Unclear is how change will impact nearly completed effort to pick a new director of 146-year-old agency
By Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner
Published: Apr. 15, 2024 at 3:57 PM CDT
LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner) - The Board of Trustees of History Nebraska took initial steps Friday to make the transition from an independent entity to a “code” agency under the control of the governor.
The board, meeting in Kearney, decided to begin reaching out to the Governor’s Office and the Department of Administrative Services to discern what changes need to take place.
‘Never been a code agency’
“We’ve never been a code agency,” said Sean Flowerday, who chairs the History Nebraska Board of Trustees. “We want toreach out to start a conversion and see how a transition would look.”
One unresolved question is what happens to the selection of a new executive director for History Nebraska, an effort that was suspended earlier this year after a search was narrowed to four finalists.
Under a bill given final approval earlier this week, the governor will choose the executive director, rather than the Board of Trustees.
History Nebraska, formerly known as the Nebraska State Historical Society, has been an independent state entity since its founding in 1878, 11 years after the founding of the state.
It operates a state museum in Lincoln, as well as historic sites from Chimney Rock in Nebraska’s Panhandle to the Thomas P. Kennard House in Lincoln. It also publishes a history magazine, erects historical markers across the state and serves as the official archive of Nebraska’s history.
Board to be advisory panel
But with the passage of Legislative Bill 1169, effective July 18, it will become a “code” agency — like the State Patrol, Heath and Human Services Department and state prison system. The History Nebraska director will report to the governor. The Board of Trustees will become an advisory body, rather than the governing force behind the agency.
LB 1169 was given final approval by lawmakers Thursday on a 39-4 vote. It is expected to be signed by Gov. Jim Pillen, who supported the bill. It will go into effect three months after the 2024 session of the Legislature ends on April 18.
Flowerday emphasized that the goal of History Nebraska is to make the transition as smooth as possible.
“There were board members who were pretty vocally unhappy about it,” he added. “But I think everyone resolved at the end that the best thing was to move forward and make things as smooth as possible.”
Some members of the Board of Trustees had testified against the bill, which was portrayed by its chief sponsor, State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard, as a way toensure greater accountabilityand restore confidence in History Nebraska after recent problems.
One was the arrest of its former director, Trevor Jones,on felony charges of theft by deceptionfor diverting a donation intended to address lost revenue caused by COVID-19 into a fund-raising foundation Jones had set up.
Jones resigned in 2022 shortly before a state audit was released that questioned if he’d broken state law in handling $270,000 in private donations. State law requires such gifts to be deposited with the state treasury.
Jones, 51, has pleaded not guilty andhis case is awaiting a trial.He recently switched attorneys, and is now represented by Mallory Hughes of the Berry Law firm.
Jason Jackson, the director of the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services, said he doesn’t see any “heavy lifts” in the transition given that his agency already provides support to such non-code agencies like History Nebraska.
Both he and Flowerday said they didn’t expect that anyone’s job at History Nebraska would be eliminated in the transition.
Selection of new director suspended
But it’s unclear what might happen to the search for a new executive director. Jill Dolberg, who ran the state historic preservation office, has served as interim director since Jones resigned.
The selection process was suspended earlier this year when it became clear that LB 1169 had support in the Legislature.
Flowerday said he planned to forward to the Governor’s Office the four finalists for the permanent job who had been selected in the search before it was halted.
He said it was unclear if the finalists — who he declined to name — are still interested in the job. Jackson said whether the governor decides to consider those four finalists will be up to him.
Also unclear is what might happen to the History Nebraska Foundation that Jones had created to compete with the long-running, and much better funded, Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation.
The History Nebraska Foundation — where Jones had deposited the COVID-19 donation from the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation — currently has no executive director or staff.
Nebraska Examineris part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nebraska Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Cate Folsom for questions:info@nebraskaexaminer.com. Follow Nebraska Examiner onFacebookandTwitter.
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