WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — A familiar face will be stepping into the County Administrator roll in Marathon County to start 2020.
On Tuesday night at their last meeting of 2019, the Marathon County Board of Supervisors appointed Deputy Administrator Lance Leonhard as Interim County Administrator. He will take over from current County Administrator Brad Karger, who retires on December 31st.
When asked about the differences between an interim administrator and a regular administrator, Leonhard said there is virtually no difference. “Other than the fact that I’m serving in that capacity until the County Board makes a final determination as to who will be appointed an administrator.
“But from the outside or even the inside, no one is going to know the difference. I’m still going to be doing all the things that Brad was responsible for. I’ll be responsible for interfacing with the County Board and making sure that all of our department heads are executing on our responsibilities.”
With his appointment as Interim Administrator, Leonhard says the position of Deputy Administrator will remain vacant until an Administrator is appointed. That decision was made during the county’s 2020 budget process by deciding to have the administrator’s salary during the vacancy go towards several county non-profits.
As Interim Administrator, Leonhard says he’s excited to start working with the County Board in January for 2020. “Certainly we’re going to continue to execute on the priorities that the County Board has set.
“But I certainly do envision sitting down with the County Board in early January to talk about setting a work plan for 2020. And that vacancy is going to persist most likely until about June. So we’re going to have a lot of opportunities to execute on things and we’re going to do our best to do those.”
Leonhard has worked for the county itself since the fall of 2014. He started as Deputy Corporate Counsel to the county and then moved into the Deputy Administrator role in 2016. Previously Leonhard worked in the Marathon County District Attorney’s Office as an Assistant District Attorney.
