On Wednesday, January 2, a new chairman took control of the gavel at the first Beaufort County Council meeting of 2013. Paul Sommerville was elected as County Council’s chairman and Stewart Rodman was elected as the vice-chairman.
“2013 will be a challenging year but we can accomplish a lot. I’m looking forward to working with all of the council members as well as administration and listening to the public on making sure we get through it

[caption id="attachment_9472" align="alignleft" width="300"]<a href="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/News-County-Council.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-9472" title="News-County Council" src="http://www.yourislandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/News-County-Council-300x226.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="226" /></a> Front Row, from left: William McBride, Vice-Chairman Stewart Rodman, Chairman Paul Sommerville, Steven Baer. Back Row: Laura Von Harten, Rick Caporale, Gerald Dawson, Jerry Stewart, Brian Flewelling and Cynthia Bensch.[/caption]

together,” said Chairman Sommerville shortly after receiving a unanimous vote from his colleagues.
“This is my seventh year on County Council and I’m just honored and privileged that my fellow council members would nominate and elect me to vice-chairman” said Rodman.
Newly elected Councilwoman Cynthia Bensch was sworn into office by Judge Marvin H. Dukes III just before the election. She was elected in November to fill the District 7 seat covering Bluffton. Also taking the oath of office were Councilman Gerald Dawson, Brian Flewelling and William McBride. All three were re-elected to council in November.