The Daily Oklahoman, January 4, 2005 Tuesday
Four Oklahoma County officers took the oath of office Monday, and county commissioners chose a new chairman.
District 2 Commissioner Brent Rinehart was the only new county officer sworn in. The other winners from November’s elections — Court Clerk Patricia Presley, County Clerk Carolynn Caudill and Sheriff John Whetsel — are incumbents each of whom began their third full term.
Rinehart said his first priority is to bring efficiency and a businesslike approach to county government.
“I also want to work extremely hard with the state and the federal government in securing grants and funding and streamlining county government in order to pave more roads, resurface more roads and build more bridges,” Rinehart said.
An hour and a half after Rinehart was sworn in, he took part in his first commission meeting. One of the first items on the agenda was naming a new chairman.
District 1 Commissioner Jim Roth, who took office in 2002, won the vote of his fellow commissioners. Stan Inman, who served in the position the past two years, said it was time to pass the job on to someone else so he could spend more time dealing with matters in District 3.
Roth, a Democrat, said he was encouraged that Inman and Rinehart, who are Republicans, were willing to put political labels aside when electing a chairman.
“I’m excited to continue what our board has begun,” Roth said. “To Stan’s credit, I think he’s overseen as chairman some pretty exciting initiatives. I think it’s up to our board to continue them.”
For the other county officers sworn in Monday, it was time to consider priorities for the next four years.
Presley mentioned pay parity as one of her top priorities.
“My goal is also to continue our imaging program that we’ve got going and hopefully during the next four years we’ll have electronic filing,” Presley said.
