A historic, state-owned mansion across the street from the State Capitol may soon be empty and looking for a new tenant.

The proposal by the Nebraska Environmental Trust to move out of the 111-year-old Ferguson House is already catching some criticism because it would likely cost tens of thousands of dollars more.

Currently, the Trust occupies the second floor of the mansion virtually rent free. It is charged $7,700 a year in rent by the state, but that cost is mostly covered by renting an office to the state’s problem gamblers program, which pays $7,500 a year.

Last year, it was estimated that the Trust would need to spend between $48,000 and $64,000 a year for comparable office space.

Not ‘a Sound Business Practice’

“That doesn’t sound like a sound business practice to me,” said Sandy Scofield, a former state senator who is president of a watchdog group called Friends of the Environmental Trust, when asked about the potential move.

That group has criticized the Trust’s board of directors in recent years as straying from its original mission, which is to support environmental projects via grants funded by the Nebraska Lottery.

The Trust awards about $20 million a year in grants. But the Trust board was sued in 2020 after it defunded a handful of grants for conservation projects and attempted to transfer those funds to pay for ethanol blender pumps.

In August, the Trust’s board of directors voted to suspend public tours and stop renting out space on the Ferguson House’s first floor for special events, like weddings, graduations and fundraisers. Those events were raising about $20,000 a year in revenue prior to the pandemic.

Permission Sought

The board also began exploring a move to a more conventional office building.

On Feb. 1, the Trust’s recently appointed director, Karl Elmshaeuser, asked the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee to allow the Trust to transfer funds, or increase its allowable spending, so that the operation could pay rent on a new location.

Under questioning from state senators on the committee, Elmshaeuser said his board had decided that maintaining a historic building and conducting public tours were not part of the mission of the Trust.

State Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard asked what suddenly changed after the Trust had occupied the Ferguson House for 17 years.

“A change in the board,” responded Elmshaeuser.

He was appointed director of the Trust in December to replace longtime director Mark Brohman, who resigned under fire from board members.

The shift in the board has occurred under Gov. Pete Ricketts, who appoints the nine citizen members of the 14-member Trust board and hires three of the five state agency directors who round out the panel.

Ricketts opposes one conservation effort the Trust has funded in the past — permanent conservation easements — and has moved to appoint board members who agree with him. He refused to reappoint one board member, Gerry Lauritzen of Omaha, who disagreed with him on that issue.

House on National Register

The state can never sell the Ferguson House, which is just southeast of the State Capitol, under the terms in which it was obtained, according to Elmshaeuser.

Scofield, a former chief of staff to then-Gov. Ben Nelson, said moving the Environmental Trust into the Ferguson House has brought stability to the structure, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

It was built by William Henry Ferguson, who has been described as “the Warren Buffett of his day” because of his diverse and successful business interests.

The Appropriations Committee took no action on the funding request. Elmshaeuser said moving the office would not occur until July or later if the Trust got permission to spend the money on new office space.

This story was originally published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Find more at nebraskaexaminer.com.