Pingree Grove clerk quits

Citing ongoing health issues, Pingree Grove Village Clerk Michelle Figuerola has quit her job.

Figuerola, appointed clerk in 2007, had not been back to work since last Monday, following a public dispute with Village President Wyman “Clint” Carey over whether she could work a part-time second job during village business hours.

Figuerola recently secured a part-time job with Elgin Area School District U-46 making $12.98 an hour as a clerical assistant at Hillcrest Elementary School in Elgin for 7½ hours a week; the job started last Monday.

In a memo and at a heated board meeting last Monday, Carey denied Figuerola's request to leave her full-time post for three hours every day to work her second job. Allowing the absence would violate village policy and set a bad precedent for the rest of the staff, Carey said.

He did offer to accommodate Figuerola by reducing her hours so she could come in later, but Figuerola was not willing to consider that option. The village received her notice of resignation Friday afternoon via e-mail, authorities said.

The district's payroll records show Figuerola worked her U-46 job Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, said U-46 spokesman Tony Sanders.

Yet when it came to Pingree Grove, Figuerola called in sick each of those three days and Thursday as well those four days cost taxpayers a total of $594.24, records show.

Authorities also said she provided the village with a doctor's note to explain her absence.

Figuerola did not return two calls for comment. Trustee Stephanie Mette had no knowledge of Figuerola's work schedule, but said her exit is a loss to the village.

“I thought she was good and extremely capable at what she did,” Mette said.

Although she announced her intention to run for village clerk, Figuerola has not yet filed paperwork for the office, intermin Village Administrator Bill Barlow said.

Documents acquired under the Freedom of Information Act show taxpayers will also pay Figuerola $1,271.85 for 66 remaining hours of vacation and $176.42 for 9½ personal hours.

Figuerola made $38,625 a year as clerk, but under new guidelines stood to make just $100 a month if she ran for the seat and won it.

Village officials did not realize her position should have been elected until about a month ago. As an elected official, Figuerola would have been subject to the new pay cut, which was why she sought additional employment.

She marks the second official to leave Pingree Grove's village hall.

Earlier this year, the board fired former Village Manager Scott Hartman.

Carey called the departures “a fact of life.”

“I ran a business for a lot of years. People come and go it's a fact of life,” he said. “I don't think losing two employees... over three years for a $2-million-a-year operation is that outrageous.”