Board could name new administrator, trustee soon
By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
The six sitting members on the Union Grove Village Board could soon select a candidate for a village administrator position.
It also could appoint a resident to fill a vacancy on the Village Board in the near future.
Both unfinished business items were on the Village Board agenda on July 24.
Although no decisions were made on either post at this week’s meeting, the stage could be set on which appointment will occur first.
“The board carried over the board vacancy,” Clerk-Treasurer Jill Kopp said when asked about the outcome of this week’s meeting. “I believe this will be carried forward until the administrator position is filled.”
Union Grove has operated without a village administrator for nearly a decade.
More recently, Village President Mike Aimone and his elected colleagues agreed it would be prudent to bring a top-level staffer back into the fold as officials look ahead to a series of economic development activities.
During last year’s budget deliberations, the village earmarked $42,900 in its 2017 budget to fund the cost of employing a village administrator for a portion of the year.
The village has saved nearly $1 million since it decided to leave the village administrator position vacant in 2008.
But during last year’s deliberations, Aimone said he believed the benefit of having an administrator’s expertise in-house outweighed the savings of not having the position on the municipal payroll.
Village officials have frequently asserted their goal is to have an administrator in place by the time the heavy lifting on the 2018 municipal budget gets underway. That timeline is drawing close.
Trustee seat
As for the other decision, the Village Board has been operating with six members for the past two-and-a-half months.
Former Trustee Michael Younglove stepped down from the board May 9 and did not give a reason for his decision.
While the future of Younglove’s now-vacant position has been a recurring item on Village Board agendas in the months since, officials have routinely deferred action.
Younglove, a veteran in local municipal office, served multiple two-year terms for his trustee No. 6 seat. Most recently, he ran unopposed in 2014 and 2016. His current term runs through next April.
State statutes give governing bodies several options when a vacancy occurs. The most common practice — appointing a person to fill the remaining term — is done because it is cost-effective.
The board could also decide to hold a special election, though it likely would result in election-related costs, especially since no other items are on this fall’s general election ballot.
Other business
In other recent Village Board business, the board issued Mulberry’s Café, 1036 Main St., a combination Class B and soda license.
Class B licenses pertain to the sale of liquor on the premises of a given establishment. The soda license pertains to the sale of all non-intoxicating beverages, including carbonated soda and water.
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