Larson appointed as county commissioner

Greg Larson has been appointed as the new Lincoln County Commissioner for Troy, replacing outgoing commissioner Ron Downey, who is to leave on Aug. 1.

The appointment was made on Wednesday afternoon by commissioners Tony Berget and Mike Cole, as Downey sat in the commissioner meeting room seats, surrounded by members of the public who had attended to hear the commissioners’ decision and vote.

Initially, the vote was scheduled for Tuesday morning, but Cole said he needed more time to consider the appointment. Later he said this was because he wanted more input from Troy residents.

By then, the commissioners had narrowed down the field from nine applicants to four – Rhoda Cargill, Jerry Bennett, Larry Dolezal and Larson - after two days of interviews the previous week. Both commissioners said they received numerous phone calls and had been swayed in their decision by reasoning from different members of the community who they respected.

Both Cole and Berget said neither of them knew who the other one would choose.

On Wednesday, ahead of the vote, Cole said he had given the appointment “a tremendous amount of thought.”

“This has been the biggest decision I have made as a commissioner,” Cole said, before making a motion to appoint Greg Larson.

Berget said later he wanted Cole to put a name forward, as Cole would be the one to work with the new commissioner for the two-year appointment that would then be open for a vote.

While he was not the one to nominate Larson, Berget said he was in agreement with Cole. Berget  had been swayed by the strength of Larson’s understanding of the county’s over-taxation issue and the floating mills which had been put to each of the final applicants on the second day of interviews.

“He did a lot of homework ahead of his interview,” Berget said. “He seemed to fully understand the mill levy and overtaxation – he nailed it.”

This was important because the commissioners would be “newbies” come January, who would need to have a strong grasp of the financial challenges the county faced, Berget said.  

While he had received calls in favor of Bennett, Cargill and Dolezal, Berget had received “a plethora” of calls in favour of Larson, especially from Troy.

Berget said he was in favour of Larson because of Larson’s background in economic development and his desire to serve the community.

“Folks down in Troy made a lot of phone calls (for Larson),” Cole said.

Both Berget and Cole said the pool of candidates was strong and it had been a difficult choice.

Cole said this was evident in him needing an extra day to decide: “It all came down to that last night.”

None of the commissioners mentioned the possibility of Downey changing his resignation date or an election for the third commissioner role at the final vote on Wednesday, though a case was made for both by Yaak resident Jim Johnson on Tuesday, when the commissioners asked if there was any comments from the public.

While both Bennett and Dolezal were present at the Wednesday vote, Larson was not.

When contacted, Larson said he had not been sure which way the vote would go, but he was very pleased with the outcome.

“In every way you are hoping and you are confident, but you don’t know, really, what the final decision will be,” Larson said. “I appreciate that it was a lengthy process; a difficult process. I’m very thankful.”

In the next few weeks Larson planned to be setting up his office and making appointments with county and state personnel.

“I will be getting in a position to be ready and to be effective,” Larson said.