As of a special meeting of the Kane County Commission, held on February 19, Chief Deputy Kane County Attorney Jeff Stott has been appointed to fill the vacancy left by County Attorney Rob Van Dyke assuming a position as a judge in Utah’s Sixth District.
Left to right, photos courtesy of Kane County Commission:
Interim Kane County Attorney Jeff Stott with wife Mikelle.
Commissioner Celeste Meyeres, newly appointed Interim County Attorney Jeff Stott, Commissioners Patty Kubeja and Gwen Brown.
In the special meeting, Commissioner Celeste Meyeres stated the county was, “spoiled for choice,” praising the qualifications of all three applicants - Stott, Kanab City Attorney Kent Burggraaf and former Kanab City Attorney Van Mackelprang - before moving to the final decision.
The Commissioners were selected to give their vote in a random order, beginning with Commissioner Patty Kubeja. Said Kubeja, “It is a very important decision for everybody involved, and there’s a lot of unknown, anxiety with the staff, anxiety with the election I ran in because I was unknown. I’ve taken that into consideration; my vote for interim County Attorney, until the citizens can make their choice known in an election, is for Jeff Stott.”
Second, Commissioner Celeste Meyeres offered her choice: “Fortunately it hasn’t been too difficult for me, because the feedback of the staff and public has borne out my feelings. I’ve worked extensively with Jeff for the better part of a decade, I had the pleasure of working for well over a year with Kent on City Council, and I’ve gotten to know Van a little bit. The public and I both feel very strongly that Jeff Stott should be the County Attorney.”
Commissioner Gwen Brown concluded, “We have listened to every letter, every email and every phone call to take into consideration. I do feel that any of [the applicants] would be a great choice. I think they’re all qualified, but I think it’s important to have someone everyone feels comfortable working with and gets along, and I too feel that the best choice for this is Jeff Stott.”
Van Dyke was unanimously confirmed by the Utah State committee, and his final confirmation by the full senate is set for February 27. With Stott assuming the County Attorney position, the county is beginning the process to fill the now vacant Chief Deputy Attorney position.
