Seward County will hire a full-time employee to direct the county’s emergency management programs and serve as an assistant in the zoning office.
The decision by Seward County commissioners on Dec. 30 will end the county’s 17-year collaboration with York County to share an emergency management director, pending completion of an action to waive the county’s notification requirement to sever its ties with York County, which was to be added to the Jan. 6 agenda.
Commission Chair Misty Ahmic worked with Commissioner Scott Pekarek and County Attorney Wendy Elston on staffing options and brought the emergency management-zoning split to the commissioners for consideration.
It was one of several ideas posed after longtime Emergency Management Director Gary Petersen announced his retirement in December.
At that time, commissioners expressed concern about one person being responsible for Seward and York counties when both could be affected by the same storms. Creating the new combined job would allow the person to remain in Seward County even if the emergency management position is part-time.
The job description commissioners approved includes emergency management functions such as maintaining the local emergency management agency operations, updating and revising plans for local emergency management, crisis communication, and managing situations were there is debris or fatalities, as well as disaster status reports, maintaining a relationwhip with the Nebraska and federal emergency management agencies and being on call 24 hours a day.
The zoning assistant role includes preparing documents, assisting residents seeking zoning information or action, and a variety of clerical, communication and reporting duties.
The job description was approved with an annual pay rate of $51,329, which Ahmic said aligns with the Nebraska Association of County Officials (NACO) salary study guidelines.
In other action, the commissioners:
• Appointed Christine Blanke and reappointed Christine Haney, both of Seward, to terms on the Seward County Extension Board running through 2028.
• Approved four individual fee and mileage reports for October and November for the Seward County Sheriff’s Office.
• Approved a short form plat for Ernst Acres in F Precinct of Township 11 North separating 5.01 acres from a 25.91-acre parcel of land.
• Deferred an agenda item to discuss the Seward County Sheriff’s Office flock cameras to a time when the sheriff could attend the meeting.
• Approved a memorandum of understanding for the Veterans Software Agreement with the Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Discussed the purchase of a used motor grader and trading in currently owned equipment utilizing Inheritance Fund pending a purchasing agreement to be brought back to the commissioners at a future meeting.
