E. Dundee names deputy administrator

East Dundee will soon join Carpentersville and Hampshire as villages welcoming a new administrator to run the day-to-day demands of government. Frank Koehler, the current administrator, will work his last day on Dec. 31 after 35 years of service in the business, the last three in East Dundee.

The village board, with an eye toward the impending transition, passed a resolution Monday promoting Heather Maieritsch to the post of deputy village administrator. The position has been vacant for two years, according to Trustee Michael Ruffalo, who originally pushed for Maieritsch's promotion.

“We want her involved in all meetings that Frank (Koehler) is in so that when Frank leaves, at least she has a sense of what the issues are and what the pending agendas are in our village,” Ruffalo said. “She'll be able to help out in the transition to the new village administrator.”

Maieritsch started with the village just a few months after Koehler, in October 2007, and has worked as the assistant to the administrator and development specialist since then.

The promotion will make Maieritsch the second-in-command in the village.

“She's the go-to girl in Frank's absence, incapacitation, vacancy or if ever we don't have the village administrator for any reason,” Ruffalo said.

With less than two months before Koehler leaves East Dundee, Village President Jerry Bartels has continued a search for a new administrator. Trustees expect an update during executive session at one of the upcoming board meetings but no information has been made public yet.

Koehler has been spending his weeks in East Dundee and weekends at home with his wife in Bourbonnais since he took the job as village administrator.

He said it's time to get back home.

“I'm looking to retire from government, but not from work,” Koehler said.