Judge reminds elected officials to serve

Around two dozen elected officials took the oath of office at the Douglas County Community & Senior Center on Tuesday afternoon.

Scores of family members and supporters turned out for the ceremony, officiated by Douglas County District Judge Tod Young.

Young encouraged the officials to applaud in recognition of their achievement.

“You did it! You won! It worked!” Young said to the crowd. “Give a round of applause for all of you. OK, that’s enough. That’s enough about you, seriously.”

Young stressed service in his brief address to the newly elected office holders.

“What you have asked of the community is that you be allowed to make part of your life about the community,” he said. “Your role in the community that some of you will undertake, and some of you continue is not about you, it’s about the community.

He said that as citizens, they are operating for the benefit of the community.

“Everything from the Clerk-Treasurer’s Office to the swimming pool is run by people who live here, elected by the people who live here,” he said. “As long as you view your office and your community as something for you to serve, a way for you to give, a way for you to acknowledge the joy of this community, of this state and of this great nation … then you won’t make your office about yourself. You’ll make it about everyone else. And that’s at the core of the promise you’re just about to make.”