Jensen picked from among 5 candidates interviewed by committee
The newest member of the Aurora City Council was approved and sworn into office Tuesday, and wasted no time in getting involved in the proceedings. In a meeting that had been moved to the Bremer Center to allow more room for public participation in a discussion of the city's EMS situation, Aurora businessman Todd Jensen was nominated by Mayor Marlin Seeman to succeed Ward 1 councilman Wayne Roblee who recently stepped down for health reasons.
On Friday, May 22, Seeman had sent out a notice stating that a committee made up of himself, City Administrator Adam Darbro and mayoral candidate Harlan Schafer had interviewed five candidates on Wednesday of that week.
“Each candidate was given the opportunity to speak to the issues they felt needed to be addressed, and share their thoughts on city governance,” Seeman said. “The candidates we interviewed were: Sara Erlenbush, Todd W. Jensen, Joseph Sandmeier, Zack Tesar and Phillip Thomas.”
Stating that it was the committee's pleasure to recommend Jensen to serve out Roblee's term on the council, the notice continued: “We, the interview committee, felt that Todd Jensen embodied the following characteristics: he is well known by many people in the Aurora community, he has owned and managed his own business and expressed his desire to have the city and ADC (the Aurora Development Corporation) work together for the benefit of our community.”
Jensen was immediately administered the oath of office by Deputy Clerk Di Ana Leininger and took his seat at the table, where he became involved in the three-hour meeting. Among the items on the agenda were a vote on an annual funding request from the Central District Health Dept., a pay allocation to Mid-Nebraska Land Developers for the 1st Street project and reports from a citizens focus group and representatives of the Aurora Professional Firefighters Local 4956 regarding a proposal to turn the city's ambulance service over to a private provider.
A full report on that meeting will be published in next week's edition of ANR.