Commissioners revisit stalled county administrator position ahead of budget season

Dubois County Commissioners signaled Monday they intend to bring back a proposal to create a county administrator position.

Commissioner Chad Blessinger raised the issue as a discussion item during the board’s July 20 meeting, saying he did not want a vote that day but wanted other county offices and members of the public to have a chance to weigh in before the board’s next meeting, when he expects it to come up again — this time for action.

“I don’t want to make a decision without all the information,” he said. “So I thought I would bring it up at the discussion point … and then our next meeting would be [the vote]. Unless we hear something, we can take 10 seconds to approve it.”

The position, which state statute allows the board of commissioners to create, would report directly to commissioners and take on administrative duties currently split among commissioners themselves, department heads and county council.

County council approved funding for the position in October 2025, but commissioners deadlocked in a 1-1 vote days later — Commissioner Serice Stenftenagel in favor, Commissioner Nick Hostetter opposed and Commissioner Chad Blessinger abstaining because he said he might apply for the job himself — killing the measure before it could be included in the 2026 budget.

Blessinger told the board Monday that the case for the position has only strengthened since then.

“I think the need is bigger now even than it was last year,” he said, adding that he hopes county council will again consider funding it for the 2027 budget. Commissioners are expected to take up budget matters at their Aug. 11 meeting.

Blessinger said he had circulated a list to fellow commissioners in recent weeks cataloging tasks that fall to the three-member board despite commissioners serving part time and holding other jobs.

“We’re the executive body, but we don’t have any support staff,” he said. “We don’t have a county administrator. We don’t have a county manager. We don’t have a secretary.”

He cited a National Association of Counties publication reporting that more than 40% of counties nationwide employ an appointed administrator, calling it an increasingly common arrangement.

Among the specific responsibilities he said an administrator could take on:

• Coordinating implementation of the county’s comprehensive plan, currently being prepared by American Structurepoint, once its recommendations are finalized.
• Organizing and staffing meetings on land use and zoning, including outreach to township trustees — an area he said has drawn sustained public frustration tied to the Mid-States Corridor project and, more recently, solar development in the county.
• Negotiating a new salary contract with the incoming sheriff, who takes office in January.
• Reviewing monthly ambulance service payments to the hospital, which he said have historically run as high as $1 million, to look for savings.
• Pursuing grants — an area he said the highway department has had success in under County Engineer Levi Leffert, who he said secured a $3 million grant for the county’s roughly 660 miles of roads.

Blessinger acknowledged the position comes with cost — he cited roughly $2,000 a month in health insurance alone, on top of wages — but argued the cost of not having the position, in missed grants and slower response to problems, is greater.

“What is the cost of not having sufficient people to serve the people that we’re working with?” he said.

Asked for comment at Monday’s meeting, Commissioner Nick Hostetter declined to weigh in, and Commissioner Serice Stenftenagel voiced support, calling it “a great idea.”

The push mirrors the sequence of events last fall. County council approved funding in a 5-2 vote in October, with council members Doug Uebelhor and Alex Hohl opposed over cost and concerns that the position’s duties overlapped with existing staff responsibilities. The administrator’s pay range was set at $75,000 annually, which Uebelhor estimated would cost more than $100,000 with benefits.

Commissioners’ subsequent 1-1 vote came after strong pushback from county elected officials, including County Clerk Amy Kippenbrock, County Assessor Angie Giesler, 911 Director Stuart Wilson and a sheriff’s deputy, who argued that funding a new high-salary position while limiting county employee raises to 2% sent the wrong message. Kippenbrock also criticized the process as happening without adequate public input ahead of last year’s budget cycle.

Blessinger said Monday he wanted to avoid a repeat of that criticism by giving other offices time to respond before any vote — a message he directed in particular at those who raised concerns last year.