Sauk Village works to head off financial crisis

The complete story link at http://nwitimes.com/news/local/illinois/artic... tells just how bad of shape the Village is in. Now the Village Administration has found it necessary to hire a financial planning firm to assist it with its money problems. Wasn't this supposed to be the job of Chief Of Staff Brunetta Hill-Corley and Finance Director Beverly Sterrett? Or is the financial situation of Sauk Village so dire, that outside help had to be brought in. Your views and comments are of course invited.

How could the Village be that bad, afterall, almost EVERY single year, Finance Director Beverly Sterrett received the award from the State or County (I can't remember which) for the books balancing. How could they always be in the black, when obviously, in just a few short months, the new administration found SV is not in the black. Maybe SV needs a complete audit to see where this money has gone and what line items were played with.

Sauk Village Voice wrote:

The complete story link at http://nwitimes.com/news/local/illinois/artic... tells just how bad of shape the Village is in. Now the Village Administration has found it necessary to hire a financial planning firm to assist it with its money problems. Wasn't this supposed to be the job of Chief Of Staff Brunetta Hill-Corley and Finance Director Beverly Sterrett? Or is the financial situation of Sauk Village so dire, that outside help had to be brought in. Your views and comments are of course invited.

i find it very interesting that Beverly's job is not on the "chopping block"

The real question is if the Village is broke how are they paying for this? Why are they payinng the Chief of Staff and the Finance Director if everyone else has to do their jobs.

Sauk Village Voice wrote:

The complete story link at http://nwitimes.com/news/local/illinois/artic... tells just how bad of shape the Village is in. Now the Village Administration has found it necessary to hire a financial planning firm to assist it with its money problems. Wasn't this supposed to be the job of Chief Of Staff Brunetta Hill-Corley and Finance Director Beverly Sterrett? Or is the financial situation of Sauk Village so dire, that outside help had to be brought in. Your views and comments are of course invited.

I'm starting to think Mayor Towers has a siamese twin attached to him. And that twin would be the Village Attorney, Jimmy Vasselli. At times it would seem Vasselli has his hand up the back of Towers at every Board Meeting, in what appears to be some sort of ventriloquistic puppet show. Is Mayor Towers capable of forming any sort of statement, comment, or sentence without consulting with Village Attorney Vasselli's approval? Or does Towers somehow justify the cost of Vasselli being his right hand man at every moment, paying his fees for consulting? Anyways, enough of that rant...

It's time Sauk Village starts looking for more aggressive ways to save money. For example, a 4 day work week. By going to the link at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ut_four_day_workwe... you can see how Utah State offices collectively saved $4.1 million in the first year of a government experiment with a four-day workweek.

Everyone still gets full pay, but works 10 hour days instead of 8 hour days. What this initially was intended to do was save energy costs, but it was the unanticipated savings in overtime, janitorial services, and gasoline costs that suprised State officials.

Utah State officials expected to save 3 million in energy costs, but fell far short, only saving $502,000 for the year. However the biggest difference came in when they discovered they were able to save $200,000 on janitorial services. With reduced overtime expenses, the total saving was $4.8 million.

And because State employees were eager to leave after the longer 10 hour workday, and weren't inclined to work an extra hour or two, costing the State overtime pay. "They're getting what they need to get done in 10 hours and going home," said Angie Welling, spokeswoman for Gov. Gary Herbert.

"The state envisioned some energy savings, but that overtime number was not anticipated," she said.

I think its a good thing to have the lawyer at his side. I want to know things are done legally. Not sure why you would think its a bad thing. That is a good idea going 4 days instead of 5.

