PAROWAN — Six Iron County elected officials were officially sworn into office on Thursday.
The group included five incumbents who were reelected to new four-year terms, namely Iron County Commissioners Mike Bleak and Paul Cozzens, Iron County Sheriff Ken Carpenter, Iron County Attorney Chad Dotson and Iron County Clerk Jon Whittaker.
Although Bleak and Cozzens had faced challengers from within the Republican party during last June’s GOP primary election, they both appeared uncontested on the November ballot. Similarly, Carpenter, Dotson and Whittaker all won reelection after running unopposed.
Joining them was newly appointed Iron County Auditor Lucas Little, who replaces former auditor Dan Jessen. Jessen, who had also appeared unopposed on November’s ballot, later announced he would be resigning as county auditor to take the job as Parowan’s new city manager, as previously reported in St. George News / Cedar City News.
On Dec. 15, 2022, the Iron County Republican Party’s central committee voted to approve Little as Jessen’s replacement.
Little’s appointment was then ratified by a 3-0 vote of the Iron County Commission during a short emergency meeting on Dec. 30, 2022.
Little, a native of Iron County who was raised in Parowan and Paragonah, graduated from Southern Utah University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting in 2017 and 2018. He had worked as Jessen’s deputy auditor in the Iron County Attorney’s Office since June 2021
“I am ready to go on day one,” Little wrote in an email to the central committee requesting their support. “I have the education, training, and experience to serve immediately.”
Little also noted he had already been trained and mentored by Jessen for the past year and a half.
“I have Dan’s endorsement, along with many others I currently work with, and very much appreciate their trust in and support of me for this position,” he added.
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