TWO COMMISSIONERS CENSURED BY PSC BOARD; THEY CLAIM IT WAS 'RETALIATION'

LINCOLN- Two members of the Nebraska Public Service Commission censured by the rest of the five-member board claimed they were victims of “retaliation.” Board members Christian Mirch of Omaha and Kevin Stocker of Scottsbluff were censured by the board on a 3-2 vote following an investigation by an attorney hired by the board. The probe looked at complaints of mistreatment of staff members of the Public Service Commission by the two commissioners.

A press release quoted Dan Watermeier, the chairman of the elected board, stating that “the Commission will not condone the conduct that led us to today’s decision”. But both Mirch and Stocker that the official reprimand was in retaliation in large part because they have pushed too hard to get the PSC to act more quickly in distributing $1 million in grants for “precision agriculture.”

But the PSC, after conducting hearings on how to best utilize the funds, later determined that it couldn’t use BEAD funds for the precision ag program. Mirch and Stocker wanted the PSC to move quickly to hand out the grants, arguing that public hearings had already been held on the idea. But the rest of the commission disagreed. Commissioner Tim Schram of Gretna said that a new round of hearings and comments was necessary.

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