Pingree Grove president wants village manager sooner than later

Pingree Grove Village President Wyman "Clint" Carey is charging ahead to find an interim village administrator.

But not everyone shares his sense of urgency.

In May, the village board fired its previous administrator, Scott Hartman.

Since then, staff have pulled together to pick up where Hartman left off.

But according to Carey, several projects have slipped through the cracks.

They include a proposal detailing the village's bid for an Elgin Community College campus in Pingree Grove and implementing the town's downtown development plan, Carey said.

"As much as everybody's trying, there's things that are just not happening," Carey said.

The village has not taken a vote on whether to fill the vacancy.

Even so, Carey submitted a job description to the Illinois City Managers Association and the group in turn circulated it to former and retired village managers.

Carey has received five resumes and envisions hiring someone later on this month to work 25 hours a week.

There is about $53,000 remaining from Hartman's contract but the village has not determined what it would pay the interim administrator.

Trustee Greg Marston, one of the four who voted to fire Hartman, says the village doesn't need an administrator right now.

For one thing, he said he checks in with staff on a weekly basis and that nobody has complained to him about extra work thus far.

Marston said he also prefers holding onto the approximately $53,000 Pingree Grove saved when it released Hartman.

"With no clear identified need to fill the position today and the opportunity to reduce our budget deficit, that's an opportunity we can't pass up," Marston said. "If, on the other hand, somebody gave me a clear business plan of what this person's job duties would entail ... I'd be fully open to changing my mind."

Trustees are due to further discuss the position on Monday.