County Board Members Offer Farewells to Duda, Kraft
Two members of the Douglas County Board received farewells from their colleagues Tuesday during the board’s final meeting of the year.
Clare Duda and Marc Kraft attended their last meeting at the Omaha-Douglas Civic Center as board members, receiving resolutions thanking them for their many years of public service.
The resolutions acknowledged their “extraordinary leadership and undeniable commitment to the Douglas County community.”
Duda, the current board chairman, has served on the board since 1993. The graduate of Omaha North High School held leadership roles with the Douglas County Health Center, Omaha Douglas Public Building Commission, Douglas County Fair and Metropolitan Area Planning Agency. MAPA also recognized Duda for his service to that agency at a meeting last week.
Duda played an integral role in several community projects, including the sale of Aksarben, the 911 merger and the library agreement. He also led the board through allocating $166 million in coronavirus relief funding this year.
Duda also spent 44 years volunteering for the Ponca Hills Volunteer Fire Department.
“When you stand somewhere, you’re there,” Commissioner Chris Rodgers told Duda. “The things around you may have changed, but you haven’t changed, and you’ve been true to your core.”
Commissioner Mike Boyle, a Democrat, said that Duda is a “solid, good-thinking Republican” who is trustworthy and can make government work.
“I want to congratulate you, Clare, on really an incredible career,” Boyle said.
Kraft has served on the board since 2009. The graduate of Omaha Central High School served as chairman in 2012, where he made budget hearings open to the public and pushed to make county payments searchable online to increase transparency in how the government spends tax dollars.
Kraft was involved with the Douglas County Fair among other community projects, and has served in various leadership roles in the community since 1972.
Board members acknowledged that Kraft has faced health problems, but they commended him for continuing his service to the county. Kraft said he had to take breaks from the meeting Tuesday, and he conducted some of the day’s discussions and votes via Zoom from the back of the legislative chambers.
“I appreciated his candidate comments from time to time,” Commissioner P.J. Morgan said via Zoom.
Democrat Maureen Boyle, who was elected to take Kraft’s spot on the board, expressed her appreciation for his help preparing to serve the county’s residents.
“I have big shoes to fill,” Boyle said. “I’m looking forward to honoring what you taught me so far. On that note, I am going to have Mr. Kraft swearing me in on January 5th. I thought that would be a nice tribute.”
Republican Mike Friend will replace Duda, whom he defeated in the primary, at that same meeting.
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