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 The elected officials sworn into office were treasurer, Vicki
Dugan; Sheriff Steve Nichols, and county clerk, Sally Turner. The
county board members sworn in were David Hepler, Robert Farmer,
David Blankenship, Andy Anderson, Emily Davenport and Scott
Schaffenacher.
Later in the morning, an organizational meeting was held by the
county board members to designate a new chairman and vice-chairman,
as well as a parliamentarian. All of the board members were in
attendance save for Rick Aylesworth.
The positions of chairman and vice-chairman had been filled by
Robert Farmer and David Hepler, respectively.
As of November 30th, Robert Farmer completed his third chairmanship,
his second consecutive term to hold that position and the first to
ever do so. Farmer served his first chairmanship, was out of that
position a term, and was serving second chairmanship when the board
voted a change its policies allowing two consecutive terms for the
position. He first to serve two consecutive terms as Chairman of the
Board, and the change permitted him a unique distinction as a
three-chairmanship total serving the board.
 Farmer served as chairman pro tem to start the organization meeting
on Monday morning.
Gene Rohlfs nominated Hepler for chairman, which was seconded by
Scott Schaffenacher.
Chuck Ruben nominated Jan Schumacher, and that nomination was
seconded by Andy Anderson.
In organizational meetings such as this one, the first nomination is
voted on first, and the second nomination is voted on should the
first fail.
In this instance, the motion for Hepler as chairman was approved by
a vote of 7 – 4; with Ruben, Schumacher, Anderson, and Bateman
voting no.
The second appointment to be decided was for vice-chairman. Rohlfs
nominated Farmer for the position of vice-chairman, with O’Neill as
a second.
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Davenport nominated Bateman, with Schumacher as a second.
Farmer was approved as the new Vice-Chairman with a vote of 7 –
3 – 1; with Schumacher, Anderson, and Davenport voting no and
Bateman abstaining.
Following the votes, Hepler was seated as the new chairman.
The board members gave a round of applause for Farmer and his
work as the chairman.
Newly seated Chairman Hepler thanked the board members for their
participation in this meeting. “I’ve always looked at this as a
board of twelve equals. The fact that other people’s names were
brought forward shows the depth of talent we have on this
board,” said Hepler.
One of the key tasks for the board chairman is to appoint board
members to committees and name committee chairmen. The board
chairman serves on all committees, is a voting member of the
committee, but does not sit as a chairman on any committee.
Hepler said that O’Neill would be running this Wednesday’s
meeting of the Zoning Committee and Schumacher would attend the
Regional Planning Commission in his stead while the committees
are being organized.
The last appointment of the meeting was the appointment of
Bateman as parliamentarian for the board.
[Derek Hurley]
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