Buffalo Grove's village manager retires

Buffalo Grove Village Manager William Brimm announced his resignation Monday night, shortly after the village board retired to a closed session.

His resignation is effective July 2, and his last day in village offices is June 11, he said.

"On January 16, 1978, I was given a wonderful opportunity to join the staff of the village of Buffalo Grove as Director of Finance and General Services," he said in his resignation letter. "Over the past 32-plus years, I have dedicated myself to the goals, objectives and hopes of the elected officials, residents and those who call Buffalo Grove home for their business."

Brimm said he put a great deal of thought into making the decision over the past few months.

He recently celebrated his 61st birthday and, "while not considered old anymore, does make me realize that matters of age and responsibility do warrant thought and consideration," he said.

Brimm, who was making more than $168,000 per year, had refused to accept a pay raise for two straight years. He said he needed to lead by example when village employees were called upon to make sacrifices.

Brimm's resignation ended more than 32 years of service to the village, the majority of them as finance director.

Brimm was named village manager in 2006 after his predecessor retired.

Brimm, who turned 61 on Sunday, grew up in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. He graduated from Sullivan High School and received his MBA from Northern Illinois University.

After working for Montgomery Ward in the firm's retail management program, he joined American National Bank and Trust, working on the accounting end of loan portfolios in the comptroller's division.

A friend told him about the opening in Buffalo Grove and introduced him to Village Manager William Balling, then in his first year on the job.

Brimm was a natural choice to succeed Balling in 2006. Brimm already had been serving as assistant village manager when Balling stepped down. Balling entrusted Brimm with such projects as the remodeling of the Arboretum Golf Course.

One of Brimm's main accomplishments in the finance arena was building up reserve funds. As a result of that, as well as other measures such as moving to self-insurance for government officials, Buffalo Grove was prepared to face the recent economic storm.

Even so, the village was forced to make up for the decline in the revenues it shares with the state - income and sales taxes - by imposing a utility tax. Today, the budget basically is balanced, and the village even can afford badly needed stormwater management improvements near the White Pine Ditch. By the end of the last budget cycle, the village was a stutter-step away from an AAA bond rating.

Brimm's job has become appreciably harder in the last year.

After a long period of government by quiet consensus, the board was rocked by a new era of controversy following the election of Lisa Stone to the board of trustees last April.

Stone openly called Brimm's performance into question - particularly in the wake of controversy over how approval of an off-track betting parlor was handled. That led to a review of whether the village had violated the Open Meetings Act and if the village had adequately complied with a Freedom of Information Act request for related e-mails when additional e-mails later were located.

The Cook County state's attorney's office recently said it found no reason for action against the village in the matter, though it cautioned Buffalo Grove to be careful how it handled such matters in the future.

Some village board members complained that Stone harassed Brimm with phone calls at all hours of the day, including weekends. As a result, guidelines were set for village board members to contact village staff.

In recognizing Brimm for 25 years of work in 2003, Village President Elliott Hartstein said "Our financial well-being - undoubtedly would not be what it is today without the efforts that have been tireless and continuous and unselfishly given day in and day out for the last 25 years by our own assistant village manager and finance director, Bill Brimm."

Hartstein noted that Brimm had overseen a local economy with a tax base that grew from $22.9 million in assessed value to $1.2 billion, while the population swelled from 16,000 to 43,000. The tax rate and the water rate had remained stable for more than two decades, and Brimm had received the Award of Financial Reporting Achievement from the Government Finance Officers Association more than 20 times.