At its 2026 reorganizational meeting on Jan. 13, the Seward County Board of Commissioners unanimously re-elected Misty Ahmic as chair and Darrell Zabrocki as vice chair for both the board of commissioners and the board of equalization.
The board also approved the list of liaison roles with each commissioner being assigned to multiple county offices and/or boards, as well as external organizations such as the Nebraska Intergovernmental Risk Management Association, Seward/Saline Solid Waste Management Board, Four Corners Health Department and Blue Valley Community Action Board.
Commissioner Raegan Hain was the only person to vote against the 2026 liaison assignments after commissioners discussed a request to have the same commissioners work with the sheriff’s office and the Seward County Detention Center. Commissioners Scott Pekarek and Zabrocki were assigned to work with the sheriff’s office several months ago as the commissioners monitored the department’s work with the Seward County Drug Interdiction program and federal reimbursements from their forfeiture program.
Previously Hain had worked with both the sheriff’s office and the jail. She had remained the liaison for the jail until this meeting, when the separate liaison for the jail was removed from the list.
Ahmic said she had also asked Sheriff Mike Vance to attend commissioners meetings when agenda topics deal with the jail. She also noted any commissioner can contact any department with questions.
Zabrocki noted that the sheriff’s office, including the jail, and the highway department are the two largest departments in the county, and Hain and Ahmic are assigned liaisons to the highway department.
As part of the January reorganizational agenda, the board appointed Dr. Connie Novak or any other physician at Memorial Health Care Systems to serve as the coroner’s physician as requested by the coroner, a duty filled by County Attorney Wendy Elston.
The board also approved bank depositories and the Seward County Independent and its website for official publications.
Following on the previous week’s setting of salaries for elected officials, the board approved wages for the deputy assessor, deputy county clerk, deputy clerk of district court and deputy treasurer at $34.42 per hour and the deputy of elections at $32.27 per hour.
The chief deputy attorney’s salary was set at 80% of the county attorney’s salary and special deputy attorney’s salary at 64%.
Clerk Brandy Johnson was appointed the county’s budget-making authority and Assessor Marilyn Hladky was appointed the residential and ag land valuation authority, both of which bring additional stipends to their salaries.
Ahmic also noted for the commissioners that during the time the county is seeking a new emergency management director in conjunction with the zoning assistant role, the sheriff and highway superintendent will work together to deal with snow emergencies.
In other kinds of emergencies, the sheriff, county attorney, Ahmic and possibly the highway superintendent will be asked to coordinate responses.
In other action the board:
• Following a public hearing at which no one spoke, approved plans to vacate a 2,700-foot section of Rokeby Road in Sections 25 and 36 in Township 9.
• Approved a $79,783 bid to fence the Missile Base Road Shop, which would be paid from the Inheritance Fund.
• Approved a one-year rental of a skid loader from NMC CAT for the highway department.
• Approved the highway department’s purchase of a remanufactured engine for a motor grader at a cost of $80,034 to be paid from the Inheritance Fund.
• Approved highway department plans to seek bids for the purchase of a used motor grader.
• Approved a quote from Ehlers Electronics to transfer the camera system from the Public Transit Department’s bus to its van, which could run up to $2,000.
• Approved a request to seek bids for a Safe Streets and Roads for All grant-related feasibility study by Feb. 3.
• Met in executive session to discuss personnel for 36 minutes.
• In other action as the Board of Equalization, the commissioners approved vehicle tax exemptions for churches and other nonprofit organizations, 14 tax list corrections and one tax refund.
