Should Washington County Elect A County Executive?

Just as a bit of background, in Wisconsin counties can chose between 3 approaches for their government structure:

• Administrative Coordinator.  This approach is usually taken by the smallest counties.  The County Board basically runs all of County Government, except for the courts, and the Administrative Coordinator helps the Board in running the County effectively.  The Administrative Coordinator is selected by the Board.  The Board is heavily involved in supervising staff.  Washington County had this form of county government until about 4-6 years ago, but had definitely outgrown it.
• County Administrator.  This approach is what Washington County now has.  The Administrator is hired by the Board, and reports to the Board Chairman, but he (or she) runs the operations of the County Government.  Close supervision of department heads is provided by the Administrator, rather than the County Board.
• County Executive.  This approach is most common for the largest counties in Wisconsin.  In this approach, the community elects a County Executive, similar to how the community elects a Sheriff, a County Clerk, a County Treasurer, a Clerk of Courts, etc...  The Board does not provide any supervision of department heads or County Operations, but instead remains strictly focused on the policy decisions.

In a recent editorial in the Washington County Daily News, the prospect of switching to a County Executive was raised.  At first, I had visions of Milwaukee County, and the frequent disfunction they display.

However the more I thought about it, the more I realized that we do need to very closely and carefully consider this idea.  This is not a decision to make lightly, nor is it a decision for us to avoid.  The County Board should invest time and effort to fully consider this issue.

One major reason is our growth.  We are one of the fastest growing counties in the state.  We are currently the 10th largest County, and the top eight counties (Milwaukee, Dane, Waukesha, Brown, Racine, Outagamie, Winnebago, and Kenosha) all have County Executives.  The other counties who have a County Executive include Fond Du Lac (16th), Manitowoc (21st), and Portage (23rd).  In our region, south-eastern Wisconsin, the only counties that don't have a County Executive are Ozaukee and Walworth, which rank 18th and 14th in total population.

I also like the accountability of having an elected person, chosen by the whole County.  Right now our County Administrator is potentially insulated from the will of the voters.  If he goes in a direction that the public doesn't like, the public can only hold him accountable through the County Board.  Having direct accountability seems like it is the way government should work.  One former Supervisor referred to me as a "Good Government Type" as if it is somehow a bad thing to want Government to be accountable;  I couldn't disagree more.  Government should be accountable to the voters.

Of course, one of the dumbest reasons to do something is because "that's what everyone else is doing."  Just because it works elsewhere doesn't mean that it is right for Washington County.  We shouldn't blindly follow what others are doing.  But that coin can be flipped to the opposite side, if all the other big counties have a County Executive, maybe there's a good reason and maybe we should take the time to find out.

I don't have a strong opinion on this yet, because this is such a big decision and so far we have very little information.  I do think we should look at this very closely, and gather a lot of information, so that we can make a fully informed decision.

As this evolution of County government is being considered, I want to ask the community in Washington County, and especially district 3, to reach out to me and share their thoughts on this issue.  Representative government works best when I hear from you.