NEBRASKA CITY – Nebraska City Area EDC Director Dan Mauk expects to retire in June with momentum toward business investment and improvements in accessibility for childcare and housing.

MauK: “We were building four or four and a half units a year. We needed to build about 13 or 14 a year and, in the time I’ve been here, we’ve added about -- working with a lot of partners -- we’ve added 120 units and we’ve got the Kreifels Hills Subdivision rolling up there to meet the demands in the future.”


Mauk, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute and former business planning instructor at Northeast Community College, raised eyebrows 15 years ago as president of the North Platte Area Chamber & Development by suggesting that housing is an economic development issue.

Mauk: “I nearly got fired because I was pointing out the fact that they didn’t have homes for workers and a few years later the hospital administrator joined the chorus and then everybody said ‘well Dan you better get going on housing.’


He came to Nebraska City in 2015 recognizing a changing role for economic development from the days when it was all about business recruitment.

Mauk: “We called it chasing smoke stacks. We wanted industrial development, but now – particularly in smaller towns – it’s really community development because you need more than just the job. You need the workers, so that’s workforce recruitment, you need the housing for that worker and available childcare, if it’s a young family.”

He sees momentum for growth in the Nebraska City area and the benefits from joining six counties in the Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership.


Mauk: “We are seeing the number of opportunities to recruit go from an average of five to the high 20s now. It’s just a question of time. We are on the radar for a lot of companies.”

Mauk said he applied for the economic development job in Nebraska City at the request of Tim Pendrell of Nebraska City Tourism and Commerce.

Mauk: “When I interviewed, I told the board they could have me for one month or five years, you get to choose. Here, 10 years later, I get to chose and I’m going to retire.”


The EDC lists renewal of the Nebraska City Growth Fund and the Communities for Kids initiative among recent highlights.

Key progress

  • Renewal of LB840 Nebraska City Growth Fund
  • Communities for Kids initiative

Business investment

  • Wayfare foods
  • Holiday Inn Express
  • Dollar Fresh Grocery
  • Cornhusker Beef