BEND, OR -- Deschutes County's newest Commissioner won't officially take her seat until Wednesday, but she says she's already working on the issues she campaigned on. "I've already started and I've been going to a lot of meetings. There's a lot to do," Patti Adair said, this week. She says she's not worried about being the only new member of the board, "I like challenges, so it's fine. Definitely, there's a lot of different things going on with the county. Positive things; and we want to keep those positives. And, there's a lot of things we need to do, too."

Adair tells KBND News addressing the county's finances and streamlining the budget are areas where her expertise as a CPA would be most valuable, "I just think we have to really be careful. You know how we always have such a cycle here, the ups and downs. We want to keep things smoother, if that's at all possible." She also wants to focus on wildfires and marijuana. "The marijuana in rural Deschutes; that's where we have such a problem because people that live in the rural county were the ones that have been so impacted. And, I also just really feel like we really, really need to clean up more fo the forests next to our towns."

She'll be sworn in at Wednesday's Board of County Commissioners meeting, joining Commissioners Tony DeBone and Phil Henderson. Their first order of business will be to appoint a new Board Chair. Adair replaces long-time Commissioner Tammy Baney, who is now head of the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council.