More information about the newly created County Executive office here. A general description from a recent N-G article summarized it well:
When Champaign County elects a full-time county executive next November it will become only the second county in Illinois with the office. As planned the elected executive would have broad powers, including the authority to propose the county budget, make appointments, hire a staff, set county board agendas, implement the majority of county ordinances and veto actions of the county board, although vetoes could be overridden with a three-fifths majority. The executive would also have the power to vote, but only in order to break a tie on issues before the county board.
Website: http://www.darlenekloeppel.com/
About (from campaign website):
Darlene Kloeppel and her husband Jim have lived in Champaign County for over 21 years.
Born near Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, and after living in Germany for the four years of her dad’s military service, Darlene grew up in western Iowa and obtained her Bachelor’s Degree from Morningside College in Sioux City. After earning a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Iowa, Darlene worked on the Federal project that integrated hospice services into the Medicare payment system and the start-up of some of the first hospices around the United States, including Hospice Atlanta which provided pediatric hospice care and hospice care for persons with AIDS.
Darlene attended the Georgia Institute of Technology for additional degrees in architecture and city planning, after which she provided correctional facility consulting through Rosser Fabrap Justice Systems and later offered strategic and facility planning for health care corporations as a senior consultant with Ernst and Young, LLP.
Wanting to move back to the Midwest, Darlene and Jim chose Champaign County, where Jim became a science writer for the University of Illinois. Darlene first assisted with the leadership transition of corporate executives from three merging hospital systems as they formed Provena Health Care (now Presence) and then served for 15 years as the Community Services Director of the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission. During her public administration tenure, she managed over $11 million in Federal, state and local grants through diverse public/private partnerships. Since then, she has provided regional consulting services.
Darlene and Jim raised four children in Urbana, and Darlene spends leisure time with her grandchildren and in her garden. She is a leader in Urbana Rotary and in her church, and has served on many local boards and committees. She is committed to providing a safe and healthy community for residents of Champaign County.
News-Gazette: County executive candidate: $117,269 salary too high
The lone announced candidate for Champaign County executive said today the preliminary salary for the position — $117,269 — is too high and should be modified.
The county board is expected to take a final vote on the salary for the new position at Thursday night's meeting.
Last week at a county board committee of the whole meeting three salary levels — $29,274, $70,000 and $117, 269 — were voted on. The highest salary, supported by the board's Republican bloc and three Democrats, got the greatest number of votes.
"I think it would be better to set it either at the midpoint or a little bit lower," said candidate Darlene Kloeppel, an Urbana Democrat. "Eventually it may rise if the job requires that. Eventually there may be money available to pay for a second deputy, or some kind of part-time person or to hire a consultant. There are lots of options on how that could be spent.
"It seems that to put that all in one person upfront not knowing who that will be seems a little unwise to me."
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