FAIRBURY, NE — A southeast Nebraska native with management experience is now the third person to lead the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in the last six months.

Nick Georgi was sworn in as Sheriff in a ceremony Tuesday morning. Georgi grew up in Jefferson and Thayer counties and went to school in Hebron. He says it’s an honor to serve his home region.

“I like the community here, I like the communities around us," Georgi said. "It’s nice to be able to raise my kids here. Having a role in the youth that’s brought up here, it’s exciting and I can’t wait to see where it goes.”

The Jefferson County Commissioners chose Georgi out of a pool of five internal candidates.

He replaces Matthew Schultz, who announced his resignation in late April. Schultz had been on the job for just five months after taking over for longtime Sheriff Nels Sorensen at the start of the year.

Georgi says morale is good in the department and he plans to continue existing policies, like encouraging community involvement.

“Gaining trust from the community is a huge deal for us. It helps us solve cases, it helps us get new cases, it helps us clean the town up,” Georgi said.

Georgi started in law enforcement in 2008 at the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and quickly rose to chief deputy. He moved on to the Fairbury Police Department in 2013 and started as a sergeant at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in 2018.

Georgi says one of the most positive parts of the department has been the school resource officer program.

“I don’t want to see that change at all," Georgi said. "I think that’s a great thing that Nels started and I plan to keep that going too.”

There’s no agreement yet, but Georgi says there have been talks about adding a school resource officer at Fairbury Public Schools.

The sheriff position is up for election next November and Georgi says he plans to run.