County reps take oaths of office

Newly elected Sandoval County commissioners and officials who won re-election took their oaths of office Friday at the Sandoval County administrative office.

The ceremony officially started the four-year terms for county commissioners Jay Block of District 2, David Heil of District 4 and Kenneth Eichwald of District 5, as well as for reelected County Clerk Eileen Garbagni, County Treasurer Laura Montoya and District Attorney Lemuel Martinez.

Judge George P. Eichwald presided over the swearingin ceremony.

“It’s a big responsibility and I just want to do the job well,” Block said. “Having my wife holding the Bible up there for my first time swearing in to public office is an amazing experience.”

He said he wants to hit the ground running.

“Number one is the agenda, where the people speak first, that’s really important to me,” Block said. “One thing I saw right away, were people having to wait two or three hours to speak at the county commission meetings.”

Heil said he is still getting used to the idea of being an elected official.

“I have been spending the past few weeks kind of getting educated on who the different department heads are and went through a couple of weeks of training,” he said. “I am just blending in; this is something I’m looking forward to.”

The commission meets Jan. 12.