Will County Executive Offers Advice To Champaign County
Larry Walsh is the Will County Executive, elected to serve a fourth term in November. Will County
Champaign County voters approved a ballot measure this month creating a new elected county executive position. The county executive will be elected by voters throughout the county to oversee day-to-day operations.
Champaign County becomes just the second county in Illinois to adopt this form of government, joining Will County, south of Chicago. Will County adopted the county executive by referendum in 1988. Democrat Larry Walsh was just elected by Will County voters to his fourth term as the county executive.
Illinois Public Media’s Brian Moline spoke with Walsh this week about the county executive form of government.
Walsh said officials had to look to the north to see how the county executive form of government functioned after voters approved the measure in 1988.
"Half of the counties, I believe, close to half of the counties in Wisconsin, operated with the county executive form of government," Walsh said. "So you definitely had other resources to reach out to and see how it worked.”
Currently, thirteen out of Wisconsin’s 72 counties use the county executive form of government. Twenty states have at least some counties using an elected county executive.