New and Returning Beltrami County Officials Sworn in at Ceremony

With a new year comes new faces to Beltrami County.

During Tuesday night’s county board meeting, all five elected commissioners to the Beltrami County Board were officially sworn in. Among the returning faces were two new additions to the board.

Following their respective victories in the midterm elections, Joe Gould of District 2 and John Carlson of District 5 officially took their seats as commissioners. Gould and Carlson both have a background in politics, making this transition to the role of elected representative a smooth one.

While Carlson served as a Minnesota senator for two years, Gould’s experience as a staff member on rural-focused committees for the state is something he plans to bring to Beltrami County.

“I do have about 15+ years in state and local government, so I’m excited to use that experience and knowledge and bring that to the county board, and get to know a lot of the workers,” said Gould.

Along with Gould and Carlson, Jason Riggs took his oath as the new Beltrami County Sheriff. Despite already having years of service with the county under his belt, Riggs will now take on more duties in this new position, and he spoke about what some of his priorities currently are.

“Safety in our jail, safety for our staff and inmates, recruiting and retention, the process of moving forward, of looking at what is a new jail going to look like for us, so definitely those are some of the big items right now,” said Riggs.

Former Sheriff Ernie Beitel and former Commissioners Reed Olson and Jim Lucachick gave parting words that reflected on their past work with the county and what they look forward to seeing the current board work on.