Politics & Government

Mount Pleasant Board Not in a Rush to Fill Administrator Position

They will keep the temporary management team for now.

The Mount Pleasant Village Board met Mon., May 16, to discuss its options after trustees voted to terminate now former Village Administrator Mike Andreasen. He was fired at the Mon., May 9 meeting "without cause."

In the end, trustees agreed they shouldn't rush to fill the administrator position just because its vacant. They also decided to leave in place the temporary management team of Village President Carolyn Milkie, Planning Director Ron Meyer, and Clerk/Treasurer Debra Salas with a planned evaluation set for July 18.

"Village staff seems to be comfortable with what the board has put in place," said Trustee Gary Feest. "We don't want to rush so we need to think about how the village should run, the staff we need and the structures that need to be in place."

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In the meantime, trustees will get together in open session for at least two work meetings on June 6 and 20. The goal is to assess and review the structures of each department, get input from staff at all levels and garner feedback from residents about the direction of the village.

Last fall, Trustee Karen Albeck introduced some ideas for reorganizing the village, including having department heads report directly to the board. She said she would like to discuss some of her ideas while tweaking them here and there to provide for a village with and without an administrator.

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"I want us to explore our options," she said. "Our current management plan is a good, which gives us the opportunity to review the functionality of departments, determine our needs and then develop the steps on how to serve those needs."

Residents also spoke during the meeting.

Terri Wentiss said she wants the board to look closely at the salaries of municipal staff.

"I said this before, when you all were talking about the budget, but you didn't listen and now look," she told trustees. "Now you're saying you'll listen, so I hope you will. You have to watch the salaries."

Don Schultz said he wants the finance department involved because no matter what, the state budget is going to impact what the village does.

"This is the perfect benchmark, to see how the village functions without an administrator," he said.Β 

Residents are invited and encouraged to attend the next board meeting at 7 pm on Mon., May 23 as well as the work meetings scheduled for 7 pm Mon., June 6 and June 20 at Village Hall.


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