Two commissioners censured by PSC board; they claim it was ‘retaliation’

LINCOLN, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner) — Two members of the Nebraska Public Service Commission censured by the rest of the five-member board on Tuesday claimed they were victims of “retaliation.”

Board members Christian Mirch of Omaha and Kevin Stocker of Scottbluff 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.

The two board members each have served less than a year on the low-profile board, which deals with issues like telecommunications service, 911 systems, railroad safety and grain dealers. All five members are Republicans.

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 …”

“We shouldn’t need a code of conduct to tell us that as elected officials we are accountable for our actions,” Watermeier said.

He added that the vote sends a message that commissioners “hold ourselves to the highest of standards and will not tolerate this kind of behavior.”

Watermeier did not return several phone messages left by the Examiner on Tuesday to elaborate. And two weeks ago, after an executive session concerning the investigation into the two commissioners’ conduct, he declined to comment, other than to say it was a personnel matter.

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.”

In 2022, the Nebraska Legislature voted to approve a bill granting $2 million of federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds toward expanding the use of precision ag technologies. Such technologies, which require good internet service, allow irrigation systems to use water more efficiently and help farmers apply fertilizer where it’s needed most.

Federal fund use nixed

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,

That led State Sen. Myron Dorn, who sponsored the original precision ag bill, to try a different approach this year. It resulted in the passage of Legislative Bill 361, which allocated $1 million in state taxpayer funds for the grants.

The bill was backed by ag equipment dealers and the Nebraska Farm Bureau, who argued that such technology was expensive and that grants would help farmers adopt precision ag and help companies develop new innovations.

But that’s when the grumbling began — 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.

Sen. Dorn, in a recent interview, said he was also disappointed that the grants weren’t going out now.

“They’ve already had hearings once on the same bill,” he said.

But the rest of the commission disagreed. Commissioner Tim Schram of Gretna said that a new round of hearings and comment was necessary to be “good stewards of the public’s money.”

Schram, an 18-year member of the PSC, said that the board, as a compromise with Mirch and Stocker, recently agreed to move up the hearings on the precision ag program by a month, to Oct. 26.

Grants by the end of the year?

“It’s my hope that we can get money out by the end of the year,” Schram said. “That’s my hope.”

But Mirch, who was appointed in January after running unsuccessfully for the Nebraska Legislature, and Stocker, who was elected in November and has backgrounds in both transportation and ag businesses, said that the PSC should move more quickly when it comes to the state’s No. 1 industry.

Mirch told the Examiner that he and Stocker are pushing for change at the PSC “in how things are being done, how producers and industry are being treated.”

“And we’ve gotten pushback from staff and commissioners,” he said.

Said Stocker, “We probably upset a bureaucracy that was used to operating at their own speed.”

He said that now, he doesn’t expect the PSC to start distributing the precision ag money until next spring. That would be too late, according to Stocker, because  by then, farmers have already made their spending decisions for the year.

Squandered chance at ‘big win’

“We had the opportunity for a big win here, and in my opinion, we squandered it,” he said.

He criticized the PSC for “a lack of urgency” in addressing issues.

“They just seem content in kicking the can down the road,” Stocker said.

Mirch and Stocker said they are considering whether to appeal the censure decisions in court. They have also asked for a legal opinion from the Attorney General’s Office to determine if the PSC had the authority to launch an investigation and censure them.

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