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 work training.

Pinkelman noted during the commissioners’ April 9 meeting that she had recently gone to a “federal drug and alcohol conference” that she had been told she should attend.

The 2024 edition of the annual Federal Transit Administration Drug and Alcohol Program National Conference was held April 2-4 in Atlanta, Ga.

Pinkelman noted her trip to the national conference was “paid out 100 percent” by the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

“They set me up at the conference,” Pinkelman said. “You’ll get paid at 100 percent reimbursement.”

Board Chairman Dave McGregor asked whether the county has to pay the national conference cost upfront.

Pinkelman confirmed that was the case.

“Instead of 90 percent, you get 100 percent back,” Pinkelman said.

McGregor asked about the public transportation system’s budgeting for out-of-town trips.

“We have out-of-town in our budget – out-of-town travel,” Pinkelman said. “Out-of-state travel and in-state travel is in my budget.”

She noted she had never attended the national conference before.

“You have to get so many (credit) hours in for the year,” Pinkelman said of continuing education for being the program manager for the county transit system.

McGregor brought up the county being a part of the National Association of Counties and county officials being 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 noted she attended the national conference because she “needed (credit) hours for my drug and alcohol” training.

Commissioner Dick Donner questioned why Pinkelman had to travel to Atlanta to earn credit hours.

“I was trying to do some online stuff and it was horrifying,” Pinkelman said. “We had three days of three-hour Zooms that you were supposed to get stuff done with.”

She noted she was encouraged to go to the national conference to earn credit hours.

“They (NDOT) encourage us to attend those things,” Pinkelman said, noting she learned about federal policy updates at the national conference. “A lot of those updates you don’t know otherwise.”

She explained the “drug and alcohol” training she has received from the state during the past couple of years “has been like nothing.”

Pinkelman said she is planning to attend an upcoming software conference in Florida.

“That is software training,” Pinkelman said. “We have software that we use for the transit.”

She went to the same software conference last year in Houston, Texas, and noted she learned a lot about the software the public transportation system uses.

“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.”

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

“It moves around every year where it’s at,” Pinkelman said of the software conference. “Maybe it’ll be closer in the future.”

Donner then asked whether Pinkelman is planning on going to the same software conference this year, and she responded yes.

“Does the board approve this?” Donner asked. “Shouldn’t this go past the board before all this (trip bills) starts landing in our lap?”

Pinkelman asked whether that is something the commissioners would like to change going forward.

“I’m not the chairman, but I think this stuff needs to come by us before you sign up,” Donner said.

Pinkelman reiterated she budgets for traveling on her out-of-state trips for work.

“You guys pay the initial expense and then you get reimbursed at 100 percent,” Pinkelman said.

Donner responded, saying, “I don’t want to hear that line anymore. 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 noted she has no problem informing the commissioners about her upcoming work trips.

“In the past, I wasn’t told I needed to,” Pinkelman said, noting she would just let then-County Clerk Dave Dowling know when she would be traveling for work. “It was in my budget and it’s with the transit training that we attend conferences.”

Donner asked whether Pinkelman could tackle more training online instead of traveling to out-of-state conferences.

“The federal one that I went to – that was not online,” Pinkelman said.

Donner noted of the out-of-state conferences Pinkelman has attended or plans to attend: “It looks a little bit suspicious.”

Pinkelman noted the NDOT recommends she travels and attends conferences for training.

“That’s a recommendation,” Donner said. “It’s not mandatory.”

“It’s mandatory that I do go to get some of my hours in,” Pinkelman said.

Donner argued Pinkelman should not have to travel to Atlanta to earn credit hours.

“I needed this one,” Pinkelman said of the national conference. “I needed to have the hours. I’m our program manager for the transit.”

Donner again asked whether more of Pinkelman’s training could be done online than at out-of-state conferences.

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

Pinkelman had to get going to an appointment, so McGregor told her the public transportation system would be put on a future meeting agenda to further discuss her work trips.