PAULINA, OR -- Crook County’s newest Commissioner won’t be sworn in until next week, but Susie Hermreck says she’s ready to get to work. "I have resigned from the Crook County Planning Commission, which I did for eight years. I definitely thought a lot about this position in losing that position," Hermreck tells KBND News, "I’ve also resigned [from] the Crook County Fair board. And I’m on the OSU Advisory Council and I’m also on the Crooked River Roundup Foundation board." She believes that involvement and experience set her above the seven other candidates interviewed for the County Court vacancy.

Hermreck’s appointment comes amid a proposal to change Crook County’s government to include a County Administrator, similar to Deschutes and Jefferson counties. She acknowledges it's a controversial conversation and says she hasn't yet decided if she's for or against restructuring, "I am going to have to go back to college, basically, and start studying, because I’ve decided to go into this with an open mind." Hermreck says she wants to study the budget impact of such a change. "They say that there’s only seven counties in Oregon that don’t have a county administrator. That doesn’t mean anything to me. We’re unique, and I will be for what I feel is the best. And right now, I don’t feel I have enough education and learning to do that."

KBND News was initially told Hermreck is the first woman to sit on the Crook County Court. However, historians at the Bowman Museum confirm Frances Burgess holds that distinction, serving as a Commissioner in the 1970s and '80s.  

As the second female Commissioner, Hermreck hopes to provide a different perspective, "I think as women, we bring a little bit more - not that they’re not compassionate and good men - I think we bring a different aspect to the board." She adds, "I have made it very clear that I am not a ‘yes girl.’ I went to CalPoly in California and I was a Biology major, so I’m kind of a scientist by nature. And I look at the facts."

Hermreck and her husband live on a ranch in Paulina, and has lived in Crook County for 18 years. She replaces Jerry Brummer in Position One, who resigned in early October.