Kootenai County officials sworn in
KAYE THORNBRUGH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 9 months AGO
Kootenai County Commissioner Marc Eberlein takes the oath of office Monday.
KAYE THORNBRUGH/Press
Kaye Thornbrugh is a second-generation Kootenai County resident who has been with the Coeur d’Alene Press for six years. She primarily covers Kootenai County’s government, as well as law enforcement, the legal system and North Idaho College. | January 14, 2025 1:07 AM
COEUR d’ALENE — Residents will see the same faces in Kootenai County government for the time being, save one.
About 100 people gathered Monday morning at the Kootenai County Administration Building for the swearing-in ceremony of four Republican officials who were elected to county office during November’s general election.
Clerk Jennifer Locke swore in Commissioner Marc Eberlein, who returns to the Board of County Commissioners for a second term after Bill Brooks unseated him in 2018 and chose not to run for reelection last year. Eberlein won a four-way Republican primary race last spring with about 39% of the vote and faced no opposition in the general election.
Locke also administered the oath of office to incumbent Commissioner Leslie Duncan, who won the Republican primary election last spring with 65% of the vote and ran unopposed in November. This is Duncan’s third term; she was first elected to her District 3 seat in 2018.
As their first act, the commissioners voted to make Bruce Mattare the board chair.
Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris took the oath for another four-year term, his second. He captured 80% of the vote in the Republican primary election, then 69% of the vote in the four-way general election.
Norris said he looks forward to serving the community for another four years.
“I look forward to bringing conversations about fentanyl, scams and the threat of social media to our youth to our community,” he said.
Norris said he also aims to work closely with the Kootenai County Office of Emergency Management to combat a major risk to public safety, one that currently looms large in many minds: wildfires.
Kootenai County prosecuting attorney Stanley Mortensen was sworn in for a second term. He was first appointed to his office in 2022, replacing longtime prosecutor Barry McHugh as the latter prepared to take the bench. He ran unopposed in the primary and general elections last year.
After the ceremony, Mortensen didn’t linger to receive congratulations for long.
“Gotta get back to work,” he said with a smile.
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