Commissioners question transit manager’s work trips

HARTINGTON – The Cedar County Board of Commissioners recently questioned the out-of-state trips Cedar County Transit Manager Nikki Pinkelman has been taking for training.

At issue is whether it was necessary for Pinkelman to attend the 2024 annual Federal Transit Administration Drug and Alcohol Program National Conference April 2-4 in Atlanta.

The county pays for costs for the national conference upfront but then are reimbursed at 100 percent by the Nebraska Department of Transportation, Pinkelman said.

She had not attended the national conference before but must achieve a certain number of credit hours in training each year.

Board chairman Dave McGregor said the county belongs to the National Association of Counties and the board is often invited to attend events put on by the organization.

“We have offers to go to those, and it’s not mandatory that we do,” McGregor said. “I don’t know if anybody here’s ever been to a national (conference).”

Pinkelman said she attended the national conference because she “needed (credit) hours for my drug and alcohol stuff,” and at national conferences she’s kept up to date about federal policies. She said the state doesn’t offer training in those areas.

“A lot of those updates you don’t know otherwise,” she said.

Some training is offered online but Pinkelman called it “horrifying.”

“We had three days of three-hour Zooms that you were supposed to get stuff done with,” she said.

Pinkelman told commissioners she is also planning to attend an upcoming software conference in Florida.

She went to the same software conference last year in Houston.

“You meet with your software company for three days and go over all the updates,” Pinkelman said. “They ask you what you want to do that could make your software run more smoothly. You get to meet with managers from other agencies and learn tips and trades on how to use things.”

Commissioner Dick Donner questioned whether Pinkelman should have travel and conferences pre-approved by the board.

Donner asked why Pinkelman has to travel far from Nebraska for this information.

“Shouldn’t this go past the board before all this (trip bills) starts landing in our lap?” he asked. “I’m not the chairman, but I think this stuff needs to come by us before you sign up.”

Pinkelman said her trips are budgeted and the county gets reimbursed.

“I don’t want to hear that line anymore,” Donner said. “Everybody’s paying for it. I know everybody’s paying for it. I’m sick of that line. I’d like to know about this before it happens.”

Pinkelman said she can change her process and inform commissioners ahead of time about upcoming travel.

“If you want me to come in and discuss that travel – we just haven’t ever did that in the past,” Pinkelman said. “I had always just brought it to the clerk’s office because it was in my budget.”