My Goals as County Executive

People have asked me what I want to do with the office.

While my first answer is still “execute County government efficiently and competently,” here are three specific goals - each of which is explained below:

  • A reset of relationships with the County Executive Office

  • A vision of Shared Services across the County

  • Eliminating the County Executive office (!)

A reset of relationships with the County Executive Office

As an outsider to past conflicts with the County Executive, I can start fresh with everyone. Disagreements are normal, but getting things done in government requires collaboration and long-term relationships. You can see this in my 10-year history of working with the County on joint initiatives as the Urbana IT Director, including the Sheriff’s Office, Circuit Clerk, State’s Attorney, GIS Consortium, and County IT – ask them what I’m like to work with.

Negative relationships work against us in another way that impacts the whole County: we are not attracting growth. I am an optimist about this incredible County; it is a wonderful place to live. I see an opportunity for growth as we attract people fleeing red states, who choose to move here because we have one of the best places to live in Illinois. As County Executive I would be a constant cheerleader for our area, working to attract development and residents.

A vision of Shared Services across the County 

We have too many units of government in Illinois, and it is no different here. The County has 9 elected officials, 21 villages, 30 Townships, and dozens of smaller districts. Not to mention larger entities like Urbana and Champaign and the Public Health District.

Here is the key: ALL OF THEM need core services like IT security and HR compliance, but many smaller ones cannot afford people in those roles. That is a serious problem because running a government in 2025 is not like doing it in 1975 – but we are still following those older models with tiny stand-alone offices.

I would like to grow County services to support more entities through inter-governmental agreements. Our smaller units of government would receive better services and the County gets revenue that can be used to grow the team, allowing for a wide breadth of IT and HR services. This goes on now! The County recently took on IT services for the Urbana-Champaign Sanitary District, and all of the entities benefit from the County’s GIS (GIS = mapping software) support. I think it can work on a larger scale if led by the County and grown through voluntarily action of the other units of government.

The goal is to reduce risk and improve compliance for our units of government, while achieving cost savings and efficiency gains on a County-wide basis.

Want more detail? Here is a page from the Illinois Secretary of State’s site about intergovernmental cooperation as enshrined in State Law and the Illinois Constitution: https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/library/ARR/law/intergovt_coop.html

Eliminating the County Executive office

Champaign is one of only two Counties in Illinois with an elected County Executive. In the other 100, the County hires a professional manager to oversee the day-to-day operations of the County, carrying out the decisions of the County Board. This person is selected after a job application, rounds of interviews, and thoughtful consideration by people who would work with the applicant. 

However, Champaign County elects a politician to this office - even though the County Executive is focused on operations and getting things done. This means that many qualified people will not try for this office because it requires a political campaign to get there.

When the County held a referendum in 2016 to create this elected office, I opposed it because I think the County would be better served with a hired professional, instead of one elected through a political process. Now that I am running for the office, I am even more convinced that the office should go back to being run by a County Administrator.

There are precedents:

  • If elected County Executive, I will work with the County Board to pass a Resolution to put a referendum on the next election ballot to leave the County Executive form of government, much as the County Board did in 2024 for the Auditor’s office. 

  • Assuming its ratification by the voters, I would prepare for an orderly transition to end this elected office – much as Mike Ingram did when he was elected County Recorder and successfully transitioned the functions of the office to the County Clerk.