Mayor’s task force expands list of members

There are a few familiar names among citizens added to the Mayor’s Task Force on Immigration.

Among the expanded list of members that was announced Monday are Donnie Temperley, plant manager at Hormel Foods Corp.; Les Leech, president of Fremont Beef; and Leslie Carter, executive

director of MainStreet of Fremont and candidate for

Ward 2 on the Fremont City Council.

Hormel and Fremont Beef often are accused of hiring illegal immigrants. Both, however, use the E-Verify system, a federally backed database that allows employers to verify the legal status of someone seeking a job.

Temperley did not respond to a voice mail message left at his office nor did Leech respond to an e-mail requesting comment.

Carter is running against incumbent Mary Marsh for a city council seat. Marsh was one of four city council members to vote to approve an ordinance that would have banned the harboring, renting to or hiring of illegal immigrants.

Other citizens joining the board are Gabriele Ayala, Joe Banker, Nancy Boyles, Jerry Delaney, Christy Fiala, John Lamar and Steve Tellatin.

Task force co-chairman Bill Ekeler said while some of the citizens are known in the business community, they do not necessarily represent the companies they work for.

“A lot of these people have come to me and others,” Ekeler said. “We really wanted to get both sides represented well.”

Boyles spoke in favor of a proposed ordinance. Delaney recently wrote a letter to the editor that was critical of the council’s and Mayor “Skip” Edwards’ decision.

Other additions to the task force included city and county staff members and a representative from Sen. Ben Nelson’s office. Those include Dean Skokan, city attorney; Tim Mullen, Fremont police chief; Steve Hespen, Dodge County sheriff; Doug Campbell, chief of corrections for Dodge County; and Dale Williamson, a representative from Nelson’s office.

Members who already were announced include Edwards; Ekeler; Paul Vaughan, Dodge County attorney; city council members Gary Bolton, Scott Getzschman and Charlie Janssen; Rita Kitchens, a local immigration attorney; Louis Pofahl and Angel Velitchkov, representatives from U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry’s office; and representatives from Gov. Dave Heineman’s office and Attorney General Jon Bruning’s office.

Two other people have been invited to serve on the task force and might be identified later, Ekeler said.

Wesley Holmes, who is staging a write-in candidacy for mayor, also has offered assistance and suggestions to the task force, Ekeler said.

“This is an outstanding group of individuals, regardless of their individual positions, committed to working toward a solution to this city’s immigration issues,” Ekeler said in a press release. “Frustration and emotion are part of this issue, but rational and factual information and discussions helped greatly in bringing individuals of differing opinions together in building this task force.”

Next up for the task force is the creation of sub-committees that will work on specific goals and objectives.

The task force was formed after Edwards cast the deciding vote on July 29 that defeated the proposed ordinance. Within two days, the mayor had arranged meetings with Heineman and Bruning and moved forward to form the task force, asking Ekeler to be his co-chairman.

Ekeler, who has been the spokesman for the task force, said he would like to present suggestions for local options that are in harmony with state and federal law by Nov. 1.