Ada County’s newest commissioner said setting the 2013 budget and answering the public’s questions about the Dynamis waste-to-energy project are his first priorities when he takes office Tuesday morning.

Gov. Butch Otter on Friday appointed Dave Case of Meridian to fill the District 3 Commission vacancy left by the May 4 resignation of Vern Bisterfeldt for health reasons.

Case will be formally sworn in Tuesday morning. A public swearing-in ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Ada County Courthouse public hearing room.

Case said he intends to conduct the county’s business in the open. He said he was disappointed with the way Commissioners Sharon Ullman and Rick Yzaguirre handled an extension of the Dynamis contract May 22.

The county’s 30-year public/private partnership to build the $70 million plant at the Ada County landfill is one area where Case wants to improve transparency.

“All the questions I have been asking, I have not been getting answers to,” Case said. “I hope I will be allowed to answer those questions. I want to get in there and look at everything. I want to see what is going on.”

On May 15, Case beat Ullman in the Republican primary run for Bisterfeldt’s seat. (Redistricting placed Ullman in Bisterfeldt’s district.) Ullman’s term continues through the end of the year.

“It is a unique situation — working side-by-side with someone you ran a primary against,” Case said. “There may be some awkwardness, but I am a professional. I can get along with folks in a professional manner. I may not always agree with her, but I can respectfully communicate with her.”

Ullman couldn’t be reached for comment Friday evening.

The Ada County Republican Central Committee forwarded three names to Otter to consider for Bisterfeldt’s replacement: Case, Dan Dunham and Gordon Browning.

“I’m extremely grateful to the governor for having the confidence in me to appoint me to this position,” said Case.

Case faces Democrat Thomas Howell and independent Jon Howard in November’s general election.

Cynthia Sewell: 377-6428