Mount Pleasant Exploring New Administrator Job Description

Mount Pleasant trustees had a brief discussion at the Aug. 22 Board meeting about whether or not the village needs a new, full time administrator.

The item was placed on the agenda at the request of Trustees Sonny Havn and Harry Manning.

"Are we getting a new administrator?" Havn asked the rest of the board. "I think it's time and would like us to direct the Personnel Committee to start looking for someone."

Former Village Administrator Mike Andreasen was fired on May 9 without cause. Since then, a letter from former Clerk/Treasurer Juliet Edmands has become public record outlining allegations against Andreasen for sexual harrassment, violations of the personnel manual and financial irregularities. Andreasen died of a heart attack on June 1.

But Trustee Karen Albeck said that before a search starts, the job needs a description and one of the first decisions that needs to be made is whether or not the position will be full or part time.

"I don't know that we need a full time person again," she said. "Sturtevant does just fine with a part time person."

As for the search itself, Albeck said she is against using a professional search firm or even casting too wide a net for candidates.

"We have people here, in our area who hit the ground running," she added.

Gary Feest, another board member, agreed the village needs a person to manage the day-to-day operations, but he wants to change the system for how information reaches the board. Even discussing a new administrator made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, but he agreed with Albeck about needing a job description.

"Right now it's more an hourglass shape and very little was reaching the board," he noted. "Instead, I'd like to see department heads coming before the board to express their wants and needs and give status reports. This way, we get the information direct and it's not filtered through an administrator."

Trustee Jerry Garski agreed the structure of the job needs a new definition.

"I'll use the finance department as an example for how maybe the administrator and the department head or committee chair need to sign checks," he said. "This way, we have checks and balances."

Residents weighed in as well.

"Lose the 'administrator' title as a way to start changing that hourglass," Don Schultz suggested.

Mike Denzein agreed and then elaborated.

"The concept is flawed because information is power and too much information in the hands of one person means that person can manipulate what the board knows," he said. "Maybe the answer is to find a way to get the same work done but with a small committee of three, for example."

Manning said he thinks the Personnel Committee can handle the search to avoid using an outside firm.

"We managed to fill the clerk/treasurer position quite nicely," he stated.

Village President Carolyn Milkie suggested that trustees write up memos outlining their own thoughts about how the village administrator position should be structured so the Personnel Committee can start having discussions.

What do you think the job description for a village administrator should include?