Ex Pingree Grove Village manager to get nearly $47k

The taxpayers of Pingree Grove will be shelling out a good chunk of change to its recently ousted village manager.

Scott Hartman, fired Monday night, will walk away with a $46,694.93 cushion, according to figures released Tuesday afternoon.

Of that, $42,016.40 represents five months severance pay, $4,313.17 for unused vacation time and $365.36 for an unused personal day, documents show.

The village won't be covering any of Hartman's health expenses.

Hartman, who was on track to make $99,672.13 this year, leaves the village payroll Oct. 22, documents show.

Though he had agreed to a 5 percent reduction in his salary in exchange for taking several unpaid days off, that did not translate into his severance package. He is being paid as if he had not taken the cut, said Village President Wyman "Clint" Carey.

The payments come during a difficult financial year for the village, which must now pay to recruit and hire a successor in addition to Hartman's severance package.

"I don't think that that's the best use for our money right now," said Carey, who opposed letting Hartman go. "We had people taking furlough days. Those people are probably not going to be taking furlough days now, which means it's going to impact our budget even more."

Hartman had been on the job since June 2008 and had a year left on his contract.

Village trustees showed him the door Monday night because he spent roughly $400,000 on a 2009 wastewater treatment expansion project that had never been authorized and was making his own plans to fire certain employees, Trustee Greg Marston said.

He was officially released under a convenience clause in his contract, which means he can be terminated for any reason and at any time.

Hartman said the mistake Marston refers to actually cost $300,000 and he acknowledges that he moved prematurely on the waste water treatment project, thinking the village would get federal stimulus money.

"The design engineer wasn't authorized by the village, nor was it authorized by my office," Hartman said Tuesday. "The error I made is that I didn't catch it."

For now, village trustees and staff are taking over Hartman's workload.

Despite the severance costs, Marston said the board "without question" made the right decision to fire Hartman.

Marston said he also supports an early release of recordings from the board's closed session last week which ended with Hartman placed on leave.

"I believe anyone listening to (the recordings) would be hard pressed in defending Scott," Marston said.

Executive session recordings typically are released after a lengthy review process by the board, said Village Attorney Dean Frieders.

"It's a case-by-case evaluation by the village board," Frieders said.