County Administrator Ray Bockman must be feeling irreplaceable. The search for his successor has not gone well. A committee was appointed. The position was well advertised and peer networked. Candidates were interviewed. The drawing board was pulled back down off the shelf. Expert consultants have been hired. The mold must have been broken or at least misplaced.
I have a suggestion. Make the county administrator an elected position.
I know. I know! Incompetent people can convince their local political party to beat the streets and knock the doors and help them convince a majority of voters to get them elected into skilled positions. But as soon as they are discovered they take the money and run without a word.
And, get this: If the county administrator was elected DeKalb County might be the only other county (other than Cook County) in Illinois that meets the requirements for being a Home Rule unit — without a referendum.
But on the opposite end of that disaster in the making are the bright young minds and faces of John Acardo elected DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder and Eric Johnson elected DeKalb Township Supervisor. The two have embraced and implemented new technology to increase efficiency in fulfilling the requirements of their office. If not for Acardo’s reorganization of the County Clerk’s internet presence DeKalb County may well have gotten an “F” on a recent transparency test.
Examples of time and experience tested proven success with elected skill positions include Sheriff Roger Scott, Coroner Dennis Miller and Circuit Clerk Maureen Josh. Complaints about their job performance are few and far between. Their reputations have earned voter approval spanning their careers.
On the cost side (which is primarily salary and benefits) Acardo, Johnson, Josh, Miller and Scott are paid substantially less than their appointed counterparts in local government. My guess is elected officials have tougher negotiators (voters) than their appointed peers have. Plus, the contract only runs until the next election.
Because of that contract term there is an important control for public debt and debt is the Achilles’s heel of Illinois Home Rule. Elected officials in skilled positions are reluctant to approve expenditures that they can be held accountable for at the next election. An elected county administrator would be far more cautious about taking on long term debt than an appointed one. Ray Bockman once told county board members that they should borrow every dollar they could since interest rates were so low. When asked what the accumulation of debt might mean down the road he reminded them of his pending retirement.
They’re likely to be more cautious about taking on long term debt than their unskilled elected counterparts like board members, aldermen and mayors. I am not being disrepectful. Board members, aldermen and mayors define themselves as unskilled when they cut their own salaries or insist to remain volunteers while voting for higher and higher compensation for appointed administrators and skilled public servants with the reasoning stated as, “if you want more qualified people you have to pay them more.”
With that kind of logic you end up so far in debt that you can’t pay for current services or previous promises. Italy, Spain, France, Illinois…
Click Here To Submit A News Tip Or Story
15 Comments
The Dekalb County Board tried to find a qualified replacement but couldn’t after a nationwide advertised search. The candidates lacked the experience and knowledge of county government. Mr. Bockman has great experience and knowledge of county government that will not be easy to replace. Dekalb County will lose a lot of institutional memory when he leaves. Electing a County Administrator would be a disaster of epic proportions. Very few candidates would be qualified and competent in the position. It would be like electing a City Manager or expecting a Mayor to handle the job. Do you remember Mayor Harold “Red” Johnson?
Yes I do remember Mayor Red Johnson. If he was alive and well he’d still be Sycamore’s mayor and even though I’d vote for Mundy on most Tuesdays Red would trounce Ken in any election. He served Sycamore long and well. Staff knew better than to bring any budget to him that wasn’t in the black. Anyone wanting to do business in Sycamore knew in short order whether Red thought good or bad of it and the smart ones proceeded accordingly. Electing a county administrator would be the best things since sliced bread. I don’t buy into the suitcase mentality that obviously some on the county board have. I think there are people bred, born and educated in this county that are more than capable of filling Ray’s shoes. I would hope that a candidate for the position already works for the county. If not, who failed in their preparation? What we have now is a disaster of epic proportions — that is if you are paying attention or not too busy trying to blame the other party for it.
You are saying an elected mayor can’t do the job of an appointed city manager? Really? How does Rahm Emanuel do it?
I guess you don’t remember the “state” that Red Johnson left Sycamore in! He was living in the 1940’s and he neglected their infrastructure, the water, the sewer systems and their services were poor. Sycamore was not compliant with the federal and state statutes. Red shunned economic development and that why they had some of the highest school taxes in the state.
It has been difficult to find a qualified replacement for Bockman. I would like to know who all of the “qualified” local candidates are? I am certain Rahm Emanuel has plenty of staff and resources at his disposal in Chicago. He doesn’t need the same level of personal knowledge or is as involved with the issues as a county administrator. Many Mayors are politicians that lack the education and knowledge to perform what city managers do. Being the head of government is not something for the amateur. Dekalb County government is well run, with good employees, services, and very positive ratings from our auditors.
Dixon got good ratings from its auditor, too. Just sayin’.
Stephen I appreciate local politicians with the backbone to engage in community forums, blogs and comment sections. Especially mine.
Services were not poor under the Red Johnson era elst he would not have served for as long as he did. He once tried to not run for office but was drafted by the voters — because of service. He would not go into the “red” so borrowing for capital and infrastructure improvements was like trying to throw manhole covers. Sycamore has a lot of good things going for it because it has had several great mayors that followed Red’s legacy for good city services. Let’s see. Who’s a local talent that is qualified and would likely win the position in an election? Hmmmm… Just off the top of my head. How about Bill Nicklas? I am sure when he reads this it’ll knock the wind out of him (and Dr. Peters) so don’t think he put me up to that suggestion. We have plenty of local talent with a university known for public administration.
