Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Friday announced he has appointed Albert Lean Randy Kehr as an at-large member to the state commission that recruits and reviews judicial candidates.

Kehr, the executive director of the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce, will be one of nine at-large members to the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection.

He will consider judicial vacancies in all of the state’s district courts and in the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals.

The commission brings back recommendations to the governor about vacancies.

“I’m obviously very honored and humbled,” Kehr said about the appointment. “This is something that’s extremely important and very serious.”

Other new at-large members include the following:

• Jerry Blackwell, of St. Paul, the founder and chairman of Blackwell Burke, P.A.

• Margaret Chutich, of Minneapolis, the assistant dean at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute.

• Linda Krug, of Duluth, the co-director of the Masters in Advocacy and Political Leadership program.

• Tim O’Brien, of Minneapolis, a partner at Faegre and Benson.

• William Sieben, of Hastings, a partner at Schwebel Goetz and Sieben.

The Commission on Judicial Selection has 49 members — 27 are appointed by the governor and 22 are appointed by the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Of those 49, nine are at-large. Of the remaining 40, there are four members who are appointed to represent each of Minnesota’s 10 districts.

The nine at-large members travel the state to review and recommend vacancies in every judicial district, while the 40 other members review vacancies only in their own district.

Each member is appointed to a four-year term that ends at the conclusion of the governor’s term.

“These individuals bring together the very best that Minnesota has to offer with their experience and strong passion for the judiciary,” Dayton said in a news release. “I am proud to appoint each to the commission to take on the important task of reviewing and recommending candidates for our judicial system.”

Kehr said the commission has an abnormally large number of judicial vacancies to review in the near future, including one in the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 8th districts.