BENSON - Swift County voters approved two measures Tuesday that will allow the County Commissioners to appoint an auditor and recorder.
In the past voters elected people to those positions.
The vote on measure one to appoint an auditor was approved on a vote of 2,732 to 2,215.
The results were slightly different for the second question on appointing the recorder. That was approved on a vote of 2,764 to 2,160.
The change in how the two positions are filled comes at a time of transition for Swift County.
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Long-time County Recorder Donna Lilleberg retired earlier this year and the Commissioners appointed Mary Amundson to fill the unexpired term. The county may now consider whether to make that appointment permanent.
County Auditor Byron Giese will retire this spring - mid-way through his 32nd year in office. Passage of the measure means the Commissioners will appoint a permanent replacement for Giese.
Voters will still be able to elect the county treasurer. The Commissioners did not ask voters to weigh-in on whether that position should also be appointed, in part because current County Treasurer Ron Vadnais is not retiring at this time.
Pope County
A similar measure failed in neighboring Pope County, where voters decided against moving the auditor/treasurer and recorder positions to appointed positions.
The measure failed with 3,888 people voting no, and 2,079 voting for the measure.
