PARIS, Mo — LaJeana Peterson, of Paris, was formally sworn in as the Monroe county clerk Wednesday morning at the Monroe County Courthouse.
Peterson’s appointment came after former Monroe County Clerk Christina Buie resigned midterm when she took another job. Melissa Graupman was sworn in on May 21 as interim county clerk until Gov. Mike Parson appointed Peterson to the position on July 2.
Peterson said she was honored by the governor’s appointment and is excited to get started. One of her main focuses will be navigating the election process.
“With COVID last year, we don’t know how voting is going to be,” Peterson said. “Are we still going to have the same things, or will we be going to go back to normal voting? That will be one of the biggest learning curves is how I am going to make it as easy as possible to make sure we get all the voters we didn’t get last year in here to vote.”
Judge Michael Wilson, who performed the ceremony, said he is glad to have the position filled.
“We are very happy to have the position filled and it’s one of our most important jobs,” said Wilson. “It’s one that involves two different things really, taking care of the elections and the other is taking care of the county budget so we need a good person there and we feel like we have one.”
Peterson said the transition will be quite a task but she is ready to take it on.
“It’s been a learning game here,” she said. “But I have a great staff. I have had a lot of help here and everyone has been really welcoming. I’m really excited, and ready to grab a hold of it.”
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