Elected officials take oath of office

Nineteen elected officials took their oaths of office during a swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday, December 27.

Organized by the Thurston County Auditor’s Office, the ceremony was held at the Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts at South Puget Sound Community College.

County Auditor Mary Hall swore in 19 of the 74 newly elected and re-elected officials during the ceremony. Officials sworn in include Jasmine Vasavada, Port of Olympia Commissioner; Dontae Payne, Olympia Mayor; David Watterson, Tenino Mayor; and a ceremonial second swearing-in for Wayne Fournier, County Commissioner. 

The following city council members took their oath of office during the event:

• Malcolm Miller of the Lacey City Council,
• Dani Madrone and Yen Huynh of the Olympia City Council,
• Ryan Roth of the Rainier City Council,
• Jeff Eisel of the Tenino City Council, and
• Leatta Dahlhoff and Kelly Von Holtz of the Tumwater City Council. 

Most school district directors had been sworn in at their district meetings before yesterday. Tesa Frevert, newly elected as a director of Griffin School District was sworn in following the county and city officials.

Six fire district commissioners were also sworn in, including:

• Frank Kirkbride of Lacey Fire District,
• Gloria Zvirzdys of South Bay Fire District,
• Len Albert of McLane-Black Lake Fire District,
• Dave Pearsall of Griffin Fire District,
• Harry W. Miller of Bald Hills Fire District, and 
• Steven Slater of SE Thurston Regional Fire Authority.

Alexis Wallace was sworn in as a commissioner for the Tanglewilde Park & Recreation District.

Before the swearing-in proceedings, Paddy McGuire, the Chief Superior Court Administrator of Mason County, spoke to the approximately 100 people in the audience. McGuire has 20 years of election management experience as the former auditor of Mason County and Deputy Secretary of the State of Oregon, where he oversaw the nation’s first vote-by-mail general election.

"When I first took office as county auditor in Mason County in 2019, it was the first time in my 45 years of working that I didn't have a boss,” McGuire said, adding, “I didn't have vacation time, sick leave or anyone to be directly accountable to. It was an odd feeling. And I quickly understood how a few elected officials choose to take advantage of that lack of accountability.”

Quoting Oprah Winfrey, McGuire said, “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.”

“I urge you to be humbled, to never forget who gave you this opportunity to serve. Never forget who pays your salary, however meager that salary is,” he continued.

Former Washington State Senator Karen Fraser was also present to deliver a keynote speech towards the end of the ceremony.

“Today, taking the oath of office is the first day of the rest of your life. It's the beginning of a whole new set of relationships and accountabilities” Fraser said.

“You'll be living in a kaleidoscope of diverse opinions and perspectives. And you need to treat all with respect, you will be pushed in various directions, and I encourage each of you to remain open, flexible and negotiable,” she added.

According to the Thurston County Auditor's Office, 77,421, or 39%, of registered voters in the county participated in the November 7 election.

CORRECTION, December 28, 2023: An earlier version stated that there were 78 offices on Thurston County voters' ballots. The corrected number is shown as 74, although there were also three offices on some ballots for Centralia School District, which is mostly in Lewis County.