County Commissioners hold precautionary discussion on importance of District Court Clerk remaining locally elected position

KIMBALL -- The County Commissioners held a discussion at the Tuesday meeting about the importance of keeping the County Clerk of the District Court as a locally elected position.

This conversation followed the introduction of a legislative bill last year that was shut down - LB216. The bill would have eliminated Clerk of the District Court as an elected position, making them state employees.

Included in the discussion were Tiffany Burton, Furnas County Clerk of the District Court, and Mindy Wiegand, Cheynne County Clerk of the District Court.

“The District Court is the last piece of the Nebraska court system that is still locally elected,” Burton said. “If the state takes over, your [County Commissioners] board loses authority, your voters lose authority, and all accountability moves to Lincoln.”

Burton and Wiegand emphasized the importance of maintaining the position locally to allow efficient communication between the county officials, the court office, and the citizens.

“If you don’t work with your district court every day, it may be easy to think of that office as simply a filing counter, but really it’s much more,” Burton said. “The District Court manages the jury pool, we supportjudges, we process every single district court criminal and civil case that goes through, we maintain a permanent record, we work with law enforcements, attorneys, victims, defendants, families, and many more.”

Wiegand said the proposal will likely continue to be brought to legislation, but she is not confident that it will be a success.

“I don’t know that the power behind it remains the same,” Wiegand said. “It’s not a necessary change because everybody is doing what they’re supposed to be doing, following the law, following the rules, serving our court users; there’s not an issue.”

Weigand said the county would still be responsible for personnel costs and operating expenses, and they would lose certain revenue sources.

Tiffany said, “While the proposal is often branded as cost saving in a unifying measure, the historical experience, the rural access concern, and the loss of local authorities suggests that the long-term impact outweighs that short term benefit.”

County Commissioner Elyse Lukassen said the County Clerks of the District Courts visited the meeting mainly because Kimball County District Court Clerk Deb Diemoz is retiring, and they wanted to make sure that the commissioners were appointing somebody to the position instead of absorbing it.

“I am on board with appointing somebody and keeping the position within the county and going forward with putting it on the ballot for the primaries,” Lukassen said. “It’s extremely important to keep the position in the county and not let it be absorbed.”

Currently, Jamie Bright and Joanna Hottell have filed for the Clerk of the District Court position in Kimball’s 2026 election.

The County Commissioners previously accepted the resignation of Diemoz, which will be final Feb. 13.