Counties in Minnesota were created by the State to serve as the administrative arm of the State. The intentions of the early legislatures were that there were certain services and decisions which could be provided much more effectively at the local level.

County lines were often drawn with the goal being that anyone in the county could reach the county seat and return on horseback in one day. Counties were originally tasked only with property tax collection, property record custody and maintenance of roads. In the early days, county boards only met once a year to set the budgets and to verify that all men over the age of 18 had performed one day of work on the county road system. County board’s roles have increased dramatically and now they serve to provide general oversight and policy direction to all county functions and departments on behalf of the citizens.

At one point in the early 1900’s most counties had 19 elected officials. That number has decreased over the course of time, and now many counties have 10 or fewer elected officials. Typically those elected positions are auditor, treasurer, recorder, sheriff, attorney and five county board members. Todd County has taken the step under statute to combine the offices of auditor and treasurer.

Even though the number of elected officials in each county is tending to decrease, the structure of counties has remained much the same. Departments are separated based on the services that they provide, and while departments have grown to cooperate, much of the structure is still arbitrary. County boards have much authority to re-organize counties in such a way that makes sense to increase service delivery or efficiency.

Nearly two-thirds of the counties in Minnesota have chosen to adopt an executive model of management to re-structure and maintain diligent management of their organizations. The Todd County Board of Commissioners has chosen the county administrator model, under which an individual is appointed to coordinate the affairs of the board and manage the day to day operations of the county.