation, population growth and business expansions, we can still control spending and improve services and accomplish our major projects.”
