County Government 101 - County Government Structure
Board of Commissioners | Elected Officials | Departments | Other Offices
Board of Commissioners
The Board of Commissioners is the governing body for the county. The five commissioners represent the citizens within their district. The Commissioners' section of our site has more detail about the districts.
County Commissioners oversee county activities and operations, address citizen concerns, and help make sure that we fulfill all federal and state requirements.
The Board of Commissioners generally meets the first, third and fourth Tuesday of each month at 9:00 a.m. We post a detailed schedule at the beginning of each year. Meetings are open to the public. The agenda is available online for each upcoming meeting. Meetings are held in the Board Room on the first floor of the Administration Center in downtown St. Cloud. Need directions?
County Board meetings are also accessible on television and on the internet. Meetings are broadcast live on St. Cloud’s government access channel 19, and are re-played on six cable channels throughout the county during the week [link to schedule]. We stream County Board meetings live on our web site, and archive them for later online viewing.
The complete Board Meeting minutes are also published. These take some time to process and approve, but you can generally find them online within three weeks of the meeting.
Elected Officials
Citizens elect four other officials besides their district Commissioner. These are:
Each of these elected officials acts the director for his/her office, and is accountable to the residents of Stearns County.
Departments
Department directors manage the remaining County departments. The Board of Commissioners appoints department directors.
The
County Administrator provides day-to-day management and oversees the directors of the various County departments.
Administrative Departments: County Administration, Building Facilities, Human Resources, Information Services, and Purchasing
Property and Roads Departments: Assessor, Auditor/Treasurer, Public Works (sometimes known as the Highway Department), and Recorder
Adults and Families Departments: Human Services (formerly Social Services) and Veterans Services
Other Offices
Other, non-Stearns County, offices are also represented or referenced on our web site. They are often housed in county buildings or are part of a cooperative agreement with other jurisdictions to provide services.