New mayor of Jefferson mediates problems

It was initially about ‘getting to know the girls’ for recently elected Jefferson mayor Ria Pedersen. Pedersen knew before arriving on the seventh floor town she would not pursue a position at the county or state level.

“I knew that I wanted to stay on the city level so that way I could get to know the girls a lot better on a personal level,” Pedersen said.

Pedersen’s reasoning was only exemplified in the way she campaigned. Instead of throwing candy in other citizens’ faces she had one-on-one talks, explained why she was running and made sure she answered any questions to make a good impression and then “go from there.”

“[I told them]…‘this is me—this is what I’m running for,’” she said.

Although, her hope to know her fellow citizens was a justifiable reason to apply for mayor everything was not smooth sailing. Two other girls applied for the position as well so the competition among the girls could have been anyone’s win for the taking.

Despite this, Pedersen kept her confidence level up.  She remembered she was involved in numerous activities at her high school which required leadership roles. Pedersen knew she could run meetings and was comfortable in doing the campaign.

“I’ve always been a bubbly, outgoing type of person,” said Pedersen. The difference to her, however, did come with how fast the process moved.

“It was—get on the floor, decide what to do, decide what you want to do. It was fast and furious, but at the same time really fun.”

After winning the campaign, Pedersen had to deal with the first issue for the city the night after being appointed.

For the exercise, a pond was filling with sediment and multiple solutions were presented. To resolve the problem Pedersen amended one of the proposed solutions.

“I thought it went pretty well,” said Pedersen. “It was a new experience for all of us.”

For the future, Pedersen talked about continuing to solve problems in an effective way and mediate between people.

More importantly Pedersen learned to use Parliamentary procedure to run meetings and to ‘get out there’ from the election

The campaign’s impact has reached beyond Cornhusker Girls State and influenced Pedersen to pursue politics.

“I’m still intimidated by big things,” she said laughing. But she said she could definitely see herself running for something like school board or county commissioner.   

Story by Jordan Young