Mount Pleasant Trustee Angry About Administrator Procedure

The search for a full-time Administrator in is a go, the vote taken after an ad was placed for the position.

Trustees voted 4-3 at the Oct. 10 Village Board meeting to direct the Personnel Committee to continue trying to fill the position with a full time employee. The job has been vacant since former Administrator Mike Andreasen, who .

"Who authorized this?" asked Trustee Karen Albeck. "The board did not confirm this was the direction we were going to go. What were you thinking?"

Albeck believes so strongly that the village Personnel Committee may have acted illegally by directing the for a new Administrator that she is going to talk to the Racine County District Attorney's office.

"This was illegal and I will pursue it," she added. "I promise."

But Harry Manning, trustee and chair of the committee, defended the committee by reviewing the steps taken by both the board and committee members since the .

"The Personnel Committee was directed on Aug. 22 to work on the job description and that we wouldn't use an outside consultant," he said.

There were also questions about whether or not having the Administrator issue on the agenda was done properly since neither Ron Meyer nor Salas were aware of it. Meyer is the village Planning Director and, with Salas, part of the interim management team.

"So I'm not happy about this," said Trustee Gary Feest. "And I'm a stickler for procedure so I'm not thrilled that the ad was placed."

Salas read the ad to trustees in which the village asks for candidates, but never states the job is full time. Feest said he doesn't have a problem with the ad and Albeck said she doesn't, either because her issue is that the board never authorized the search for a full time employee to move forward.

"We talked about a job description but never did the board authorize this as a full time position or to place an ad for it," she stated.

Trustee John Hewitt made the motion to have the Personnel Committee move forward with provisions for a full time Administrator. Sonny Havn seconded the motion, but then Manning asked to amend Hewitt's motion by adding the language of the ad.

Albeck scoffed.

"First the ad was placed without board approval and now we have a motion to basically cover your you-know-what?" she asked.

In the end, Albeck, Feest and Jerry Garski voted against the motion. Havn, Milkie, Hewitt and Manning voted in favor of a full time Administrator.