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York County voters elected 18-year-old Joe Burgess to the county board last year, making him one of the youngest elected officials in Nebraska history. Burgess is also a freshman studying chemical engineering at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. He represents about 3,000 people in District 5 from his dorm room.
“Someone has to do it,” Burgess said. “Especially local stuff. Someone has to do the job, so I figured it might as well be me.”
Other than holding office, Burgess is a typical college student who enjoys playing piano, soccer and hanging out with his roommates. He attends meetings in York County every other Tuesday and schedules time between classes to deal with county matters.
“I have Calculus 3 in the morning- earlier than I would like, admittedly,” Burgess said. “And then I found I have an hour gap between that and my next class, so I can use that time to check my county email every day.”
Burgess said he missed his very first college class for a board meeting. Generally, he’s able to work around his class schedule for committee meetings and other duties. Burgess added the summer budgeting season will likely be much busier.
“People were reaching out to me before I actually took office as well to touch base and try to tell me about something that the board is partially responsible for,” Burgess said. “So I've slowly been learning more and more of what there's responsibility for.”
When Burgess thought about running, he spoke to York County commissioner and family friend Daniel Grotz. Grotz invited Burgess to a board meeting during a snowstorm when school was canceled.
At the meeting, Burgess said he talked to the District 5 commissioner Jack Sikes, who said he wasn’t seeking reelection. Sikes suggested that Burgess could run for his seat.
“The point where it really got serious is when I had to pay $250 to actually do it, because I didn't want that to go to waste.” Burgess said. “Before that, it was basically making sure it was possible, figuring out what it was going to actually take from me, and then deciding whether I was willing for that time commitment and the responsibility. And I decided that I was, so I went for it.’
Burgess has been interested in politics from a young age, which led him to Boys’ State in 2023- a program used to teach young men about government and citizen participation. Meeting Nebraskan legislators at Boys’ State made him think about getting involved in local government.
“Your politicians that are representing you really want you to talk to them,” Burgess said. “You can make it as local as you want. Your congressman or woman, your state senators, whatever else... Even just a couple phone calls can actually change their mind about an issue.”
Burgess moved from Kirkland, Washington to York in 2022 and campaigned for his county board seat while finishing his senior year of high school. He said he knocked on about 600 doors.
“I made ‘Joe B. 2024’ shirts, and I sold like 100 of them, mostly to my high school classmates, but also to some teachers, some family friends.” Burgess said. “Obviously, my grandma and grandpa and my cousins all want them, so that helped fund any yard signs as well.”
Burgess beat two other Republicans in the primaries and ran unopposed in the general election. He said none of the candidates had experience with public office.
“Whoever can learn the job faster is going to probably be able to do a better job, and I figure I'm in a really good position to learn how to do stuff very quickly,” Burgess said.
Burgess’ commissionership takes place during an uncertain time for older politicians.
As birth rates have declined in recent years, the U.S. population is aging, but politicians are older than the nation’s median age of 38.9 on average. The average age of a U.S. congressperson is 58. In Nebraska, the average age of a Senator is 57.
Amid concerns about declining mental acuity and health scares, a majority of Americans support age limits for U.S. Senators and Supreme Court justices.
After a tenuous debate with Donald Trump, concerns about the advanced age of former President Joe Biden led him to end his campaign for reelection in 2024. At the end of his term, Biden was the oldest acting U.S. president, a title that will be taken by Trump at the end of his term.
Nebraska legislator Senator Loren Lippincott introduced two resolutions this legislative session to call for a congressional convention of the states, in which they’d attempt to set term limits for U.S. Senators and Representatives through a constitutional amendment.
While knocking on doors during his campaign, Burgess said people were impressed he got involved in politics so young.
“I experienced quite a bit of support. I met a lot of dogs too. In general, there was a lot of support from people seeing something more fresh,” Burgess said.
The same election that Burgess won was the first he voted in.
“The first time I voted, I voted for myself,” Burgess said. “I think that's pretty cool, personally.”
Jon Cannon, Executive Director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials, said he’s unaware of any others as young as Burgess.
“You have to be 18 in order to be a county commissioner, and you have to be a qualified voter,” Cannon said. “He made the cut off. Got in just under the line, as it were.”
Cannon also said the ages of county officials are becoming more mixed.
“I would suggest that 20 years ago, you probably had people that were closer to retirement age that were running for county board positions,” Cannon said. “I would suggest that now it seems like you're getting more of a pretty fair mix. Generally speaking, you're seeing people in their 30s to their 60s that were that were running for the first time.”
The Nebraska Association of County Officials provides educational resources and lobbies the state legislature on behalf of county governments. NACO held an orientation in December for new elected officials, which Burgess attended.
“We kind of go through what it means to be a county commissioner,” Cannon said. “Here's everything that you're going to be faced with.”
Cannon said they discussed communicating with state senators, committee participation, public records requests, property taxes and more.
“County commissioners are responsible for the 30,000-foot view of how the county is operated,” Cannon said. “We have a number of elected positions in county government. What the county board does is oversee everything that's going on within each of the individual offices with very general oversight.”
Cannon said county government is often more important than people perceive.
“When it comes to the taxes you pay and the things that affect your daily life, your county commissioners have way more of an effect on those things than someone that lives in Washington or someone that lives in Lincoln,” Cannon said.
Cannon added he’s gratified that a range of citizens, especially young people like Burgess, are stepping up in their communities.
“We're able to point to that and say anybody can be a county commissioner,” Cannon said. “I firmly believe that local government is the government that's closest to its people by definition. It'll be the salvation of us all, for better or for worse.”
Burgess came out of the NACO orientation ready to use his new knowledge.
“Something that I probably will be looking into is different kinds of grants that I could do, working with other boards, and obviously the departments, and see what types of projects they're looking for and what the bigger vision is,” Burgess said. “As I learn more, then it'll get more specific.”
Burgess has only attended a few meetings so far and is being initiated into his committees. He will work with the Blue Valley Action to aid low-income residents with housing, education and food, and the Southeast Nebraska Development District to promote economic and community development. He is also on the Technology committee, which reviews and upgrades what technology the county government is using.
While he has no plans to pursue a higher office, Burgess is glad to be involved in his community while finishing his degree.
“I know I'm going to be here for at least four years, and so I might as well be doing something in my community while I'm there,” Burgess said.
Burgess encourages other young people to get involved in government.
“I think if you do want to help out your community, public service is a is a good spot for you,” he said. “There aren't a lot of young people. You are going to be a different voice that is not normally represented there.”