Fox Lake turns reins over to HR director

With an eye on saving money, Nancy Schuerr was promoted to village administrator by the Fox Lake village board Tuesday night.

Schuerr will remain on as human resources director and not vacate the position she has held since being hired by the village in 2005. However, officials said a part-timer will be hired to help Schuerr perform both village roles.

Mayor Cindy Irwin said Schuerr is absolutely the perfect person to lead the village through a tough financial crisis. She added Schuerr has the respect of every department head and every employee at the village.

"We need someone to spend more time running the village," she said. "She's been doing a lot of the village administrator work while serving as human resource director. I think she will be incredible in this new position."

Schuerr will receive a $25,000 raise to cover the new duties. She was making $53,000 as human resources director.

The raise comes at a time when the village is operating with a $492,000 budget deficit, and officials have been looking to make cuts where possible.

The vote to name Schuerr was not unanimous, however. Trustee Noel Working voted against the appointment because adding more salary at this time is not fiscally responsible.

"Nancy has done an outstanding job for this village, but right now, we are trying to figure out the 911 issue, our sales tax is down 6 percent and our street department is over budget due to the price of salt and overtime," Working said. "I just can't see the idea of spending taxpayer money on another administrative job."

Irwin countered by saying Schuerr has saved the village "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in her three years working at the village, and that the increase in her salary would be easily offset "within two months of her taking on the position."

"Through the changes she intends to make, she will save us that and more into the future," Irwin said.

This is the second time the village board has hired an administrator. Tim Wells was the first, but he resigned in February 2002 after being indicted on official misconduct charges stemming from actions committed while serving in a similar capacity in Antioch.

Irwin said she has held off on appointing someone to the position for the past three years, but said now was the best time to do it.

"The reason I'm doing it now is because I've found the absolute best person in the world to run the village," Irwin said. "She will be an incredible asset in her new role."

Schuerr said she was honored to take over the position and plans to start changing things up around village hall immediately.

"I hope to pull all the different departments together and start getting them all to act as one entity," she said. "It's time we pulled everyone together."