Payment issue rears its head again in Hanover Park

Payment issues rears its head again in Hanover Park: Anyone who follows Hanover Park politics won't soon forget the drawn-out controversy over the clerk's inflated salary. And with a new board has come another investigation into a former official's earnings.

Longtime Clerk Sherry Craig, who didn't seek re-election this year, earned a $5,000 salary as clerk for many years. However, she was only entitled to $3,500 due to the type of certification she held. When made aware of the discrepancy, Craig, wife of Mayor Rod Craig, agreed to reimburse the village.

More than a year later, the tables seem to have turned.

At last week's board meeting, new Trustee Ed Zimel requested that Acting Village Manager Ron Moser investigate former Trustee Bob Packham's salary. Zimel believes that Packham, hardly an ally of the Craigs, was overpaid during the year he served as acting village president following Mayor Irv Bock's death in 2006.

Packham earned the village president's salary of $500 a month, but Zimel asserts Packham should have continued at $200 like the other trustees because he voted on every issue. Typically the village president votes only in the event of a tie.

Packham said that because his promotion left only five remaining trustee, he was directed to vote on every issue by former corporation counsel Norm Samuelson.

"Let the village spend $75,000 to sue me over three grand," Packham said from his vacation home in Arkansas. "That's Rod Craig's mentality right now."

Packham said he's sure Zimel's request came through Craig.

"(Zimel) is drinking Rod's Kool-Aid right now," Packham said.

Both Zimel and Craig deny that. Zimel said he heard rumors about Packham's salary on the campaign trail.

"I agree we need to move forward, but I like to make sure the road behind me is fixed," Zimel said. "We need to know what the village has been doing with our money and as a taxpayer, I deserve those answers."

Rod Craig said the investigation is Zimel's issue and he doesn't want to get involved.

"I'd like to move ahead," Craig said, "not move backward."