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Wauconda administrator to leave for post with fire district

Wauconda Village Administrator David Geary will be stepping down to take a new post as business manager with the Wauconda Fire Protection District.

The Wauconda native will be moving two blocks from the village hall for a job with an organization he first joined as a volunteer in 1977.

“I have a special place in my heart for the fire district,” he said Friday. “My father before me was a member of the fire department. I remember as a child being in the station. It’s kind of part of me.”

So strong is his affinity for the fire district that he will be taking a 6.7 percent pay cut from his current $119,000 to $111,000. The new salary is less than that earned by Deputy Chief Jon Fessler, who retired Aug. 10.

Geary, 54, was hired by the department in 1980 as one of the original full time paramedic/firefighters and served as lieutenant and the department’s medical officer. He left in 1989 to become director of emergency services at Universal Studios in California and returned to town in 2006, according to a village news release.

He was hired as the village’s public works director in early 2006 and was named village administrator in March 2011, replacing longtime administrator Daniel Quick.

Quick was a 29-year Wauconda employee when he suddenly retired in 2011. Quick held a number of jobs in the village, including working up to police chief before serving eight years as village manager.

Mayor Mark Knigge at the time said he would not have reappointed Quick to Wauconda’s top administrative position because of a consolidation of jobs. Knigge said Quick was asked to retire.

Geary’s last day with the village will be Sept. 14 and a search will begin for a replacement.

In the statement, Knigge said the village is “in a strong position to carry on with the great initiatives that are happening in our community.”

Geary said his new post will be administrative. “I’m not responding to fires. It’s really a business function, budgets, insurance,” he said. “It’s certainly two great organizations that have an outstanding relationship in a number of areas.”

Chief Dave Dato said Fessler’s decision to retire and Geary’s hiring happened on short notice. Several candidates were discussed but the board wanted to approach Geary first based on his history with the area and experience. The district board on Thursday approved the new job description and contract.

The district covers more than 45 square miles and all or parts of 10 communities. Until 2010, the village contracted with the district for service. Voters that year approved a ballot question allowing the village to join the district and include a line item on tax bills for the services.

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