Next Kildeer administrator denies nepotism influenced appointment

Rejecting accusations of nepotism, Kildeer's next village administrator on Wednesday said he didn't get the job just because the mayor is his sister-in-law.

"It's not who I know, it's what I know," said appointee Michael Talbett, a Lake Zurich resident and Lake County Board member who was named to the post Tuesday night.

Talbett's wife, Mimi Black, is the sister of new Kildeer mayor Nandia Black. Mimi Black is a member of the Ela Area Public Library board and formerly served on the Ela Township board.

Talbett's hiring was opposed by trustees Vern Scacci and Laura Stratman. They criticized officials for abandoning a search process put in place to find a replacement for interim administrator Bill Balling. That process included paying a search firm $20,000 to come up with qualified candidates.

The firm recommended 13 candidates, six of whom were interviewed by the board. Talbett was not among them.

Another critic of the appointment, former trustee Olivia Coughlin, said Talbett doesn't meet the educational or professional criteria Kildeer established for the post.

Black said Talbett's appointment - and its $100,000 salary, which is more than he was making as a county board member - had nothing to do with their familial relationship.

She said she recommended him for the post only after two finalists withdrew from consideration and a third declined an employment offer.

"The remaining pool of candidates were not satisfactory to the new board," Black said.

Black said she thought of Talbett in mid-May after a different county board member, Pam Newton, was hired to be Hawthorn Woods' chief executive officer.

Once Black - who took office May 4 - recommended Talbett to the board, he went through the same interview and vetting process as the six finalists recommended by the search firm under the previous administration, she said.

"I disclosed the relationship as soon as he made his interests in the position known," Black said.

However, Stratman didn't back down from her disapproval of Talbett's hiring.

"I still think it's who he knows," she said Wednesday. "I doubt he would have been chosen for the job if Nandia didn't know him."

Stratman said Hawthorn Woods' decision to hire a county board member doesn't mean Kildeer had to follow suit with Talbett.

"There's lots of other board members," she added. "Why not them if it's such a great place to draw from?"

Talbett said he has no reservations about taking the new job.

"At the end of the day, four trustees voted (for me) because they thought I was the best person for the position," he said.

Talbett, who works in the same law practice with Nandia Black, has been on the county board since 2000 and previously served as a Lake Zurich trustee. He said he'll resign from the county board effective June 16.

Although he's a lawyer without any professional experience as a village planner, Talbett said he knows Kildeer well and has plenty of ideas on how to improve the village.

"Professionally it's a challenge and I'm looking forward to it," he said. "My performance on the job is how I hope people will judge me, not who I'm married to."

Black praised Talbett's years of public service and emphasized his successful political career as supporting evidence for the appointment.

"This is an individual our own residents have shown a vote of confidence and faith in," she said.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=298098">Kildeer official's hiring leads to claims of nepotism<span class="date">[06/03/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>