Gurnee trustee wants firsthand information

Gurnee Trustee Greg Garner says if open government is important to Mayor Kristina Kovarik, then she should have informed him about the departure of a top administrator before he learned it from a source outside of village hall.

Kovarik, who topped Garner and another candidate in the April mayoral election, announced Finance Director Tina Smigielski's resignation at Monday night's village board meeting. Smigielski had been Gurnee's finance boss since 2004.

But Garner said he heard about Smigielski's departure from a resident who's not in village government before the announcement at Monday's meeting. He said he thought transparent government was important to Kovarik's administration.

"I don't know if you were very forthright in notifying the board," Garner said to Kovarik.

Gurnee Village Administrator James Hayner stepped in to explain it was believed an e-mail was sent to all trustees alerting them to Smigielski's departure for a finance job with the city of Waukegan, where her father Bill Morris served as mayor in the 1980s.

Hayner said it turned out Garner and some other trustees didn't receive the e-mail by mistake. Garner responded that a "courtesy call" to elected officials would be appropriate if a major village staff member resigns.

As for Smigielski, she joined Gurnee after Patricia Wesolowski left to become Libertyville's finance director in March 2004.

Among the finance initiatives during Smigielski's tenure was the hiring of a collection agency to go after unpaid water bills and parking tickets in 2006. Smigielski found there were $180,000 in delinquent parking fines and water bills from 1996 to 2006.

Kovarik said Smigielski was an excellent Gurnee employee who went beyond crunching numbers. Gurnee is seeking a replacement for Smigielski, with starting pay ranging from $105,000 to $120,000.

"It is a loss for us and Waukegan's gain," Kovarik said.