And I’m having my people send Rahm Emanuel’s people your comment that he is not qualified to be a county administrator. Don’t over park in the city.
Your statement that Red shunned economic development is simply not true. The picture that is attached to this comment is one that I took of Red. I talked him into wearing the costume and letting me take and publish the photo. The only reason he did was for economic development. He did not prescribe to the bassackward notion of subsidized speculation or “on the come.” Brokers found Red tough to deal with. Local bricks and mortar business people appreciated his unwillingness to incentivize their Big Box competitors.
“Dekalb County government is well run, with good employees, services, and very positive ratings from our auditors.”
What Lynn said. But I do agree the county has good employees. Great ones.
Sycamore needed to improve its infrastructure and services, ask Bill Nicklas. Nicklas could do the job, however, he already has a job. If the City of Dixon had a professional administrator he would have known what was going on with their finances. Obviously, their mayor didn’t. There is no comparison between the firm that audits Dekalb county and Dixon’s auditors. What I have learned from the last two years on the county board and the finance committee is that Dekalb county is well run. At a time when many governmental units don’t have healthy reserve funds, Dekalb County does!
How are your constituents doing Stephen? I mean how is their rainy day funds going? If the county’s is so plentiful perhaps y’all be kind enough to return a few bucks to the taxpayers. Every little bit helps. WWRD?
Here is a complaint:
Clerk Josh gives instructions to everyone who shows up for jury duty. She used the captive audience of those of us called for jury duty to bully pulpit for her reasons why the Courthouse should be expanded.
I thought that was very inappropriate.
Hi Kay-
Josh would be walking a tightrope if using her bully pulpit in the jury selection process for promotion of the courthouse expansion. As an elected public servant, court clerk must be publicly neutral in politics, and avoid offering opinion on proposed government programs/spending or referendum questions. At the same time, the court clerk is an essential element in identifying needs in the court system. The trick is to present the needs without promotion or persuasion. This is the same situation the various local boards and directors of libraries, schools, and park districts must negotiate. Not an easy task, but it can be done-yet often is violated.
This is also one of the advantages of electing persons to office for relatively short terms. Its less likely they will become entrenched and start promoting some agenda rather than representing the electorate.
Hopefully Kay filed a formal complaint with the State Elections Board.
At the time, I did not know I could file such a complaint. That happened prior to the last election cycle.
For jury duty that day, I did get randomly picked to go to the box to get grilled by the lawyers on my past history and any family members’ experiences with courts, lawsuits, etc. My brother had his identity stolen by his former best friend and former real estate agent from the personal information on his loan application. My brother’s ex-friend confessed yet somehow there was no punishment for that real estate agent and he still kept his license and did not go to jail. That happened in a totally different state, obviously in another county but I had to talk about that. Judge Klein also had words about how he thought the case should not have to take too long because he was off the next day, or maybe it was the day after. Anyway, I thought that was inappropriate, too.
One of the lawyers excused me, because she thought I could not be objective because of my brother’s experience and I went home early that day. I found that insulting. What happened to my brother in another state is not relevant to my serving jury duty.
A few months ago I received a juror questionnaire with a due date the very next day after it arrived and I checked the postmark, which was one day prior. I might have saved the envelope because I thought that was totally ridiculous. I made a special trip to the Post Office to put the questionnaire in the mail as soon as possible. As frequently as I travel, I think anything sent in the mail should be due no earlier than two weeks after its estimated arrival date. I cannot say that I open all of my mail the day it arrives–I usually wait for something decent to come on TV to take care of the mail.
No wonder people do not want to serve on a jury.
My morning of jury duty was not long after the County Board approved a pay raise for Clerk Josh that was more than my entire year’s take home pay.
I will “like” this post because I actually like most of it, but I’m going to hold my nose while clicking because the GIPSI countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ireland) are not in debt trouble for the same reasons as Illinois is. Indeed, at least two of them actually were running budget surpluses in 2007, before the troubles hit.
As to an elected administrator, I would be willing as a voter to consider the change not only for the county, but for the City of DeKalb as well.
I read “The Economist” and like it so much that I shell out money for a subscription. Here is a wonderful example of what the Greeks screwed up:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/07/greeces-crisis
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
So what do you want to do to government? Get it to the size that you can drown it in the bathtub? Dekalb County did not cause the financial meltdown. You can thank the banksters at Goldman Sachs and Citi among others. The County could lay off employees to cut taxes a small amount but would that help the local economy that much during a recession. I would love to cut the budget for the courts and jail, however, the “tough on crime laws” are state and federal mandates. I would prefer spending money on mental and public health. Not long ago, voters approved giving Kish College 52 million after the Dekalb schools received over 100 million. In Dekalb, the county share of real estate taxes is 13%. I believe that if we neglect the commons in America that we will become a third world country. That is ok with the oligarchs and sociopaths like Romney who stash their money abroad.