Elected officials to be sworn in tomorrow

Posted January 4, 2023 at 8:55 am by

The Coun­ty shares news about the swear­ing-in of eight elect­ed officials.

San Juan Coun­ty is pleased to announce the swear­ing-in of eight elect­ed offi­cials on Thurs­day, Jan. 5. The cer­e­mo­ny will take place at 9 a.m. in the Supe­ri­or Court Court­room with Supe­ri­or Court Judge Kathryn Lor­ing presiding.

Four new­ly elect­ed offi­cials will be sworn into office for the first time. The Coun­ty is pleased to wel­come them and their expertise.

Jane Fuller is the new Coun­ty Coun­cilmem­ber rep­re­sent­ing dis­trict three — Lopez, Shaw, and Decatur islands. She has a back­ground in inter­na­tion­al devel­op­ment as a fed­er­al civ­il ser­vant, diplo­mat and Unit­ed Nations rep­re­sen­ta­tive, and is active in local orga­ni­za­tions includ­ing the Friends of Lopez Island Pool, the Lopez Island Par­ent Teacher Stu­dent Asso­ci­a­tion, and the Char­ter Review Commission.

“I will be ready to pro­vide thought­ful and cre­ative lead­er­ship to address the chal­lenges coun­ty res­i­dents are fac­ing in their dai­ly lives,” said Fuller.

Natasha War­men­hoven is San Juan County’s new Audi­tor. After serv­ing as the Chief Deputy Audi­tor for the last three years, she has super­vised the Account­ing, Licens­ing, and Record­ing divi­sions, and served as the Cap­i­tal Com­mit­tee chair.

“Dur­ing my time as Chief Deputy Audi­tor, I’ve served on the Can­vass­ing Board and con­tin­ue to learn more about the Elec­tions process. I look for­ward to serv­ing the cit­i­zens of San Juan Coun­ty as your next Coun­ty Auditor.”

Amy Vira is San Juan County’s new Pros­e­cut­ing Attor­ney. She has served as a Deputy Pros­e­cut­ing Attor­ney since 2011. In addi­tion to expe­ri­ence pros­e­cut­ing both felony and mis­de­meanor crimes, Vira has broad civ­il expe­ri­ence in a vari­ety of areas includ­ing land use law, pub­lic records com­pli­ance, con­tracts, and gen­er­al lia­bil­i­ty. She will also serve as the Coun­ty Coroner.

“I look for­ward to serv­ing the cit­i­zens of San Juan Coun­ty by pro­vid­ing accu­rate and unbi­ased legal ser­vices and uphold­ing the law in a fair and just man­ner that treats vic­tims with respect and hon­ors the rights of all par­ties,” said Vira.

Eric Peter is San Juan County’s new Sher­iff. He retired as a Sergeant with the Hous­ton Police Depart­ment, has worked with the San Juan Coun­ty Sheriff’s Office on Orcas and San Juan Island since March of 2017, and brings a back­ground in pro­gres­sive polic­ing, focus­ing on de-esca­la­tion and com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills.

“I look for­ward to this oppor­tu­ni­ty in grow­ing a deep­er rela­tion­ship with our extra­or­di­nary com­mu­ni­ty,” said Peter. “I appre­ci­ate and am hum­bled by your support.”

The Coun­ty is pleased to wel­come back four return­ing elect­ed offi­cials. Their exper­tise ben­e­fits res­i­dents and the orga­ni­za­tion alike.

Rhon­da Ped­er­son has been serv­ing as San Juan County’s Trea­sur­er since 2015. Dur­ing her tenure, she has imple­ment­ed sys­tems to improve effi­cien­cy, com­pli­ance with new leg­is­la­tion and man­dates, stream­line ser­vices to the pub­lic, and work close­ly with tax­pay­ers fac­ing foreclosure.

“I look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing to serve as Trea­sur­er and remain com­mit­ted to meet­ing the needs of our cit­i­zens and the chal­lenges of the future with com­pe­tence, effi­cien­cy and ongo­ing growth and devel­op­ment,” said Pederson.

John Kulseth has been serv­ing as San Juan County’s Asses­sor since 2015. He has spent the last eigh­teen years of his career work­ing to under­stand and suc­cess­ful­ly respond to the chal­lenges of the Assessor’s Office, includ­ing mov­ing from a three-year cycli­cal re-val­u­a­tion process to an annu­al re-val­u­a­tion process, and adapt­ing to the increas­ing pub­lic desire for online information.

“I will con­tin­ue to ded­i­cate my time and effort to pro­vid­ing the ser­vice tax­pay­ers expect and pro­mot­ing an assess­ment process that is pro­fes­sion­al, fair, and clear­ly under­stood,” said Kulseth.

Lisa Hen­der­son was hired as Chief Deputy Clerk in 2014 for the Clerk’s Office and was appoint­ed by the Coun­ty Coun­cil to com­plete the unex­pired term of her pre­de­ces­sor. She was elect­ed to a full term begin­ning Jan­u­ary 2019. Dur­ing her first term, she helped nav­i­gate the unique chal­lenges brought on by the pan­dem­ic and plans to build upon her experience.

“I am com­mit­ted to con­tin­u­ing the work we have start­ed and to lever­age tech­nol­o­gy in a bal­anced way to best serve our com­mu­ni­ty effi­cient­ly and eco­nom­i­cal­ly,” said Henderson.

Car­olyn Jew­ett has been serv­ing as San Juan County’s Dis­trict Court Judge since Jan­u­ary  2019. Dur­ing her first term, Jew­ett worked along­side judges across the state at all court lev­els to ensure San Juan Coun­ty had mean­ing­ful access to the courts despite emer­gency conditions.

“It is crit­i­cal that we keep work­ing togeth­er to pro­vide fair, impar­tial admin­is­tra­tion of the law,” said Jew­ett. “I look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing this work as your Dis­trict Court Judge.”

You can support the San Juan Update by doing business with our loyal advertisers, and by making a one-time contribution or a recurring donation.


Categories: Around Here

No comments yet. Be the first!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting a comment you grant the San Juan Update a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. Inappropriate, irrelevant and contentious comments may not be published at an admin's discretion. Your email is used for verification purposes only, it will never be shared.

Receive new post updates: Entries (RSS)
Receive followup comments updates: RSS 2.0