My Goals as County Executive

People ask me what I want to do with the office.

Here are specific goals - each of which is explained below:

  • Focus on transparency, efficiency, and execution in the County Executive’s office.

  • A reset of relationships with other elected officials.

  • More effort on Economic Development

  • Provide Shared Services across the County

  • Eliminate the County Executive as an elected office (!)

Focus on transparency, efficiency, and execution in the County Executive’s office

The County’s 2019 Strategic Plan starts with “Goal 1 – operate a high performing, open, transparent county government”

I want to focus on this goal using my career as a local government consultant, helping to improve operations and transparency through the careful application of technology. (But not over-spending on tech as a magic solution.)

The County Executive’s office has grown in staff since 2022 from 9 to 14. My first priority is to make sure that this team is working effectively for all parts of the County government.

A reset of relationships with other elected officials

Disagreements are normal, but getting things done in government requires collaboration and long-term relationships. The current County Executive’s office has dysfunctional relations with several parts of County government.

I have a history of collaborating 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 am like to work with.

More effort on Economic Development

One of the original justifications for the County Executive office was to “allow the county to have a strong definitive voice with elected officials on all levels and on economic-development issues.” (https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/guest-commentary/3-reasons-to-elect-county-executive/article_b47ad78e-6683-5142-85c3-36c33cda120a.html <- yes, it’s behind a paywall, but supporting our local newspaper is worth it!)

This has not been a focus of the County Executive office so far, but I would love to make it one. Mostly by supporting the organizations we have in place already (Experience CU, Champaign County EDC, and many others), but also being a constant cheerleader for our area, working to attract development and residents.

I am an optimist about this incredible County; it is a wonderful place to live. The quality of life we enjoy here is already a magnet for people moving to Illinois, or relocating in-state. With the rise of flexible work-from-home roles, people can choose to live where they want - and I believe more of them will want to be here. Growing our County’s tax base through economic development and more residents is the best path forward for financial stability.

Provide 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 (!)

Really! In fact, I have a whole page on this topic now… Eliminate the County Executive Office? (YES)