DAYTON-It took just ten minutes of deliberation behind closed doors for Columbia County Commissioners Mike Talbott and Chuck Amerein to select Ryan Rundell to fill the vacant seat on the Board of County Commissioners. The Commissioners also interviewed Kaye Eaton and Thomas Konen on Monday night at the Columbia County courtroom, before heading in to executive session.

It's a big responsibility," Rundell said, minutes after being sworn in.

"It's an honor to be picked. They had good candidates to choose from," he said.

Rundell said he was raised in Dayton, graduating from DHS in 1995.

He said he graduated from WSU in 1999 with a degree in Business and Finance, after which he received a minor in Insurance.

"I traded futures on commodities for about a year, and then applied for a job as the manager of the Liberty Theater," he said. "I didn't get that, but Marcene (Hendrickson) hired me at Elk Drug."

Rundell said he then went to China to teach English. During his five year stay there he received a bachelor's of arts in Modern Chinese Language from Qing Dao University.

Rundell said that although there is a big learning curve ahead for him, with the added responsibilities that go with being a county commissioner, he is confident he will rise to the occasion.

Rundell is a pharmacy technician at Elk Drug. He and his wife Lanlan have two children; Josiah, 3, and Rebekah, 15 months of age.

Commissioner Talbott said he picked Rundell because of his apparent high regard for the county, and because he answered all the questions posed by the commissioners appropriately, and in a noncontroversial manner.

"I thought, 'I can work with this person,'" Talbott said.

Talbott said getting along with everyone on the board is very important.