Frandson sworn-in as County Commissioner

WORLAND – After listening and interviewing three candidates, the Washakie County Commissioners appointed Fred Frandson to a serve the remainder of the late Dale Wagner's commission's seat on Thursday afternoon.

The commissioners interviewed David Bostrom, Frandson and Ed Gross. Frandson was sworn-in shortly after being appointed by the commissioners, and said he felt overwhelmed to be the one selected to serve the people of Washakie County.

Frandson, a Big Horn Basin native, has lived in in Washakie County since opening Frandson Safety Inc., in 2001.

"I want to make sure my grandchildren have a future in Washakie County," he said, and added he decided to run because he wants to preserve the way of life here.

Before announcing their decision, Washakie County Commissioners Aaron Anderson and Terry Wolf went over the strengths and weaknesses of all three candidates, and during this time, the commissioners highlighted their top two picks, Frandson and David Bostrom.

Wolf said, "In my mind, it comes down to what Washakie County needs at this time and who can serve that best."

He added the decision came down for someone with the "ability to get down on the ground and hit the ground running," and added though this person may not have the answer to something, the ability to research it is important and talk to everyone and learn what problems are out there.

Anderson echoed that and said the decision came down to a "boots-on-the-ground guy and a guy who can get done with things at the state level."

"At this moment and time, given the people or potentially have representing us at that state level with Mike Greear and potentially Ron Harvey, I would lean more towards the boot-on-the-ground guy. If it were a different scenario with representation in Cheyenne, I would probably be the other way," Anderson said.

Questions

Throughout his interview, Frandson answered questions on what essential services define the county, conflict resolution and spending in times of budget cuts.

Frandson responded by saving providing law enforcement, hospital and emergency actions plans are important.

For conflict resolution, Frandson said communication and listening were key, and added

if there wasn't a state statue that defined how to handle a situation, he would use the common sense model, and understands you can't please everyone.

When asked about how he would deal with the budget in good and bad times in relation to state's revenue, Frandson said, "That's tough right now because the oil and gas industry is so up and down ... but I go off projections and ... I'm pretty conservative with that."

He added, "With the way we are depended on mineral industry, we have to be very conservative."

-Frandson was also asked to give his opinion on federal land management and a commissioner's role in it.

"We have a lot of BLM land. A majority of our land is BLM land, and I am for multiple use for recreational, hunting, hiking, livestock and mining," and he added, "I will fight for it. I believe in conservation and we can all use this land and use it right."

2018 Election

Frandson said after he completes his time as an appointed commissioner, he plans to re-run for election.

"Honestly, I thought about the future of it and I would have not made this commitment if I thought there wasn't going to be a future," Frandson said, before adding, "I'm in it for the long haul."

–Commissioner Frandson will start as his commissioner duties on July 5 at the next scheduled commissioner meeting.