Seward County Clerk Sherry Schweitzer was recognized for 45 years of service with the county at the Commissioners’ meeting on Jan. 2. The Seward County native said her favorite part of her job is interacting with the public.
Schweitzer grew up near Staplehurst and attended Centennial High School. She married Brent Schweitzer, who owns the Hair Exchange, and they now live in Milford. They have three adult children; Brooke, Britney and Keaton; and a grandson.
Schweitzer said she initially applied to work for Seward County because she wanted a job in the area so she would not have to move elsewhere. She was hired as a title clerk and stayed in that position for 10 years before being appointed to deputy clerk for 10 more.
She was then appointed county clerk in 1997 after her predecessor retired and has been elected every four years since.
“I had grown up knowing all the different facets of the office, and I felt I had a good relationship with the public,” she said. “So, I felt I was a key person to be the county clerk.”
As county clerk, she is also secretary for the board of commissioners, register of deeds and election commissioner. She said she enjoys the diversity of having multiple roles.
“I love to work for the people of Seward County. I’ve lived in Seward County all my life and know a lot of the people and find it satisfying to help out people that I know,” she said.
Sheila Beins, who was clerk magistrate for the Seward County Court for 41 years, said Schweitzer was great to work with and always made sure everyone was informed on anything that was happening.
“One thing I’ve always noticed is Sherry’s always trying to figure out what will work best for the county, for all the offices involved and the taxpayers,” she said. “Always trying to figure out ways to do things that is helpful to everybody.”
When Schweitzer first started at the office, she said she and her coworkers had to hand type car titles, hand type 300 to 500 checks a month and count all ballots by hand during elections. She said computers now allow for tasks to be completed more efficiently and help eliminate human error.
“When I came, there was five of us in the office. Now, there is four,” she said. “Even though we’ve added some duties throughout the year, we have not added any more labor in the clerk’s office.”
Technology has also aided in easy organization. She said a whole room’s worth of land records can now be stored on about 50 CDs and take up less space than a file drawer.
She said when she started as county clerk, all clerks also took on the role of fence viewer. This means, in the event of a dispute between fence owners, she had to ensure everything was up to snuff. Seward County had not had to enlist the services of the fence viewer prior to Schweitzer’s tenure, but she had to be a fence viewer twice.
In the early 2000s, the law was changed so someone with more fence knowledge would be the fence viewer.
Outside of the office, Schweitzer enjoys being active in the community, volunteering at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Milford and watching Nebraska sports. When her kids were in high school, she got involved with school extracurriculars, Parent-Teacher Organization and the booster club.
A former elected official who worked with Schweitzer said she admires many of Schweitzer’s character traits including her honesty, purposefulness, ability to relate to people, strong faith, citizenship and leadership. She said she is a valuable asset to the county and is always continuing to educate herself as laws and trends change. She said the two of them formed a friendship based on faith and trust.
“We’ve prayed together, studied together and laughed together,” she said.
Overall, Schweitzer said some of her best memories as county clerk are times in which she knows she has helped others.
“People come in and they say, ‘Oh, Sherry, can you help me with this or that?’” she said. “I just find a lot of satisfaction in helping the taxpayers in finding their legal records or helping them vote or whatever the case may be.”
