Randolph native retires as county clerk after 37 years
HARTINGTON – With the arrival of 2024, Dave Dowling has decided to be the Cedar County clerk no more.
The Hartington man soon will retire from his longtime role after a 37-year career. A celebration in his honor has been scheduled for 2-4:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 5 in the Cedar County District Court room.
“I just thought it was time,” the 70-year-old Dowling said of stepping down from the position. “I turn 71 in February. I just thought that was long enough. I like what I’m doing. I’m probably going to miss it.”
His last day on the job is Tuesday, Jan. 9, which also marks the first meeting of the county commissioners in the new year.
“I’ll be at the board meeting that day,” Dowling said. “That’s the reorganization meeting. Then they’ll appoint my replacement that day, also.”
Jessica Schmit, hired in August, is set to be appointed as the next county clerk and finish Dowling’s current term, which runs through 2026.
Once Dowling retires and Schmit becomes the county clerk, the employees working in the clerk’s office will be Schmit, Darla Frank, Amy Kleinschmit and Charlene Sudbeck.
Dowling officially took over the county clerk position on Jan. 7, 1987, replacing Ed Stevens, who retired from the role after a 40-year career.
Right after the 1986 general election, during which Dowling was voted into the county clerk position, he saw how the office worked before he assumed the lead role two months later.
“I was able to come in and observe and pick up a few things,” Dowling said.
The county has seen only two people hold the clerk position in 77 years.
“There are a lot of different aspects to the job,” Dowling said. “I’ve always told everybody it takes at least one full (four-year) term to actually pick up on everything that you’re required to do here.”
The position has “three hats,” Dowling said with titles of county clerk, register of deeds and election commissioner.
As the county clerk, he is also the secretary to the county board of commissioners.
The most significant changes the office has seen during Dowling’s career is technological advances for sending and receiving documents and document storage.
“We now receive documents daily to be recorded,” Dowling said. “Also, everything sent between us and the state offices are digitally uploaded and downloaded for everything we do. Now records can also be obtained via the Internet from this office. Records are a lot more accessible. Nothing is faxed anymore. Digital files are much easier to store and take less space.”
Paper documents are still important for those conducting historical research using deeds and real estate transactions.
“They always check back to the very beginning of their families,” Dowling said. “It’s amazing how excited they get when we start pulling all the old documents out going back to the original land grants. It’s kind of fun just watching those guys light up when they see this stuff and they can’t believe we have that stuff that far back,” he said. “That’s fun. That’s probably the most enjoyable thing we do for people.”
He recalls when the clerk’s office moved in 2009 from the main floor of the original courthouse building to its current location.
“That took quite a bit of time,” Dowling said. “Moving the whole office into the new building was quite an ordeal. We had the road department come in – a bunch of guys came in and loaded all the books up and hauled them over and dumped them into piles. We had to sort them out and get them all put into place.”
The Randolph native has not always worked for the county.
After graduating in 1971 from Randolph High School, he attended Northeast Nebraska Technical College – present-day Northeast Community College – in Norfolk and earned an associate degree in business.
Dowling moved in 1974 to Hartington and worked for Fred Orwig Ford for about six years. He then started a small repair shop called Town and Country Repair in Hartington with Lou Grosskop.
After working at the shop for about six years, Dowling decided to pursue a career change in 1986 when Stevens announced his retirement from the county clerk role.
Dowling filed for the position, ran for election and won. He has been re-elected several times since then.
“It was wide open because Ed was retiring,” Dowling said. “I was just looking for something else to do.”
Now he will be looking for something else to do other than working full time for the county.
“I’ll find a way to keep myself busy somehow,” Dowling said.
While he has no immediate retirement plans, he wants to get out on the golf course more and in the boat on the Lewis and Clark Lake with his wife, Denise.
The couple would like to do some travelling, too. Those travel plans will include trips to Harrisburg, S.D., where the couple’s son Josh lives. They have two grandchildren as well.
No matter how he fills his days, it will be a significant change from spending every working day at the courthouse.
“I’ll miss the people I work with,” Dowling said. “I’ll miss seeing the people in and out of the front door.”
Dowling turned in his official letter of resignation at the county commissioners’ meeting Dec. 26. For more, see Page 3.
HARTINGTON – For the first time in nearly 40 years, Cedar County will have a new clerk.
County Clerk Dave Dowling has decided to retire from his longtime position as 2024 begins and presented his letter of resignation to the board of commissioners Dec. 26.
“This is to inform you that after 37 years of service to Cedar County and lengthy deliberation, I have decided to resign my position of Cedar County Clerk, Register of Deeds and Election Commissioner,” he wrote. “I have enjoyed working with all the officials and staff members through the years, including the different county boards.”
In his letter, Dowling asked the commissioners to accept his resignation, which would be effective at 11:59 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 9.
Board Chairman Dave McGregor made a motion to approve Dowling’s resignation, which was seconded by Commissioner Craig Bartels. McGregor, Bartels and Commissioner Dick Donner voted in favor of the motion, which passed.
McGregor, who is entering his 18th year as a county commissioner, said Dowling has always been helpful and supportive in his role as the county clerk.
As the county clerk, Dowling has been the secretary to the county board of commissioners and the bookkeeper of the county. He also has been the register of deeds and the election commissioner for the county.
“Dave has been an excellent clerk,” McGregor said, adding Dowling has been “just a great person to work with.”
McGregor said he has known Dowling, a Randolph native, since the mid-1970s, when Dowling moved to Hartington and started working for Fred Orwig Ford.
In addition, McGregor also knew Ed Stevens, the county clerk who had preceded Dowling and served in the position for 40 years before Dowling officially took over the office on Jan. 7, 1987.
McGregor described Dowling and Stevens as the “same type of people” as far as their role as the county clerk was concerned, adding they both excelled at the job.
“In my lifetime, I only knew of two clerks in Cedar County,” McGregor said. “Seventy-seven years of two people being the clerk – you had to think that they were doing an excellent job.”
McGregor now will see a third person take over the county clerk position in his lifetime, as the commissioners will appoint someone to fill the vacancy created by Dowling’s resignation.
Dowling has recommended one of his staff members be appointed. The plan is for Jessica Schmit, who was hired in August, to be appointed as his replacement in the county clerk position and finish his current term through 2026.
That appointment has been scheduled for the commissioners’ reorganizational meeting, which will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
A celebration in Dowling’s honor has been set for 2-4:30 p.m., Fridya, Jan. 5 at the Cedar County District Court room, “I wish him luck in his retirement,” Mc-Gregor said. “I’m happy for him.”