Nancy Kopejtka To Retire From City Clerk Position
Launch the media gallery 1 playerLorraine Lieswald/Atkinson Graphic
Atkinson City Clerk Nancy KopejtkaA retirement open house for Nancy Kopejtka
will be hosted from 2-4 p.m. Friday, April 7
at the Atkinson City Offices.
Light refreshments. Please join us in celebration with
Nancy and wish her well in her retirement.
By Lorraine Lieswald
Atkinson Graphic reporter
“It was time,” is the reason Nancy Kopejtka gives for retiring as Atkinson City Clerk, a position she has held for 42 years. Her last day will be Friday, April 7.
Kopejtka retires with an impressive resume which includes:
- Certified Municipal Clerk - 1987
- Master Municipal Clerk - 2001
- Clerk of the year - 2001
- Clerk of the year - 2022
- Certified CDBG Administrator - 1999 to 2015
- Nebraska Municipal Clerk Assn. – 1981 to present (audit committee, nominations committee, assistant chairperson)
- CDBG Advisory Committee – 2002 to 2004
- Payroll Law, Civil Rights, Utility management for operations
- ACE, Executive Committee – 2018 to 2022
- CDBG & Amplified training
- Clerk-Treasurer training through UND, LNM for the city
- Treasurer certifications required by the State Auditor’s office. A City Clerk is required to attend eight hours of continued education each year to keep up certification.
As Atkinson’s City Clerk, Kopejtka said, you are constantly learning.
“No two years are the same. Each year the budget is set by the actions of the Nebraska legislature,” Kopejtka explained. “You never know what the legislature is doing and then you have to comply with what they did.”
Kopejtka has always loved working with numbers and holds an associate’s accounting degree from the Spencer School of Business in Spencer, Iowa, her hometown.
Her jobs before coming to Atkinson in April 1981, included four years as billing clerk in an office supply store in Sioux Falls, S.D. followed by three years as billing clerk and assistant office manager at Interstate Office Products, also in Sioux Falls.
Her first position in Atkinson was the water billing meter reader. Later that year Kopejtka was promoted to clerk-treasurer.
While Kopejtka is retiring as Atkinson’s City Clerk she is staying active in her hobby of following her husband Stan in his drag racing career.
Kopejtka explained she met her future husband at the first drag race she attended when her friend asked her to come along with her.
“Drag racing is our vacation,” she said. “Stan races in four states surrounding Nebraska and it's a five-day trip. Two days for travel and three days of competitive racing!”
Drag racing is a family affair. The Kopejtka's son Brent who lives in Norfolk still races with his father. Their daughter Karla lives in Flandreau, S.D and was a former drag racer but has given up the sport in favor of family life.
The Kopejtkas have six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
“I never raced. I just took care of the family,” she said.
Kopejtka admits she will miss working with people but knows she is leaving the position in capable hands.
“I have confidence in Shelly (Wieneke) and will always be available if she has questions.”