By PAUL HAMMEL
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — Gov.-elect Jim Pillen has opted for a different course in picking a new state prison director: a nationwide search.
But a spokesman for the incoming director said the decision to use the headhunter firm of Ford Webb Associates to help fill the key post doesn’t mean that the acting director of Nebraska Corrections, Diane Sabatka-Rine, would not be considered.
Sabatka-Rine, a longtime administrator with the Nebraska Department of Corrections, has served as interim director since Scott Frakes retired two months ago.
Frakes, 64, was paid $255,000 a year and had served nearly eight years in the job.
So far, Pillen has reappointed most of the agency directors that have served under outgoing Gov. Pete Ricketts. So opting for a national search to lead the state prison system is a departure and may signal the importance of that job.
A new prison director will have to wrestle with a couple of major issues. Nebraska has the nation’s most overcrowded prisons, and state lawmakers have been applying pressure to reduce it.
Meanwhile, state senators will be asked in January to approve construction of a new, $270 million prison to replace the aging State Penitentiary in Lincoln. A new prison is not projected to help ease overcrowding. State prisons hold about 1,900 more inmates than they were designed to house.
Pillen, in a press release Friday, said Ford Webb Associates has recruited over 100 cabinet members for 52 governors, as well as helping to find university presidents, Fortune 500 CEOs,and hundreds of business executives.
“This search firm has a long track record of finding the best candidates for agency directors nationally and in Nebraska,” Pillen said.
On Monday, Dr. Gary Anthone announced his departure as the state’s chief medical officer and director of public health.
Dr. Matthew Donahue, the state epidemiologist, was named acting chief medical officer until a replacement is found.
Pillen announced Monday that he will conduct national searches to fill the posts of division director for behavioral health, and children and family services.