New Glen Ellyn elected officials won't get paid

Glen Ellyn will stop paying elected village officials starting with those sworn into office next spring.

It's a largely symbolic move approved by trustees in a 6-0 vote this week. Village President Alex Demos was absent.

Beginning after the April 2017 election, the village will no longer pay $20 a month to newly elected trustees, $50 a month to the newly elected village president and $500 a month to the newly elected village clerk.

Under state statute, elected officials can't change their own pay in the middle of a term, Village Attorney Greg Mathews said. So the trustees who won 4-year terms in 2015 - Pete Ladesic, Mark Senak and John Kenwood - are still eligible to receive their stipends when the newly elected board members take office.

After the election next April, the village also is expected to continue using recording secretaries to file the written minutes of board meetings, taking over some of the duties traditionally performed by the village clerk.

Glen Ellyn has long hired recording secretaries to transcribe meetings of village commissions but began tapping them for board meetings earlier this year to help reduce the workload for the clerk, Village Manager Mark Franz said. This month alone, trustees plan to meet seven times, including three workshops to discuss the budget.

The village has not yet decided whether to use recording secretaries from now until April, Franz said. Hiring them costs $125 per meeting.

That expense would offset some of the savings the village will see by eliminating elected officials' pay.

Franz estimated the move could save roughly $1,500 to $3,500 a year. The village currently spends about $8,040 annually on compensation for elected officials.

Three trustee seats are up for grabs in April. Demos, the village president, says he'll follow village tradition and step down after one term.

Village Clerk Catherine Galvin also will not seek re-election.