Pine County Board discusses future of administrator position

The Pine County Board discussed the future of the county administrator position at Tuesday’s meeting.

On Tuesday, the board acknowledged the resignation of current administrator David Minke, effective Sept. 4.

Minke, who has served as the county's administrator for the last 13 years, will take on the same position in Aitkin County, starting Sept. 8.

Board chair Josh Mohr initially made a motion to promote auditor-treasurer Kelly Schroeder to the administrator role.

"Kelly has worked for the county for 13 years, and has always risen to the task given to her. She knows the county, and how to work with the people on really difficult situations," Mohr said. "Kelly is very well respected by staff of the county. I think going into the next couple of years, given Kelly's background, she's going to have the right skill set to make this county very efficient."

Mohr added that Schroeder was "very interested" in the position in conversation's he's had with her regarding the role.

Commissioner Matt Ludwig echoed Mohr's comments about Schroeder's experience.

"She understands the zoning, she understands the assessing, she understands the auditor role, and she's been working with our county administrator the whole time he's been here," Ludwig said. "She came up through the ranks, actually."

Commissioner Steve Hallan said he didn't disagree, but added that he wanted the board to have time to ponder the decision.

"This is a decision that is probably one of the most important decisions that we are going to be making as a board," added commissioner Roger Nelson.

Nelson also said he didn't want the board to force a quick decision.

"It very well may be that we're going to end up exactly where you're (Mohr) talking about," Nelson explained. "But I don't want to be forced to have to vote no against somebody that I really think is highly qualified and could very well be our next administrator."

The board voted to accept applications from internal candidates by Friday and schedule interviews as part of a special meeting next week.