Indiana Code Title 36. Local Government § 36-3-3-3

Sec. 3. (a) Whenever the executive is absent from the county, ill, or injured, the executive may designate one (1) of the executive's deputies as acting executive, with all the powers of the office.  The executive may exercise this power for a maximum of fifteen (15) days in any sixty (60) day period.

(b) A designation under subsection (a) shall be certified to the president and clerk of the city-county legislative body.  In addition, when the executive resumes the executive's duties, the executive shall certify to those officers the expiration of the designation.

(c) Whenever the executive is incapacitated and unable to make a designation under subsection (a), the president of the legislative body becomes acting executive.