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RICO Board will interview four candidates to fill administrator spot this weekend

ROCK ISLAND COUNTY, Illinois– Rock Island County Board members will spend the first of two day meeting with four candidates in the running to be the next ...

ROCK ISLAND COUNTY, Illinois-- Rock Island County Board members will spend the first of two day meeting with four candidates in the running to be the next county administrator.

“I am excited about going through the process and hopefully we get someone that will really be dynamic for the county,” says Rock Island County Board member, Drue Mielke.

The meeting will begin on Sunday, April 8.

Candidates will then go through a second day of interviews that Monday morning.

It’s been about seven months since the previous Rock Island County Administrator, Dave Ross left the position to pursue a job in Florida.

Ross was the county’s first professional administrator.

“We didn’t have a five-year plan, we didn’t have a ten-year plan. That’s what Dave Ross, our previous administrator brought,” says Mielke.

Board members admit plans have gone downhill quickly since Ross left last fall.

Last month the county auditor, April Palmer sounded the alarm about county finances, saying “there is no money in the bank.”

Rock Island County finances "going downhill," getting worse

The county-run nursing home has a million dollars in unpaid bills.

Also, this month, the county board may decide to demolish its old courthouse because it does not have the revenue to save the building.

“We were seeing head way. We were seeing a very large ship slowly turning, now the question was always, ‘will there be time and when you take five months hiatus from that execution, it’s going to take a lot to get back on track,” says County Board Member Kai Swanson.

Once the board interviews the four candidates they will then narrow the pool down to two. The board is set to make their final decision in May.

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