Posted on December 26, 2018
Author Jacque Ryan, WKVI
In an unprecedented ceremony, Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall invited all elected officials, regardless of party, to be sworn into office Wednesday evening.
Judge Hall mentioned that while serving in his position at the Starke County Courthouse for more than three decades, he’s never witnessed a swearing-in ceremony where democrats and republicans were recognized simultaneously.
In a media advisory, Judge Hall noted that doing it this way seemed to emphasize a county-wide cooperative spirit.
Not everyone who was invited was able to make it but a handful of officials were recognized during the ceremony.
Democrat Robert E. Olejniczak Jr. stood alongside Republican Roy McCray as they took their oaths to serve as advisory board members for Washington Township and Oregon Township, respectively.
Next, Judge Hall swore in two County Council members; Howard Bailey Jr. who will represent District 2 and David Pearman who will serve as the District 3 representative. The new County Commissioner for District 2, Bryan Harold Cavender, was also present and took his oath of office. All of those elected officials are Republicans.
Republican Mandy Thomason took the oath to serve as the County Recorder, Democrat Rachel Milner Oesterreich was sworn into her new position as Starke County Auditor, Republican Jack Rosa took his oath to become the next County Coroner and Bernadette Welter Manuel (R) was sworn in as Circuit Court Clerk.
Incoming Prosecuting Attorney Leslie A. Baker (R) and her Deputy Prosecutor John M. Acosta Jr. stood together as they took the oath of office and were sworn in by Judge Hall.
Starke County Sheriff Bill Dulin was also in attendance to take the oath of office to continue serving in his position next year.
Before the event concluded, State Representative Jim Pressel stood and recognized the uniqueness of the bi-partisan swearing-in ceremony.
Pressel shared, “I represent LaPorte County and Starke County and I haven’t seen them do anything like this in LaPorte County.”
He continued, “I’m pretty amazed at all the people that came together to celebrate all the hard work and efforts of all the candidates this year that are out there wanting to do good things for their county.”
Though these officials took their oaths, Judge Hall mentioned that they won’t start performing the duties of their elected positions until January 1st.
More pictures from the event can be found on the Tri-County News Facebook page.
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