Automatic role assignment for admin created accounts requires me to allow access to permissions

I have created a role called "page admin" that is like the sites administrator, only he does not have access to many of the true administrative features, such as changing the permissions of the site. Until now, I have used the Role delegation module to allow the "page admin" to edit roles, without requiring me to allow him access to the permissions page. The problem with this module though is that it only recognizes a user as administrator if the user has administrative access to permissions.