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The Freeborn County Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 Tuesday to appoint a former county administrator and engineer with experience in LeSueur and Watonwan counties to serve as the interim administrator for Freeborn County.

The board had considered Darrell Pettis, along with Freeborn County Finance Director Pat Paquin and Freeborn County Emergency Management Director Rich Hall for the interim position.

Commissioners Chris Shoff and Dawn Kaasa voted against the appointment of Pettis. Kaasa said she supported Hall for the position, and Shoff did not provide a specific reason why he voted against the appointment other than to say he knew people from all over the state.

Third District Commissioner John Forman said he believed with the amount of time it would take for the position and the duties that Paquin and Hall already have, he thought it would be better to have an outside person for the interim position. Pettis is recently retired.

Fifth District Commissioner Nicole Eckstrom said she agreed, noting she was not voting in favor of Pettis because she didn’t have confidence in Hall or Paquin. She said she thought it was important to have someone who could strictly focus on the role of county administrator.

Kaasa said she thought Paquin was needed to primarily stay in the finance role because of all of the work needed on the budget before the end of the year. She said she supported Hall in the position because of his background as emergency manager but also as a former mayor. She noted he is also well respected by all of the staff.

Chairman Brad Edwin said staff would next need to reach out to Pettis and work out the details for the interim position.

The commissioners also voted to begin advertising in-house for the permanent administrator position instead of going with a firm at this time.

Eckstrom noted though she was in favor of using DDA Human Resources Inc. to lead the search, she would support what the majority of the board wanted to do.

The board ultimately voted 5-0 to start advertising in-house for the position.

Edwin previously stated this would include posting the job locally, as well as to the Association of Minnesota Counties and National Association of Counties.

The search comes as former Freeborn County Administrator Ryan Rasmusson’s last day in the job was Oct. 9. He stated in his resignation letter that he had accepted a new job opportunity.