A county executive is the head of the executive branch of government in a county. This position is common in the United States.
The executive may be an elected or an appointed position. When elected, the executive typically functions either as a voting member of the elected county government, or may have veto power similar to other elected executives such as a governor, president or mayor. When appointed, the executive is usually hired for a specific period of time, but frequently can be dismissed prior to this. The position of an appointed county executive is analogous to that of a city manager, and is similar to a chief administrative officer, depending on the state. The executive is generally given full responsibility for the total operation of all departments based on general directives provided by the elected county government that hired the executive.
Read more about County Executive: States With County Executives
Famous quotes containing the words county and/or executive:
“It would astonish if not amuse, the older citizens of your County who twelve years ago knew me a stranger, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy, working on a flat boat—at ten dollars per month to learn that I have been put down here as the candidate of pride, wealth, and aristocratic family distinction.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“She isn’t harassed. She’s busy, and it’s glamorous to be busy. Indeed, the image of the on- the-go working mother is very like the glamorous image of the busy top executive. The scarcity of the working mother’s time seems like the scarcity of the top executive’s time.... The analogy between the busy working mother and the busy top executive obscures the wage gap between them at work, and their different amounts of backstage support at home.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)