Washington County will begin the new year with a new county attorney. Washington County Board of Supervisors chairman Richard Young tells KCII News the new hire will be announced January 17th. Currently, assistant county attorney Jennifer Lerner is serving as the interim county attorney. December 23rd was Shawn Showers’ last day in office, as he’s been appointed to be a judge. He explained the supervisors have to appoint a new county attorney within 40 days of the seat being vacated. Showers was elected in 2014, so there are two years left in the term. The supervisors received 10 applications for the post and interviewed seven people – Dan Kitchen, Jeffrey Powell, Stephen Swanson, Bart Klaver, Andrew Ritland, Patricia Lipski and John Gish.