The Board of Directors of SWANN, the Solid Waste Agency of Northwest Nebraska, meets tonight at 7:00 in the Chadron City Hall and for the first time in over a quarter-century, someone other than Jack Nemeth will be there as executive director.
Quietly and without fanfare, Nemeth retired almost a month ago after 27 years with SWANN. The board will remedy the lack of fanfare tonight with a resolution praising Nemeth upon his retirement after nearly 3 decades of distinguished work.
The board had already named his successor before Nemeth retired, promoting Jake Stewart of Chadron from Operations Manager.
Stewart, who remains a Dawes County Commissioner, is only the fourth person to serve as executive director of SWANN, following Bruce Jones, Dave Porter, and Nemeth.
Stewart joined SWANN earlier as the successor to long-time Operations Manager Dwayne Rhembrant, who also retired quietly and without fanfare.
Tonight’s agenda includes as part of Stewart’s director’s report a presentation on a new operations director.
The agenda also includes discussion on eventual replacement of the baler, which compacts the garbage and trash collected by SWANN into tight bales at the Chadron transfer station before they’re hauled to the landfill near the state line for burial.
The baler was originally purchased by the city of Chadron in the 1960s and was transferred to SWANN when the agency was formed in the early 1990s.
It has undergone significant repairs in recent years, but is reaching the end of its useful life with parts becoming harder and harder to obtain.
Congratulations Jake, Well deserved!