Vap may run for full term on Public Service Commission

McCook businessman Jerry Vap, Fifth District Commissioner on the Nebraska Public Service Commission for two years, said today he is considering running for a full six-year term in the 2004 election.

Gov. Mike Johanns appointed Vap to the commission on Aug. 7, 2001, to fill an unexpired term. The Fifth District encompasses 51 counties in the western two-thirds of the state.

The Public Service Commission has regulatory authority over telecommunications, electrical transmission lines, private natural gas companies, private water companies, intra-state household movers, taxi, limousine and van transportation services, state licensed grain warehouses, grain dealers, manufactured housing, and administers a variety of state programs such as the Nebraska Universal Service Fund, the Wireless E911 Fund, and the Hearing Impaired Relay program.

Vap said constituents in the Fifth District are asking him to make a bid for election in 2004.

"It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve the people of the Fifth District and Western Nebraska where I have lived all of my life." Vap said. "The responsibilities of the Commission are complex and require a full time commitment. I have made that commitment and I believe I have served the people of the Fifth District well."

Vap said he has made distance learning a high priority. He has been instrumental in clearing a backlog in schools throughout the state and in his Fifth District to be connected to the distance learning network.

The voice and video connections necessary for the distance learning program depends on local telephone companies for the connections.

Vap and the commission are working with other agencies now to identify and find funding for the next generation of technology that will be used in the near future to enable more students from more schools to access the distance learning program.

Vap has also led the Commission's effort to work with grain producers, grain warehousemen and grain dealers to update the laws governing grain storage, grain dealers and bonding requirements.

Last winter, Vap proposed and then chaired a Public Service Commission project to assess the current infrastructure of the Telecommunications Industry in Nebraska.

"We found that the Industry in Nebraska continues to make a huge investment in state-of-the-art equipment, fiberoptic cable and broadband internet deployment. More than 85 percent of the state has broadband available now.

He currently serves as vice chairman of the five-member commission and represents the commission on the Telecommunications Relay Advisory Board, the Nebraska Information Technology Commission Community Council and the E-911 Advisory Board.

Vap, who is a Republican, said he will make a decision soon regarding the 2004 election. The term runs from 2005 to 2010.

He is no stranger to elective public service. He is a former member of the Middle Republican Natural Resources District Board of Directors, Past President of the McCook Chamber of Commerce, McCook Rotary Club, Nebraska Association of Resource Districts, National Association of Conservation Districts, Chair of the National Conservation Foundation Board of Trustees.

Vap and his wife Sherry live in McCook. They have three children: Jeff, Tim and Stephanie.

Nebraska Public Service Commission: http://www.psc.state.ne.us/