Carpentersville asst. manager moving to Oswego

Carpentersville is losing another top official.

Assistant Village Manager Steven Jones has secured the village administrator position in Oswego and has announced his intent to leave Carpentersville.

“It’s a growing community, it’s a pretty dynamic community,” Jones said of Oswego. “There’s a lot of history, a lot of new things happening. It’s a lot like Carpentersville and it’s right on the Fox River.”

Jones, 55, was appointed last October as Carpentersville’s interim assistant village manager, and he was also in charge of economic development.

When Jones took the job in Carpentersville, the board knew he was keeping his employment options open, Village President Ed Ritter said.

“We wanted somebody to come in and give us some needed expertise, but our understanding is that he would look for a manager’s position and he would take one if it became available,” Ritter said.

In Carpentersville, Jones got off to a running start, and one of his major accomplishments has been coordinating the tax increment finance district that’s under review for Route 25. Jones was also active with business recruitment, Ritter said

“He knew what he was doing and there was a very little learning curve,” Ritter said.

Jones, of LaGrange Park, has about 30 years of municipal experience, and 20 of those years came as a village manager in various towns.

With more responsibility also comes more money.

Jones now makes $105,000 a year in Carpentersville, and once he gets to Oswego, he’ll make $135,000 a year. His last day in the village is June 1, and a search is already under way to replace him.

“I think the village board brings some real enthusiasm, as Oswego, in making Carpentersville a better place,” Jones said. “It’s a good group of people doing what’s best for the community and it was great to be a part of that.”

Jones isn’t the first to leave Carpentersville lately.

Earlier this year, Finance Director Lisa Happ left to oversee finances for Schaumburg. In December, Dave Neumann retired as police chief.

Jones said those moves do not reflect negatively on the village, because he and Happ moved up in their careers and Neumann simply left police work.

“The sad fact is if opportunity arrives where there’s more responsibility and more impact and more salary, this is what happens,” Jones said. “It happens in the private sector, and it happens in the public sector.”