Joe MacLean was sworn in about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday as the Grays Harbor County Auditor.

MacLean, a Republican defeated incumbent Auditor Chris Thomas who was appointed auditor after Vern Spatz retired from the position in 2017.

Shortly after MacLean officially became the winner, he got to work in the auditor’s Montesano office. MacLean will finish Spatz’s term on Dec. 31 then be sworn in to his term beginning Jan. 2.

Thomas, who is a Democrat, certified the election results as one of his last duties. Shortly after that, Superior Court Judge David Edwards issued the oath of office to MacLean.

Judge sworn in

David Mistachkin also was sworn in Tuesday. He takes over as Superior Court judge after defeating Ray Kahler, who was appointed to fill the term of Judge Mark McCauley, who resigned in 2017.

MacLean said he plans to get right to work in the auditor’s office. “I’ve got a lot of things that are pending,” he said. “Some of it will take working with the unions and trying to cross train the employees to provide better customer service. … The office hours, I’m going to start working on those as soon as I get a good (sense of) what’s going on in the office.”

The race for auditor was one of the closest in the county with the last four votes being counted Tuesday. MacLean had 320 more votes out of the 27,150 cast or 50.59 percent.

MacLean worked for the state Secretary of State’s office training other election workers statewide. He has several years experience and was recruited to the state job because of his success in the Okanagan County Auditor’s Office.

He resigned from the Secretary of State job Monday.