LINCOLN — The general manager of the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District has resigned the $178,000-a-year position a month after being placed on suspension with pay.

Mike Sousek, who had served in the general manager’s role the past two years, did not return messages left seeking comment.

In June, the NRD’s board of directors had placed Sousek on paid leave pending a review by the board. A week ago, after a nearly hour-long closed-door session, the board voted to “approve the strategy discussed in closed session” regarding Sousek.

The chairman of the Lower Platte South NRD Board, Bob Anderson, declined to explain what that vote actually meant, but told the Examiner it was “timely” that the news site had called and that Sousek had now resigned the post.

“We thank him for his service, and we wish him well,” Anderson told a reporter.

He declined to say when exactly Sousek had resigned and whether it included any kind of financial payment.

“I’ve gone as far as we want to go,” Anderson said, stating that it was a personnel matter.

The suspension and resignation comes on the heels of the settlement of a lawsuit with a female NRD employee who maintained that she was bypassed for the NRD’s top job — when Sousek was hired — because she was a woman.

McKenzie Barry, who had worked for the Lower Platte South NRD for 22 years, filed the sex discrimination lawsuit, claiming, among other things, that two members of the committee interviewing candidates told her the NRD wasn’t ready to have a female in the top job.

Barry left the NRD in January. She said Sousek ordered her to clear out her desk a day prior to her last scheduled work day. The Lincoln-based NRD appointed its assistant general manager, David Potter, in June to take over temporarily as general manager.

The Lower Platte South NRD covers six counties in southeast Nebraska. It operates nine wildlife management areas and maintains 50 miles of recreational trails. It also works with landowners to reduce erosion and manage groundwater use.

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