Phyllis Randall Loudoun County’s 1st female African American chair of the board of Supervisors. @wtop pic.twitter.com/kINDgPxDIs

— Kathy Stewart (@KStewartWTOP) January 2, 2016

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. —Saturday was a day of many firsts for the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

The board’s first African-American chair, Phyllis Randall, was sworn in Saturday. Randall, a Democrat, ousted  Scott York and beat two other candidates to take the county’s top leadership post in November.

Also sworn was Koran Saines, the first African American to serve on the board. Saines represents the Sterling district and replaces Eugene Delgaudio.

Saturday was also the first time that Democrats and Republicans were sworn in together, in a single ceremony.

Loudoun County’s nine-member board has five new members who will serve for four years. Several women have led the board, but Randall is the first African-American to hold the post.

“I’m very excited to get to work,” Randall says.

Now that the election is over, Randall says it’s very important for residents to know that there is just one board.

“I understand that people can disagree, but not be disagreeable. People can be divided on an issue, yet not be disrespectful,” she says. “As chair, that is the tone we will set going forward.”

The new board gets to work on Monday. Randall says one of the first orders of business is to create an ethics code, an issue that she campaigned on.