As the only chairman of the Chase County Planning Commission in its 20 years of existence, Charley Colton of Imperial can tell you it’s important to listen to people.
    That ability and a willingness to serve on a board since its inception earned him the 2019 Carol Swayne Award presented at the Nebraska Planning and Zoning Association’s annual conference.
    Colton traveled to Kearney for the awards banquet last Thursday, where he was one of the recipients for awards given by both the NPZA and the Nebraska chapter of the America Planning Association.
    His award was established in celebration of Carol Swayne, a long-term member of the Bellevue Planning Commission and recipient of the first (1999) Loretta Ludemann Excellence in Planning by a Nebraska Woman Award.
    Swayne, a past president of NPZA, broke a mold when she became the first non-professional planner to serve on the board of directors of the American Planning Association. Swayne’s dedication to good planning in her years of service to the city of Bellevue and the NPZA Board serve as an inspiration to other planning commissioners throughout the state, officials said.  

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