Congratulations to the Butler County commissioners-elect: Kim Geyer, Leslie Osche and Kevin Boozel.

The three bring a wealth and variety of experiences that will help shape their regard of and approach to everyday issues and perplexing problems.

How their experiences, interests and priorities overlap will determine how they govern us, and themselves, in the next four years.

There will be changes.

For beginners, the new board is much younger than the commissioners who preceded them. Boozel is 44; Osche, 51 and Geyer, 53. By contrast, the youngest outgoing commissioner, Jim Eckstein, is 58. Bill McCarrier and Dale Pinkerton are in their 70s.

The majority of the new board are women — a first for Butler County government.

And while the two women, Osche and Geyer, are both Republicans, there’s no guarantee they will emerge as the dominant voting majority on all issues.

Osche, the former United Way executive director, shares many interests and objectives with Boozel, a Democrat. Their campaigns appeared mutually supportive

Watch for Osche and Boozel to team up on a variety of issues including public housing, emergency services, human services and education.

A potential Osche-Boozel alliance does not necessarily make Geyer a minority. Osche and Geyer are women, wifes and mothers of a similar age, and they both have administrative experience, particularly with budgets. More important, they are fellow Republicans in a Republican-dominated county whose constituents expect them to conduct themselves accordingly.

Moreover, as a former Mars School Board member, grass-roots policy advocate, administrative assistant to Commissioner McCarrier and a member of multiple boards of directors, Geyer knows how to navigate bureaucracies.

And while we’re on the topic of conduct, we expect to say good-bye to the acrimony and volatility that Eckstein brought to the commissioners’ meetings.

Individual county employees have filed complaints against Eckstein alleging harassment and discrimination. He’s been criticized for handing out campaign literature at veterans events and for picketing churches on Sunday mornings. And who can soon forget the hand-painted signs on his pickup truck protesting the privatization of the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center?

It hardly mattered that Eckstein was occasionally right on issues; he did a poor job communicating his position and consequently was ignored by a board majority that didn’t need his input.

The new board will not be immune to tough political battles, and it shouldn’t be immune — we don’t need rubber-stamp leadership. But disagreements and conflicts can be hashed out with civility and reason. We hope the incoming board is better at resolving disagreements. It’s hard to imagine a board that’s worse.

Finally, the commissioners-elect provide a good geographic foundation. Boozel lives in Mercer Township in the northwest corner of the county; Geyer lives in Adams Township in the southwest; and Osche lives in the middle, in Butler Township.