photo by: Austin Hornbostel/Journal-World

New District 3 Douglas County Commissioner Karen Willey is sworn into office by Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. Willey will finish out the term of former commissioner Shannon Portillo, which expires in January of 2025.

New District 3 Douglas County Commissioner Karen Willey was sworn into office ahead of the commission’s meeting on Wednesday evening.

Willey officially joins the commission after being selected for the position in late August at a convention of Democratic Party precinct committee members who live in the 3rd Commission District. She’s finishing out the remainder of former commissioner Shannon Portillo’s term, which expires in January 2025.

Fellow Commissioner Shannon Reid briefly introduced Willey at the beginning of the group’s meeting, but she and Commissioner Patrick Kelly didn’t add much else on that front through the rest of the night.

All that was on the regular agenda for the evening was an executive session to consult with the Douglas County counselor regarding “matters that would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship.” Commissioners met in the executive session, which isn’t open to members of the public, for about an hour. It’s the third time commissioners have met in executive session since their Aug. 17 meeting; each time, the county’s director of behavioral health projects, Bob Tryanski, has been included.

In other business, the commissioners:

* Proclaimed Sept. 19-23 “National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week” in Douglas County, after which they heard from Ange Amon, an adult education specialist with Peaslee Tech. Amon spoke about the importance of adult education and said that according to census data, roughly 4.5% of the county’s population age 25 and older — about 4,000 people — lacked a high school-level credential like a diploma or GED.