Think the women elected to lead the state’s two largest cities are representative of women’s participation in Nebraska’s local politics?
Think again.
In a national ranking of women in the municipal legislative branch, Nebraska ranks second-to- last this year — just three-tenths of a percentage point ahead of Mississippi.
The Center of American Women and Politics at Rutgers University tracks how many women are part of the legislative branches of cities with populations of more than 10,000.
Nebraska has 16 such cities.
Of those, three have female mayors: Lincoln’s Leirion Gaylor Baird, Omaha’s Jean Stothert and Scottsbluff Mayor Jeanne McKerrigan. Both Gaylor Baird and Stothert were elected; McKerrigan, one of five city council members, was chosen by her fellow council members to serve as mayor.
As for city councils, female representatives remain in the minority, although just two towns — Norfolk and Beatrice — have all-male councils. In both Lincoln and Omaha, three of the seven council members are women — the largest percentage of the 16 cities behind only Scottsbluff (three of five).
Seven of those cities have just one female council member. In Hastings, three of the eight council members are women and in Grand Island, three of the 10 are women.
Gaylor Baird has hired women for some high-profile positions in the city, most notably Teresa Ewins, the first woman ever to lead the Lincoln Police Department, and Barb McIntyre, the newest human resources director.
Gaylor Baird's chief of staff is a woman, as are two of her four aides.
On a state level, the 11 women in the Nebraska Legislature comprise about 26% of the 49-member body, and one of those — Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks — is running for a U.S. House of Representatives seat, and another — Sen. Carol Blood — is running for governor.
That’s higher than the 20% represented at the municipal level. Nationally, 31.5% of city leaders are women.
According to the Center of American Women, Mississippi is the only state with less than 20% of female officeholders at the municipal level.
Nebraska is among 20 states in the 20%-29% range, including every contiguous Midwestern state from North Dakota to Texas, plus Iowa, Wyoming and Arkansas.
The highest percentages are in Hawaii (50%) and Alaska (48%), but there’s just one incorporated city of more than 10,000 in Hawaii and just two in Alaska. In the Midwest, Colorado is well-represented by women: 45% of the officeholders in its 60 cities of more than 10,000 are women.
If you are a Nebraskan who would like to see more women in office this might be disheartening, but look on the bright side: Last year, Nebraska ranked last.
Streamlining permits
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The city is trying to make it easier to apply for one of the 77,000-some permits or licenses it issues in a year.
The City Council recently approved an agreement with GRM Information Management Services to create an online system that will manage a variety of permit and license applications through one system.
Last year, the city issued 77,727 permits and licenses, though that number also includes such things as pothole complaints. Those licenses and permits generated $17.6 million in city revenue.
The new system will manage permits and licenses for several departments: building and safety, health, Lincoln Transportation and Utilities, and city-county planning.
Now, those systems operate from different web sites. The idea, said Abby Eccher, project manager with information services, is to get them all under the same cyber-roof.
That means people will be able to apply for food handler permits, check restaurant health inspections, apply for business licenses or building permits all on the same system.
Contractors and others working on the same project will all be able to track progress and be notified of permit approvals, and contractors will also be able to see and manage all the jobs they’re working on, Eccher said.
It should also help homeowners doing a single project.
The system will be the place people can find information: What building permits or zoning change requests are happening at a particular address; the results of restaurant health inspections.
It will cost $2.6 million to build the system, and there will be a $360,000 annual license fee.
Eccher said more city and county services could be added in the future.
More city parkland
Consider this a nod to the residents who live near Trendwood Park in east Lincoln: two lots that run along A Street on the northwest edge of the park have now been dedicated as city parkland.
Last summer, the city cleaned up a stinky, muddy retention pond right next to those lots between Sycamore Drive and South 77th Street — on the north end of the park — that neighbors had been complaining about for years.
The city has owned the lots for some years, said Parks and Recreation Director Lynn Johnson, and has been maintaining them along with the rest of the park.Â
Having them designated as parkland means the city can't sell them to a developer to build on — something neighbors don't want.Â
The City Council also designated about 40 acres on the east side of Jensen Park as parkland. The city traded the land for about 30 acres of parkland on the southeast end of Jensen Park, near 91st Street and Yankee Hill Road.Â
The land to the east is better suited as parkland, Johnson said, and because it's flatter and doesn't have a drainage channel running through it, it will be easier to — one day — build baseball fields there. Â