DesotoExplorer.com / Wood assumes role of Johnson County vice Chairman

Archive for Thursday, February 7, 2008

February 7, 2008

Fifth District Johnson County Commissioner Douglas E. Wood of Olathe has been elected vice chairman of the Johnson County Board of Commissioners for 2008. He was recommended to serve as vice chairman by Chairman Annabeth Surbaugh under the Board's new procedural rules.

The recommendation was approved by unanimous vote of the commission Jan. 31, during its weekly business session. Wood succeeds 6th District Commissioner John Toplikar, also of Olathe, who served as vice chairman during 2007.

In his role as vice chairman, Commissioner Wood will assume and perform the duties of the office of commission chairman whenever Surbaugh is unavailable and because of temporary absence or disability.

Wood was elected to the county commission in November 1998 and was re-elected to his present third four-year term in November 2006. He served as chairman of the board in 2001 before the chairmanship became an at-large publicly elected position in 2002 under the county's new Home Rule Charter, which also expanded the board from five to seven members.

He has lived in Johnson County for more than three decades. For the past 11 years, he has been a resident of East Olathe. Prior to that, he lived in Overland Park for 16 years and in Lenexa for nine years.

A native of Kansas City, Mo., Commissioner Wood is an attorney. He received his bachelor's degree in political science, bachelor of laws, and juris doctor degree all from the University of Missouri Kansas City.