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Rock Island County Board hires first county administrator

Rock Island County Board members selected Dave Ross of Mount Horeb, Wis., to fill the newly-created position of county administrator.

Rock Island County Board members selected Dave Ross of Mount Horeb, Wis., to fill the newly-created position of county administrator.

On Tuesday, March 3, 2015, the board met in closed session to conduct interviews with two finalists for the job -- Dave Ross and Reggie Edwards. The pair were chosen from a field of 40 candidates with the help of a Chicago-based consulting firm.

Ross has worked as the village administrator of Mount Horeb since 2011. Prior to that, he was the city administrator of Wellman, Iowa, and spent nearly 18 years in law enforcement. He also has a master's degree in public administration from Golden Gate University.

Ross said one of his first priorities will be fixing the county's finances.

"That is what I do, obviously in addition to many other tasks, but financial management is my expertise. That is very clearly one of the most important things facing Rock Island County," said Ross.

The board first voted to hire an administrator back in August of 2014.

Tuesday, Ross also said that he thrives on challenges, and although he has never worked with a 25-member board or a partisan one, he doesn't believe that will be a problem.

"One of the reasons, at least I hope, that I've been as successful as I have in my career is you never play politics. You are a professional manager," said Ross.

The job is expected to pay around $130,000.

Ross' start date is still being worked out, but it will likely be sometime this spring.

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