Tenth Judicial District Judge Thomas Stockard, left, swears in Ben Trotter to his second term as New River Township justice of the peace. County office holders were sworn in Monday, and the oaths were administered to elected city officials Tuesday.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
The Churchill County Commission has a new look after two first-term commissioners were sworn in Monday by Tenth Judicial District Judge Thomas Stockard.
Matt Hyde, a former Churchill County School Board trustee and board president, replaces Dr. Justin Heath in District 1. Heath opted not to run for a second term.
Hyde defeated Julie Guerrero-Goetsch for County Commission District 1. Hyde, a longtime employee of CC Communications, retired from the agency at the end of the year.
Eric Blakey is a retired member of the Fallon-Churchill Fire Department and formerly served as chairman of the Churchill County Planning Commission. He replaces Harry “Bus” Scharmann who was appointed two years ago to fill the unexpired term of Greg Koenig. Scharmann had served two complete terms from 2013-2021 before losing his re-election bid to Heath. In November 2022, Koenig was elected to Assembly District 38, replacing Dr. Robin Titus, who successfully ran for the state Senate.
Blakey and his wife created and operate an electrical contracting business (Hotwire Electric), a real estate investment company, Gum Corner Properties and a retail business Dandelion Express Florist.
Blakey defeated three other opponents to win the Churchill County Commission District 3 seat. He narrowly defeated Rusty Jardine followed by Todd Moretto and John Caetano. He has been a resident of Churchill County since 1996.
Hyde and Blakey will serve with current board Chairman Myles Getto, who is serving his first term.
Stockard then administered the oath to the other county officials.
Ben Trotter is beginning his second six-year term as Justice of the Peace. He defeated Brenda Ingram and Dr. Stuart Richardson in June with 61% of the vote. Before his first term, Trotter had served as the Churchill County sheriff. Previously, he worked for the Fallon Police Department for 15 years.
Trustees for the Churchill County School Board were sworn in including incumbents Gregg Malkovich, Kathryn Whitaker, Wendy Bullock and new Trustee Celestia Blakey, who was appointed to fill Matt Hyde’s position since he won a seat on the Churchill County Commission.
Tuesday, Ken Tedford took his oath to begin a four-year term as mayor. Tedford, a lifelong resident of Fallon who has served as mayor for more than two decades, won re-election by defeating Luai Ababneh and Jacob Robertson.
During the campaign, Tedford said he walked door-to-door to visit with the city’s residents and listen to their concerns.
As mayor, Tedford is the chief executive officer of Fallon. Tedford said his focus is on senior citizen issues and the Mayor’s Youth Fund. Tedford said he strongly supports the area’s military and veterans.
Businesswoman Karla Kent, owner of Kent’s Supply, ran unopposed for a second term on the Fallon City Council.