Walford stepping down as Mayor of Tekamah

Published 2:04 pm Thursday, October 1, 2026

Current mayor of Tekamah Jane Walford has stepped down from her position with her last day being Sept. 30.

“It was at our last council meeting,” Walford said. “I had an eleven month evaluation for our chief of police on the agenda, and the police commissioner, his supervisor, and I filled out his evaluation and recommended what his salary increase should be. The council wouldn’t make a motion to approve his evaluation. Matt [Cass] made a motion that they would put off approving his evaluation until January when I was no longer the mayor.”

Walford has been the mayor since Dec. 2022 approaching her four year mark on Dec. 10 of this calendar year, but had a different role before that.

“I was on council for four years before that,” Walford said. “Seven years and 10 months because I won’t be there for October, November, and the first meeting in December.”

Walford talked about leaving the town of Tekamah really soon now that she will no longer be the mayor as Council President Matt Cass will take over that position.

“I am moving out of Tekamah, and when I resigned it changed my moving dates,” she added. “I’m moving on Oct. 4.”

Despite such an awkward exit, Walford talked about what she was proud of during her time representing Tekamah as their mayor.

“I was the one who sort of thought of the housing program,” Walford said. “There are 25 or 26 houses in Tekamah that have been purchased and either rented or sold since I’ve been mayor in the last three years. Each of those happened because we gave the folks who bought the houses and flipped them $20,000, but the houses are now occupied and back on the tax rolls. Most of them had been abandoned. Some of them were new. I’m pretty proud of that. We addressed the housing issue in Tekamah and it wasn’t just me, but it was sort of my idea. It was a really successful program.”