Lake in the Hills seeking new village administrator after resignation

Lake in the Hills Village Administrator Gerald Sagona has resigned and officials are seeking his replacement.

Sagona served the village for nearly 20 years. He submitted his letter of resignation last week and the village board authorized a separation agreement, Village President Paul Mulcahy said.

"Managing a complex organization comes at the expense of a tremendous amount of stress," Sagona wrote in an email Tuesday night. "With the support of my family and friends, I have tendered my resignation to the village in order to allow me to refocus on some personal priorities (my health and family at the top of the list) and pursue other interests."

"I think he was just ready to go," Mulcahy said. "I think there was a certain amount of burnout after all these years. There's probably no one individual who has had as much of a positive impact on the village as Gerry did."

Sagona's employment agreement includes four months of severance pay and health insurance coverage, and compensation for any unused sick days or vacation pay, Mulcahy said.

Mulcahy served on the village committee that helped select Sagona for the job in 1997. He said the village saw unprecedented growth under Sagona's leadership.

"Much of what you see out here, he had some kind of a hand in accomplishing it," Mulcahy said. "It's a big change."

Sagona returned the compliment.

"Over the years I was very fortunate to work as team with the elected officials to transform Lake in the Hills into one of the most progressive villages in the region," he wrote. He said Mulcahy and former Village President Ed Plaza "deserve much of the credit for this transformation."

Though sad to see Sagona leave, Mulcahy said he is excited for the future.

"I'm not taking anything away from Gerry. It is what it is," he said.

And Sagona wrote he would cherish the friendships he made and appreciates the opportunity to serve. "I hope my successor moves the bar up even further because the residents of Lake in the Hills deserve it."

Sagona was making roughly $163,000 for the year, per the 2016 salary report on the village website. "There is nothing that bumped his salary up," Mulcahy said.

Village officials will be posting the vacancy announcement online and accepting applications from candidates for a month.

"We're going to do (the search) ourselves rather than hire somebody," Mulcahy said. "I want to form a committee to review applicants and then recommend to the village board. If it's (filled) this year, I'd be surprised. It's a lengthy process."