LEXINGTON — The Dawson County Board of Commissioners held their 2025 elections during their first meeting of the year on Wendesday, Jan. 15, selecting Kevin Swanson and PJ Jacobson as president and vice president respectively.
A majority of the agenda items focused on appointments for both the county and the commissioners.
After Swanson was elected for president, he approved the following county reappointments:
- Brian Woldt, ADA coordinator, courthouse building coordinator and Emergency Management director
- Yvonne Rickertsen, cooperative lottery representative
- Mark Christiansen, county highway superintendent and zoning administrator
- Pat Nichols, county highway administrator
- Kevan Hagan, Dawson County weed superintendent
- Michaela Arndt, NIRMA contact
- Rod Reynolds, Spring Creek
- Steve Zerr, Veterans Service administrator.
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Swanson then assigned the following appointments to the commissioners:
- Commissioner Jacobson: Law Enforcement, Region II Human Services, Region II Development and Disability Services, Road Committee, Tower Incorporated and West Central Nebraska Area Agency on Aging.
- Commissioner Bill Stewart: Community Economic Development Board, Courthouse Building Committee, Finance Chairman, Law Enforcement, Railroad Transportation Safety District Board, Two Rivers Public Health Board, and an alternate for the West Central Nebraska Development District.
- Commissioner Joe Richeson: ARPA Funds, Broadband Access, Human Resource Chairman, IT Security and Technology, and Planning and Zoning.
- Commissioner Swanson: Dawson County Extension Board, Dawson County Veterans Service Officer, Dawson County Weed Board, alternate for the Lexington Area Solid Waste Board, Local Emergency Planning Committee and Railroad Transportation Safety District Board.
- Commissioner Rod Reynolds: Courthouse Building Committee, Dawson County Ag Society, Lexington Area Solid Waste Board, Railroad Transportation Safety District and Road Committee.
During one of the main items of the meeting, Christiansen provided details on a conditional use permit application filed by Brandon Kirchner, which the commissioners approved.
Christiansen said Kirchner was seeking approval for a recreational storage track on a 0.48-acre tract in the northwest quarter of the Northeast Quarter of Section 31, Township 9 North, Range 22 West in Dawson County.
“Basically the recreational storage is the primary use for a lot in the lakeside residential area,” Christiansen said. “It’s for private storage, and it’s not for commercial use either. It’s for personal, private use.”
Christiansen said the Planning Commission had recommended approval of the conditional use permit. He said the commission had received one letter regarding the application, with the main concern being about potential increased traffic across a nearby trail.
“We talked with them, they’re complying with everything we’ve asked of them,” Christiansen said. “There’s not going to be a lot of traffic. It’s just a couple of times, you know, in and out.”
Christiansen said Kirchner plans to add concrete from the edge of the pavement to the trail and then place rock and pavement 1.5 feet beyond the trail.
