LITCHFIELD -- Stephanie Moren-Beckman was appointed Tuesday to serve as Meeker County attorney until the end of the former county attorney's term.
Mike Thompson resigned as county attorney after he was appointed to be a judge in the Eighth Judicial District Court in Kandiyohi County. He had about a year left on his term, which expires at the end of 2006.
Moren-Beckman, who is recently married and plans to change her last name to Beckman, is an assistant Meeker County attorney and was one of two candidates the County Board interviewed Tuesday afternoon. The other candidate, Rick Lanners, is also an assistant Meeker County attorney.
The board voted unanimously to appoint Moren-Beckman. Commissioner Hugh Wagner was absent.
"Very excited," Moren-Beckman said of her appointment. "I look forward to the challenges."
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Moren-Beckman will start Jan. 16. Until then, Elizabeth Cummins, first assistant county attorney, will continue to serve as interim county attorney.
Moren-Beckman, 34, has worked in the Meeker County Attorney's Office for 10 months. She had previously worked in the Stearns County Attorney's Office and in Hennepin County as a law clerk for a judge.
She earned her law degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul and earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy at Hamline University, also in St. Paul.
She grew up in Becker and has lived in Litchfield for four years. She recently married Chris Beckman, a Litchfield native, and has an 11-year-old stepdaughter.
Moren-Beckman said she plans to run for the county attorney position in next year's election. There were four applicants for the position, but the county decided to consider only the two internal candidates because the county requires the county attorney to live in the county. Lanners, of Buffalo, has worked for the county for 10 years.
County administrator Paul Virnig said the decision was a tough one for the commissioners and said both Moren-Beckman and Lanners have done "a good job for us."
