Carpentersville says goodbye to two department heads

This marks the final week for a pair of Carpentersville department heads.

Officials have laid off Engineer Scott Marquardt and Economic Development Director/Special Projects Coordinator Janice Murphy, both of whom have worked with the village for about a half dozen years. Details of their severance agreements were not available Monday.

Also this week, the village board will consider whether to furnish Village Manager J. Mark Rooney with a small raise and additional perks.

The village made the decision to eliminate Marquardt and Murphy this fall, citing rising fuel and health insurance costs and the pay increases for the four unions that negotiated small raises last year, Village President Ed Ritter said.

In the end, officials decided they could merge Murphy’s responsibilities with another department and realized there wouldn’t be enough projects to justify Marquardt’s continued employment.

“It’s very hard,” Ritter said. “We had to think long and hard about it because they were good employees and they did some important things for the village. But in today’s reality, you have to cover your expenses and you have to make sure you can cover them.”

Assistant Village Manager Steven Jones will absorb Murphy’s duties, while the rest of the engineering staff will take on Marquardt’s work and hire outside contractors as needed. Elimination their jobs saves a combined $229,779, according to Finance Director Lisa Happ.

Meanwhile, Rooney is up for a raise and additional perks — his reward for a job well done, officials said.

Tuesday, the village board will vote on whether to increase Rooney’s salary from $130,000 to $132,600, his monthly vehicle stipend from $300 to $500 and whether to cover his life insurance policy. The adjustments would be effective in August.

Rooney has been village manager since September 2010 and the board completed his review and evaluation late last month. Ritter gave Rooney high marks for his leadership skills, for improving customer service at every level and for streamlining village operations.

“He’s done a really good job of reorganizing village hall and working at a lot of cost-saving things and we’ve been very happy with his service so far,” Ritter said. “There were some things he originally asked for (when he was hired) and we said we can’t do it, but if things went well, when next year came around, we’d add a couple of things to his contract.”

Trustee Kay Teeter said Rooney took on a difficult job and without the cuts and other cost-savings measures he instituted residents would probably be facing higher property taxes.

“We’re not giving him everything that could be asking for, but we are basically rewarding him,” Teeter said. “He was given a tough job when he came in and he has really stepped up to the plate.”

Rooney is a member of the U.S. Army Reserves and could not be reached for comment, due to a training obligation with the organization.