MOUNT VERNON — Outgoing county commissioner Tom McLarnan was caught unawares Thursday by a party saluting his 12 years of service as a Knox County commissioner. While his colleagues Bob Wise and Allen Stockberger kept McLarnan occupied at lunchtime, office staffers brought in a large cake, a punch bowl, cookies and more. When the commissioners returned, they were ushered into the meeting room, where a crowd of McLarnan’s friends, family and colleagues had gathered.
“Tommy, we just wanted to thank you for all your years of service,” Wise said.
“You pulled a surprise on me,” McLarnan said, both pleased and visibly moved.
Wise then invited those present to comment. John Booth said that on behalf of Mount Vernon City Council he wanted to thank McLarnan for all his years of service. He pointed out that he and McLarnan had worked together years ago to create the regular meetings between the commissioners and City Council, meetings which have since become customary.
McLarnan took the reference to City Council as a good moment to announce that he’s not planning on slipping quietly into retirement.
“I’m running for Councilman-at-Large,” McLarnan said.
Pat Crow presented McLarnan with a certificate of appreciation from the Knox County Convention and Visitors Bureau. Bill Crawford talked about McLarnan professionally and personally, while McLarnan’s brother Doug chimed in with stories about helping his brother find obscure parts of the county when Tom was first running for commissioner 12 years ago. Jim Beroth made a presentation on behalf of the Kokosing Gap Trail.
While cutting the cake for distribution to all the attendees, McLarnan talked about how deep his family roots were in Knox County, citing the names of earlier McLarnans and where they lived.
“So you can see, I’ve been here since 1820,” McLarnan said.
“You sure have been,” McLarnan’s wife Debbie joked.
As the cards, gifts, certificates and congratulations piled up, McLarnan was overcome with emotion.
His wife picked up the thread.
“You’ve all been a blessing and we thank you all for these last 12 years,” Debbie said, to a round of applause from everyone in attendance.
