‘What does the county executive do?’

Written by Darlene Kloeppel, the first County Executive, in Feb 2020

Champaign County residents voted to change to a county-executive form of government in 2016. This is like the state and federal levels of government, where executive, legislative and judicial branches exist for checks and balances. In the former township form of government, executive and legislative functions were combined in the county board.

As the first elected Champaign County executive and only one of two in Illinois, the most common question I get asked is, “What does the county executive do?”

The most immediate and visible change of the new structure is that the executive assumed two tasks formerly done by the county board chairperson. The first is presiding over the monthly county board meetings, which are live-streamed and posted afterward on the county clerk’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/champaigncountyclerk). Not much has changed about county business, though, because action items still come to the full board through committees made up of and chaired by board members.

The second is making appointments to various boards and commissions — which, like the former board chair appointments, still require the confirmation of the full board. If you’re interested in learning more about appointments, head online to https://co.champaign.il.us. As you might expect with any change, there are details to negotiate, and getting anything done requires the executive and board to work together.

The executive represents the county on intergovernmental boards and committees, such as the Economic Development Corp., METCAD-211, the Central Illinois Land Bank Authority and the Willard Airport Advisory Board. Every week, I attend community meetings where I share information about county services, look for partnership opportunities and ways to leverage the county’s resources to better our communities.

A fun part of the job is representing the county at events like the Disabilities Expo or greeting preschoolers at the Urbana Early Childhood Center. Reaching out to groups representing different viewpoints broadens my understanding of our community’s needs and generates valuable input for possible solutions.

The executive serves as liquor commissioner for unincorporated parts of the county, and since the county doesn’t have a public information officer, the executive occasionally serves in that role, too.

Less-visible duties of the executive include supervising all the administrative activities that formerly operated under the county administrator hired by the board. For those tasks, I have lots of help from a staff of highly committed smooth operators keeping Champaign County’s offices on an even keel.

I’d like to brag a little about my executive team, made up of my executive assistant and three administrative assistants; the deputy director of administration; the deputy director of finance; the director of physical plant; the director of information technology; an insurance specialist; and a payroll accountant. This knowledgeable staff provides support for all county officials through expertise on the county’s organizational and physical infrastructure: strategic planning, budgeting, contract management, organizational change management, human resources, computer systems, county website, buildings, grounds and risk management. They also provide administrative support for the county board and oversee the great volunteers at the information desk at Brookens Administrative Center. The county could not operate without them!

The executive also appoints officials and oversees personnel in animal control, planning and zoning, the offices of the supervisor of assessments and the board of review, the Veteran’s Assistance Commission, and highway departments, which brings the total staff under the executive’s oversight to almost 100 county employees.

Scheduling is a daily juggle, and the challenge is not getting spread too thin.

Originally printed in the News-Gazette: https://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/columns/executive-branch-what-does-the-county-executive-do/article_31f80119-846d-5307-9abd-e71b46d0f24d.html

As of 2025, the staff positions have changed since those described in this article - but the original text was not altered.

Content reprinted here with permission from its author, Darlene Kloeppel.