New day, new board, new elected officials

“New day, new board, new elected officials and some continuing on,” were the first words that commissioner Steve Bradshaw spoke as he took over as chairman of the board of county commissioners at a swearing-in ceremony on Monday.

All newly elected officials were in attendance for the ceremony.

As his last act as county commissioner, Dan McDonald led the room full of attendees in the pledge of allegiance. After which McDonald told Janine Shepard who gave the invocation, that he should have asked her to also pray for his wife because, he joked, “she’s going to have to tolerate me now, all day, every day.”

McDonald said he was speaking for himself and out-going commissioner Jeff Connolly, on their goals when they started in public service. When they started, they “had a goal to make the county no longer act like government but to actually act like the private sector. We saw an unsustainable financial picture and processes that were too much like typical government.”

He said it would be great if he and Connolly could take credit for setting attainable goals, but they couldn’t do it without all the employees who pulled together to make it work out.

“It’s a bittersweet day,” he said. “I’m glad for it to finally be over, but I’m going to miss the employees of the county. We became like a family.”

Saying that he was honored to be swearing in county officials, Judge Lamont Berecz began the ceremony. He started with Judge Lori Meulenberg who swore to uphold the constitution and laws of the U.S. and Idaho and to “faithfully discharge the duties of the magistrate judge for the first judicial district according to the best of my abilities.”

Berecz followed with the swearing-in of the two new county commissioners starting with Asia Williams, followed by Luke Omodt. Before proceeding with swearing in other county officials, the three commissioners were tasked with choosing a new chairman of the board. Omodt nominated Bradshaw for the position. Williams seconded the nomination, and the vote in favor was unanimous.

Berecz continued the swearing-in of Clorrisa Koster as county treasurer and Michael Rosedale as county clerk. County Prosecutor Louis Marshall swore in Robert Beers as coroner followed by the swearing-in of the new assessor, Grant Dorman.

“Congratulations to you all. Thank you for giving me the honor of swearing you in,” Berecz said before turning the meeting over to the Bradshaw.

Bradshaw said that he was looking forward to working with both of the new commissioners and serving the community for the next two years.

“I think it’s important to strive to do what’s right. The definition of the words ‘legal’ and ‘lawful’ sound like they should be the same, but they’re not. If you look at the definition, the definition is the same except for one little, small detail. On ‘lawful’ it includes what is ‘morally right and just.’”

He said that he hopes that while they’re performing their official duties, they will not only be legal but will also be lawful. “Let’s go forward and conquer!”