NRD Staff Additions
Rodney Verhoeff joined the staff in June as the new assistant general manager. Verhoeff’s resume is impressive, listing more than 15 years of project and program management in government, corporate, academic and non-profit settings. He has worked with Nebraska’s NRDs in a variety of capacities, including interagency watershed management and environmental sciences. He holds a bachelor’s degree in natural resources and a master’s degree in agronomy, both from UNL. For the past three years, he has served as a senior program manager and instructor at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business. He also works as a business consultant, providing clients with needs assessment, strategic planning, grant writing, business process analysis, project management system development, business intelligence and decision management, and organizational development through training and business coaching.
Mick Northrop’s talents and experiences as a facilities manager made him the perfect candidate for a new position of lead maintenance worker at the NRD. In this role, Northrop will oversee the NRD’s physical headquarters in York as well as the NRD’s five recreation areas. He will also maintain the NRD fleet and equipment. Northrop’s previous experience includes seven years as the Adams Central Public Schools facilities manager and 28 years with Perennial Public Power District in customer service, marketing and communications. 
Jacob Maslonka, a 2018 UNL grad with a bachelor’s degree in fisheries and wildlife, has joined the NRD as a water resources technician. Maslonka’s previous work experience is rather exotic by Nebraska standards: he spent more than a year working in the Bering Sea as a North Pacific groundfish observer. In this role, he collected data about the composition of hauls brought up on fishing boats to determine species health. Prior experiences also include working as a research assistant for the UNL Agronomy and Horticulture Department and as an intern for the Lower Platte North NRD. At the Upper Big Blue NRD, Maslonka will be responsible for well inspections, electronic flow meters meter inspections and battery replacement, and water quality sampling.