What A Commissioner Does
June 24, 2020 at 12:24 a.m.
By -
As a candidate for commissioner, you may be wondering something that many have asked me, “What the hell does a commissioner do anyway?”
We have a board of three commissioners and a County Council of seven people. Generally, commissioners are in charge regulatory or administrative power. Council controls the money. This is one of the many checks and balances that carry down even to our local level.
Commissioners have authority in the following broad areas:
• Control of county property;
• Commissioners decided how to respond to Covid 19 with respect to installing shields but not requiring masks or temperature checks at the courthouse and justice building, funding came from Council.
• Supervising construction and maintenance of roads;
o Commissioners decide what type of devices to place at intersections, such as crosswalks, lights or roundabouts, funding needs council allocation.
• Assisting with economic development programs to attract and retain jobs;
o Commissioners can advocate for additional development programs and create incentive areas; funding needs Council allocation.
• To grant personnel benefits to county employees;
o Commissioners could increase vacations, holidays, sick leave or other benefits; Council would vote to allocate funds.
• To administer elections in conjunction with the county election board;
o Commissioners redraw district lines and precinct lines and could create anti-gerrymandering regulations.
• Housing standards;
o Commissioners could improve housing standards, such as making air conditioning during summer a requirement like heat during winter.
• Auditing and authorizing payments; receiving bids and authorizing contracts;
o Commissioners could ensure that contracts are competitively bid and could choose to limit or not to local businesses.
• Exercising appointments for boards and department heads;
o Commissioners could ensure that positions are filled based on merit and in a representative capacity.
• Implementing solid waste handling strategies;
o Commissioners could encourage recycling (free TV turn in days) or other methods, Council may need to allocate additional funding.
Additionally, the Board of Commissioners is the custodian of the county’s Home Rule powers. This is the local government equivalent to the Tenth Amendment which grants them the power to lead in any area that is not in conflict with the state or federal government.
As can be seen above, county government impacts economic development, public safety, health, planning, transportation, the judicial system, the property tax system and much more.
The commissioners are split into districts but the whole county elects all three of them. So in case you are thinking since you aren’t in the Middle District you can’t vote for Travis, you can. We want to make sure you know that. All county residents get to vote for all three of the commissioners, not just the one where you live. The sole purpose of the district is to provide diversity on the board, ensuring that all three commissioners don’t live in the same area of the county.
Hopefully, this helps to explain a bit about what a commissioner is and does. If you have more questions, please let us know in the comments.
Travis McConnell
Candidate for Commissioner
Warsaw, via email
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As a candidate for commissioner, you may be wondering something that many have asked me, “What the hell does a commissioner do anyway?”
We have a board of three commissioners and a County Council of seven people. Generally, commissioners are in charge regulatory or administrative power. Council controls the money. This is one of the many checks and balances that carry down even to our local level.
Commissioners have authority in the following broad areas:
• Control of county property;
• Commissioners decided how to respond to Covid 19 with respect to installing shields but not requiring masks or temperature checks at the courthouse and justice building, funding came from Council.
• Supervising construction and maintenance of roads;
o Commissioners decide what type of devices to place at intersections, such as crosswalks, lights or roundabouts, funding needs council allocation.
• Assisting with economic development programs to attract and retain jobs;
o Commissioners can advocate for additional development programs and create incentive areas; funding needs Council allocation.
• To grant personnel benefits to county employees;
o Commissioners could increase vacations, holidays, sick leave or other benefits; Council would vote to allocate funds.
• To administer elections in conjunction with the county election board;
o Commissioners redraw district lines and precinct lines and could create anti-gerrymandering regulations.
• Housing standards;
o Commissioners could improve housing standards, such as making air conditioning during summer a requirement like heat during winter.
• Auditing and authorizing payments; receiving bids and authorizing contracts;
o Commissioners could ensure that contracts are competitively bid and could choose to limit or not to local businesses.
• Exercising appointments for boards and department heads;
o Commissioners could ensure that positions are filled based on merit and in a representative capacity.
• Implementing solid waste handling strategies;
o Commissioners could encourage recycling (free TV turn in days) or other methods, Council may need to allocate additional funding.
Additionally, the Board of Commissioners is the custodian of the county’s Home Rule powers. This is the local government equivalent to the Tenth Amendment which grants them the power to lead in any area that is not in conflict with the state or federal government.
As can be seen above, county government impacts economic development, public safety, health, planning, transportation, the judicial system, the property tax system and much more.
The commissioners are split into districts but the whole county elects all three of them. So in case you are thinking since you aren’t in the Middle District you can’t vote for Travis, you can. We want to make sure you know that. All county residents get to vote for all three of the commissioners, not just the one where you live. The sole purpose of the district is to provide diversity on the board, ensuring that all three commissioners don’t live in the same area of the county.
Hopefully, this helps to explain a bit about what a commissioner is and does. If you have more questions, please let us know in the comments.
Travis McConnell
Candidate for Commissioner
Warsaw, via email
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