Commissioner candidates will interview Monday

DAYTON – The local Republican Committee has selected three finalists from a slate of nine applicants in the running to fill the District 1 seat on the Columbia County Board of Commissioners.

A special meeting will be held at the Columbia County Courthouse on Mon., March 11 at 7 p.m. to interview finalists Thomas Konen, Ryan Rundell and Kaye Eaton.

It will be up to commissioners Chuck Amerein and Mike Talbott to choose one of the three applicants to fill the seat formerly occupied by Norm Passmore, who resigned in January.

Amerein and Talbott will meet in executive session following the interviews to make a selection.

The commissioners had 60 days from Feb. 4 to complete the process of appointing a replacement for Passmore.

In the event that they cannot agree on one of the three finalists, the candidates will be referred to Gov. Jay Inslee for a decision.

Jordan Henderson, Roger Trump, Jay Takamura, Nick DePaulo, Shawn Brown and Brian Krause had also filed for the District 1 seat.

The person chosen by the Board will serve the remainder of 2019, said County Auditor Anne Higgins.

After that, candidates can run in November’s general election to fill Passmore’s unexpired term ending Dec. 31, 2020. Commissioners are elected to serve for four years, and that cycle will begin in Jan. 2021, she said.