Angela Connolly was named to serve as chair of the Polk County Board of Supervisors for 2009 in a brief board meeting this morning at the Polk County Administration Building. Tom Hockensmith will serve as vice chair.

City and county leaders packed the room to witness the swearing in of new Polk County Sheriff Bill McCarthy and Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald. Returning supervisors Robert Brownell and E.J. Giovannetti also were sworn in after winning re-election last fall.

Connolly, who was first elected as a supervisor in 1998 and previously served as chair in 2000, 2003 and 2006 , said the board will be “faced with many challenges” in the months ahead. “I think sacrifices are going to need to be made to balance the budget,” she said.

Hockensmith said the county hasn’t faced such challenging budget issues since 2003, when the board started the year by dealing with a $12 million budget deficit.