County governments were originally created as administrative divisions of the states. Each state government in the country has designed, through its constitution and statutes, the authorities and powers that counties may exercise.

The powers of County Government Officials, in the State of Indiana, are divided along the same lines as the Federal and State Governments with three main branches. The Judicial, Fiscal, and Administrative Branch.

Vigo County has three Commissioners who are the administrative arm of County Government. The terms of office for County Commissioners are four (4) years on a staggered basis. The prospective Commissioner must reside in a certain district but elected by a majority vote of the County. Commissioners represent all citizens of Vigo County. The County Commissioners are empowered to set county policy, adopt laws, implement them, and, except for the responsibilities of other elected officials, carry out day-to-day operations of the County.

The County Commissioners are normally in the office Monday thru Friday From 8:00AM to 4:00PM, but as the highest ranking elected official they are technically on duty, and on call, 24 hours a day.

To effectively carry out the role of Commissioner requires making decisions. To make good decisions, a Commissioner needs good information. Gathering the necessary data and statistics requires time by the Commissioner or staff.

The County Commissioners are actively working every day on many projects that affect and benefit the Citizens of Vigo County some of these are:

•   Managing the day to day operations of one of the largest Counties in Indiana.

·         Planning and Implementation of the Renovation of the 116 year old County Court House.

·         Overseeing County Road/Bridge construction and maintenance.

·         Overseeing the County portion of the Highway 641 Bypass interconnection project.

·         Re-location of the County Highway Garage.

·         Construction of a New Vigo County Community Corrections residential facility.

·         Overseeing the implementation of a County Wide document imaging project.

·         Working directly with the City of Terre Haute and other municipalities and agencies through inter-local agreements to reduce duplication of services and increase productivity of all government services.