December 19, 2024 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

Mayor discusses administrators pay increase

The Village Administrator of St. Joseph is getting a raise.


The annual salary for the position will be increased to $85,000 starting on January 1, 2025. 


The administrator’s annual salary will be increased to $90,000 starting on May 1, 2025.


The administrator’s annual salary will be increased to $95,000 on May 1, 2026. 


The administrator’s annual salary will be increased to $100,000 on May 1, 2027. 


The administrator will receive a one-time bonus of $10,000 during the first pay period of January 2025.

The administrator will get a retention bonus on $15,000 on May 1, 2027.

Mayor Tami Fruhling-Voges said the raise was important to retaining a person she sees as a vital asset to the village.

“Joe works every week more than his 40 hours,” she said. “His hours are never 7:30 to 3:30 like the other employees.  He carries a heavy load of duties to keep the village running as smoothly as possible.”

Fruhling-Voges said that the village administrator oversees large projects, deals with budgets, makes sure the village is following state mandates, deals with employee issues and researches information for the trustees to have available for each meeting. The administrator also deals with the public and works to recruit businesses to the community.

“People who complain about his position have no clue what he does for the village and don’t realize that many of these things were being neglected in the past,” she said.

Fruhling-Voges said in 2009 trustees held a vote to decide if the village should hire an administrator. According to meeting minutes from May 12, 2009 the finance committee, which Fruhling-Voges chaired, recommended moving ahead with interviewing six applicants the village had for the village administrator position. Scott Cousert, Jim Haake and Forest Chism voted no. Fruhling-Voges, Terry Hitt and Aric Silver voted yes. The vote was tied 3-3. Mayor B.J Hackler cast the tie breaking vote and voted not to hire an administrator. According to the minutes, Hackler said he thought when the village grew to 5,000 it would be the time to look at an administrator. However, the overwhelming factor in his decision was what projects the village could do with the $100,000 that would be spent on the position.

Fruhling-Voges said Hackler’s choice was the wrong one.

“So we continued as we had for the last 30 years slowly stagnating and unfortunately making some costly mistakes by not having a full time person in place managing  the village on a daily bases,” she said. “BJ did a great job for many years and I loved him.  He mentored me and I will always be grateful,  but he never wanted to let go of the control.  He wanted to attempt to run the village like it was 1973.  The village outgrew BJ.”

Fruhling-Voges said the village had to play catch up once the administrator was hired and she views the current administrator, Joe Hackney, as invaluable.

“There is no other employee that can do his job,” she said. “Not even close.”

Fruhling-Voges said the public needs to understand that the mayor and trustees are not employees. 

“We set policy and over see that those policies to maintain our village are being accomplished,” she said. “I have donated far to many hours to this village over the years doing the work that should have been done by a hired professional.  Trustees over the years worked on committees to attempt to manage the village.  This worked maybe 30 years ago, but part time volunteers running the day to day business of a village of close to 4000 residents just doesn’t cut it any longer.  And anyone who thinks we can go back in time are delusional.”

Fruhling-Voges said the changes to Hackney’s contract were made in the hopes of retaining him for a few more years.

“We have many large projects happening in the village and will need to consistently be managed by a full-time professional,” she said. “The budgeting of these projects and keeping the proper paperwork filed cannot be mishandled.  We can’t afford to lose Joe.”

Fruhling-Voges said the board had been wanting to increase Hackney’s pay for a while.

“Farmer City hired their new administrator at $122,000,” she said. “The average for village’s our size is at $107,000. The village can give raises anytime they see fit.  It has been done in the past and will can be done anytime when necessary.  With Joe’s new sign on bonus and pay increase he is still making  below the average.”

Fruhling-Voges said she felt facts needed to be shared about Hackney’s job and pay.

“It will never change certain people’s opinions but the facts needed to be shared,” she said.

Banner
Related Posts

Live at St. Joseph Village Board, Jan. 11, 2021

January 11, 2022

January 11, 2022

Village administrator Joe Hackney saying they need to have more cash on hand in the accounts instead of CDs because...

Storm cleanup to take place this week

July 11, 2023

July 11, 2023

Help has arrived. The cities of Champaign, Effingham and El Paso, in addition to Champaign County Highway staff and various...

Live at Ogden Village Board March 4, 2021

March 4, 2021

March 4, 2021

Tonight we will find out the fate of the Ogden Easter Egg Hunt. Philo, St, Joseph and Tuscola have canceled...

Is a new village hall in St. Joseph’s future?

March 29, 2022

March 29, 2022

The Village of St. Joseph is discussing selling three properties downtown. And it could come with a new use for...

Registration open for electronics recycling event

September 9, 2019

September 9, 2019

Residents in St. Joseph, Homer, Royal, Ogden and unincorporated Champaign County can now register for the county-wide electronic recycling event....

Process for filling vacant trustee position up to the mayor

September 11, 2023

September 11, 2023

How a vacant trustee position is filled is up to the mayor’s discretion, said Mayor Tami Fruhling-Voges. Fruhling-Voges had seven...

Live at St. Joseph Village Board

October 8, 2019

October 8, 2019

The past few meetings have been packed… not this one. Only two audience members. They approved the minutes, are going...

Community members attend board meeting to support Assistant Public Works Director

May 2, 2024

May 2, 2024

On April 29, dozens of people attended a village board meeting and signed up to praise a village employee—Luke Fisher....

Live at St. Joseph Village Board, Jan. 25

January 25, 2022

January 25, 2022

Tonight at St. Joseph Village Board we will get some honorary street designations, a discussion and vote regarding special event...

Live at St. Joseph Village Board, Aug. 24, 2021

August 24, 2021

August 24, 2021

I am here at village board. There are four people in the audience. The lawyer and Mr. Sennert doing IT....

Live at St. Joseph Village Board, Feb. 14, 2023

February 14, 2023

February 14, 2023

Happy Valentines Day. I was two minutes late and we are already done with the investments. Wes Taylor is here....

Safety first: Village urges residents to slow down near school crossing guards

August 25, 2021

August 25, 2021

When Matt, Andrew and Mark Case were young, their mother Beverly was thankful for a crossing guard to help them...

Village asking for feedback on liquor license

January 25, 2021

January 25, 2021

The Village of St. Joseph is asking residents for feedback regarding a proposed new liquor license. During a Jan. 18...

Live at St. Joseph Village, Jan. 10, 2023

January 10, 2023

January 10, 2023

I am here so you don’t have to be. Discussing bills. Art has some questions about the bills. Discussing Sterling...

Live at Ogden Village Board, July 7, 2022

July 7, 2022

July 7, 2022

Discussing a parking lease downtown for Hartke. I got here four minutes late and they were really going at it...

Comments
Leave a Reply