Several Rensselaer County Republican elected officials were sworn into office Monday in front of a packed courtroom.

Among those sworn in, Steve McLaughlin, the new Rensselaer County executive. McLaughlin replaces longtime Rensselaer County Executive Kathleen Jimino.

In November, the now-former assemblyman beat Democratic challenger Andrea Smith in what was a heated executive race.

Mclaughlin said modernizing the county is at the top of his agenda in 2018.

“Try to make the county a little more modern. I think our technology needs to pick up the pace a little bit. We have far too many areas lacking broadband -- that’s just a part of being rural upstate New York -- so we're going to work on that," said McLaughlin.

Following the swearing-in ceremony, McLaughlin was asked about his past treatment of staffers.

He was quick to shut down the possibility that any controversy remains over prior allegations.

“Not really going to address it, it doesn’t remain controversy. It's been addressed. The person has recanted it. I’m not going to talk about its at this point. It's getting ridiculous. It's not really controversy at all," said McLaughlin.

McLaughlin said his focus is on the county, and did not have any comment when asked who should replace him in the Assembly.