OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — In May of 2021, Mayor Jean Stothert won her third term with a gigantic margin of two-thirds of the vote and, seemingly, was handed a commitment to the city of Omaha.
The rest of that year, city records show that Stothert took about five-and-a-half weeks off for personal travel.
In 2022 Stothert has been out of town for 25 days, not counting weekends and holidays. That equals about five weeks of vacation, and she plans to take more.
It’s important to know that there are no limitations on how much time the mayor of Omaha can take off. But the mayor must pass over power to the city council president when she leaves the city.
Stothert left the city Wednesday and won’t be back until Sept. 9. Not counting weekends and holidays, that’s another 17 days out of town. This puts her total at 42 business days, or eight-and-half weeks of vacation time by mid-September, with three-and-half months left before the end of the year.
Altogether, Stothert will have been out of the city for 63 total days by Sept. 9. That's one out of four days.
Multiple itineraries shared with 3 News Now indicate Stothert will first visit Rome before meeting with an Omaha delegation heading to Sicily for a trip to further plans with government officials in Carlentini to become sister cities with Omaha.
The mayor plans to travel to several cities in Sicily and participate in Carlentini’s Santa Lucia Festival. She’ll stay seven more days than the rest of the Omaha delegation.
3 News Now reached out to City Council President and Acting Mayor Pete Festersen for comment and he did not respond.
Stothert says she, not the taxpayers, will be paying for the Italian trip.
The mayor has pushed the city council to change the charter so that the mayor would be allowed to work when they’re outside the city. The 2022 City Charter Convention passed a measure that would allow the mayor to work five days outside the city without giving up power.
But the Omaha City Council has not taken it up, with Festersen pushing back on the need for it.
The trip to Sicily is a chance for Omaha residents with Italian heritage to connect to their roots. Sheri Kanger, co-founder of Sicula Italia, said via email that about 70% of Omahans with Italian heritage can trace their heritage back to two Sicilian cities, including Carlentini.
Her organization and the Carlentini Omaha Association have worked to strengthen the longstanding bonds between Carlentini and Omaha and will be participating in the trip later this month
3 News Now Reporter Aaron Hegarty contributed to this report.
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