The Poston family had reason to celebrate on Dec. 29.

The brother and sister duo of Ryan Poston and Kaley Reagan were sworn in as presiding commissioner and public administrator, respectively, during a 10-minute ceremony at Montgomery City Hall. Poston will serve his fourth term as presiding commissioner, while Reagan will work her first term as public administrator.

“It’s good,” Reagan said. “We’re pretty close.”

A total of eight county officials were sworn in. The others were Nathan Carroz (associate circuit judge), Keith Freie (prosecuting attorney), Kathy Hancock (county clerk), Robyn Schmidt (circuit clerk), Sheila See (recorder of deeds) and Lori Stiers (treasurer). Anita Sullivan, who was elected in her sixth term as collector in November, didn’t attend the ceremony.

Freie said he was thrilled to be sworn in by Carroz. He was appointed interim prosecuting attorney in April.

“I’ve known Nathan for a long, long time,” said Freie, a 2005 Wellsville-Middletown High School graduate. “We graduated high school together and I worked for him, so there’s a ton of history (between us). It’s an honor to get sworn in by Nathan.”

Carroz also swore in Hancock, Schmidt, See, Stiers, Poston and Reagan. He was sworn in by Kelly Broniec, who is currently a judge of the Missouri Court of Appeals in the Eastern District.

Carroz, Hancock, Schmidt, See, Stiers, Poston, Reagan, Freie and Sullivan won their respective races during the general election on Nov. 8. All of them ran unopposed.

Poston and Reagan were sworn in with their mother, Linda Hunn, in attendance. Hunn worked at the Montgomery County Courthouse for 16 years.

“Kaley always hated politics,” Hunn said. “Ryan always loved it. He kind of grew up at the courthouse, so that made a difference.”

Reagan took over interim public administrator duties last year after the passing of Ann Scarlet, who worked as the county’s public administrator for 21 years.

“I’m learning a lot,” said Reagan, a 2002 Montgomery County High School graduate. “Hopefully, there are a lot of other administrators I can call on. Everything has been OK. There were no big mishaps or anything. I’m getting to know everybody all around the state of Missouri in different facilities and everything.”

Poston, a 1995 MCHS graduate, has been the county’s presiding commissioner since 2010. That year, he defeated Charlie Korman in the primary election and Gene Whyte in the general election.

“It seems like it’s something different every day,” Poston said. “But there’s more stuff coming at you than when you started. There are more things. It keeps getting more, more and more. We just do the best we can and keep moving forward.”