John Killian reappointed as Public Administrator

Published on February 06, 2020

John Killian has been reappointed by the Circuit Court for a second four year term as Public Administrator for Jackson County.

Killian said he is, “Grateful to the Court en banc for showing confidence in my work and an awestruck feeling at the trust in our office to care for the incapacitated and disabled folks in the County.”

The Public Administrator’s Office provides guardianship services to the people it is appointed to and takes charge of the person and provides for their care, treatment, habilitation, education, support and maintenance.

“The most difficult part of the job is clearly the volume and pace of the work and the depth of understanding into the lives and needs of the people we serve,” Killian said.

“Although I have a job in the office, our work requires expertise from a number of disciplines: social work, nursing, law and legal processes, and accounting. Everyone here has an important role and I have the pleasure of guiding them. We currently serve over 1,000 guardianships and about 1,200 cases total. We process some $1,500,000 each month and average approximately 60,000 transactions each year,” he said.

The most rewarding cases for Killian are the ones where clients improve their lives and situations.

“We love, and do a lot of restorations, where someone previously declared incapacitated has improved to the point where we can go back to court and have their rights restored to them, getting them out of the guardianship. Other great cases are those where we have someone who is perhaps homeless, suffering from mental illness and drug addiction, and with the guardianship we are able to find them housing, sobriety and stability with their symptoms.”