Fox Lake spends $70,000 to hire associate village administrator

Tara Semenchuk is the new Associate Village Administrator in the village of Fox Lake.

Fox Lake trustees agreed to hire Semenchuk during the village’s bimonthly board meeting Tuesday night.

Semenchuk, a former employee at the village of Cary, will earn $70,000 a year while serving in the new position, an amount that was budgeted for in the 2012-13 fiscal year, Mayor Ed Bender said.

“This lady has a good solid background in human resources, has done work with (police contracts), and knows insurance extremely well,” Bender said. “She is an excellent hire for the village of Fox Lake.”

Associate village administrator is a new position in Fox Lake. It was created when Bender was elected mayor in 2009, but the position went unfilled until now because of budget constraints.

The job was initially designed to be a catchall position designed to assist the village administrator, but Bender said all major administrative positions will be reworked and redesigned to see where consolidation can occur.

For example, he said, Semenchuk will cover human resources and finance in her current position, as well as some marketing and public relations.

“Other areas are being restructured as well,” he said. “We want to take a whole fresh look at everything and see what we can do.”

Village Administrator Nancy Schuerr said Semenchuk holds a master’s degree in public administration, and comes with 12 years of experience working in municipal government.

She said, prior to working for the village of Cary, she was employed as a financial analysis in Naperville and Rockford.

“I’m very glad to have such a skilled and experienced associate,” Schuerr said.

Semenchuk was unavailable for comment early Thursday about the position.