The Clerks of the District Courts gathered for their annual winter conference December 10-12, 2019, at the Younes Conference Center in Kearney.

This year, the conference kicked off a day early with passport training on Tuesday afternoon. The second day’s agenda included five speakers. Janet Wiechelman, Clerk of the Cedar County District Court opened the day by providing legislative updates to her fellow clerks. IT Application Analyst, Sue Nieto, presented on LB 505 and LB 532 changes, which include support order payments electronically transferred to the State Disbursement Unit and protection orders. Next, Deputy Administrator for Court Services, Amy Prenda, provided the clerks with important updates regarding the Administrative Office of Courts and Probation. Network Administrator, Chris Hepburn, advised how to avoid breaches in cyber security.  Finally, JUSTICE Business Analyst, Mike Prochnow, closed the day by providing helpful JUSTICE tidbits.

The final day of the conference began with keynote speaker, Dean Jacobs. Jacobs is a native Nebraskan, world-traveler, author, and photographer.  He delivered a motivational presentation titled ‘7 Wonders – 7 Lessons: Reason to Find Hope in the World.”  Next was, an interactive session called “Ask the Professionals” which allowed the clerks time to ask questions to three experts: Jennifer Rasmussen, Deputy Administrator for Information and Technology, Sue Nieto, and Sheryl Connolly, Trial Court Services Director. NACO Representative, Jon Cannon, began the afternoon session followed by Shane Stutzman, Assistant Deputy Administrator and Tyson Jenkins, Director of Adult Field Services who provided an overview of LB 686. Finally, JBE Manager, Melissa Ireland spoke about new district court training opportunities and the education schedule for 2020.