Sauk Village Voice wrote:

I'm starting to think Mayor Towers has a siamese twin attached to him. And that twin would be the Village Attorney, Jimmy Vasselli. At times it would seem Vasselli has his hand up the back of Towers at every Board Meeting, in what appears to be some sort of ventriloquistic puppet show. Is Mayor Towers capable of forming any sort of statement, comment, or sentence without consulting with Village Attorney Vasselli's approval? Or does Towers somehow justify the cost of Vasselli being his right hand man at every moment, paying his fees for consulting? Anyways, enough of that rant...
It's time Sauk Village starts looking for more aggressive ways to save money. For example, a 4 day work week. By going to the link at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ut_four_day_workwe... you can see how Utah State offices collectively saved $4.1 million in the first year of a government experiment with a four-day workweek.
Everyone still gets full pay, but works 10 hour days instead of 8 hour days. What this initially was intended to do was save energy costs, but it was the unanticipated savings in overtime, janitorial services, and gasoline costs that suprised State officials.
Utah State officials expected to save 3 million in energy costs, but fell far short, only saving $502,000 for the year. However the biggest difference came in when they discovered they were able to save $200,000 on janitorial services. With reduced overtime expenses, the total saving was $4.8 million.
And because State employees were eager to leave after the longer 10 hour workday, and weren't inclined to work an extra hour or two, costing the State overtime pay. "They're getting what they need to get done in 10 hours and going home," said Angie Welling, spokeswoman for Gov. Gary Herbert.
"The state envisioned some energy savings, but that overtime number was not anticipated," she said.

totally agree,Mayor Towers can't do anything without seeking the advice/permission from the lawyer.... I would love to know how much the village has shelled out to his firm so far ....

Well What, I have to admit. Most people consult a lawyer under two main circumstances. They don't know what they are doing on a potentially legal or business issue, and seek counsel from someone that does, or someone that is in some sort of trouble either civil or legal that requires legal counsel.

Mayor Towers better remember this is the same person that blew it when they tried to appoint his wife to the Police and Fire Commission Board, and told him that it would be permitted, only to be shown the Illinois Statute that strictly prohibits such appointments. A sort of blind leading the blind if you will at least with concern to that particular matter.

I can understand consulting legal counsel when appropriate, but I just wonder what else they are wrong on...

Well during the previous 3 administrations, the Mayor and Village Manager didn't make a move without consulting the legal counsel- Wildman Harold, Allen and Dixon (Affectionatedly known as "WHAD").

That lawfirm made MILLIONS in legal fees representing Sauk Village. I'm sure that their hourly rate was in the neighborhood of $300-$400 likely double that of the Village's new Attorney.

So the nice thing is that the legal fees have gone down- DRAMATICALLY because there's no more WHAD! I'm not saying Louie, et al were bad lawyers, to the contrary they were exceptional and respected- BUT very expensive!

It appears Sauk Village isn't the only one having problems either. At http://nwitimes.com/news/local/illinois/artic... the Village of Glenwood is looking at trimming their staff also, in an attempt to reduce their debt $600,000 to $1 million, Village Administrator Eric Wiederhold was quoted as saying.

The economy overall, in addition to a decrease in property tax revenues, and overall the revenue to the Village of Glenwood is down 14 percent.

Village service such as Police aren't exempt either. The Stweard Union for Teamsters Local 726, said Glenwood has 20 unionized officers, and his union will check the village's financial records, which is a standard procedure, to see if concessions or layoffs are warranted.

Ideally, we don't want to lay off any employees he was also quoted as saying, but Glenwood Village Administrator Eric Wiederhold could not say how many people could be laid off.

I wouldn't look to Glewnood for ideas. The Village has mismanaged money on power struggles resulting in lawsuits, A golf course they should not own and who knows what else. They tried to lay off 5 cops out 20 total at the last board meeting and a the Police Union staged a rather large protest. the cops didn't get laid off but took huge concession to save their own. These Villages better wake up smell the coffee. This money belongs to the taxpayers, not the idiots in office. I hope your city government is better than ours. Wiederholder is making six figures and has done nothing for Glewnood. He is getting his Doctorate degree at DePaul courtesy of the Glewnood taxpayers though.

what wrote:

<quoted text>i find it very interesting that Beverly's job is not on the "chopping block"

You don't know what you are talking about. First Kane McKenna Financial Planners have been employed by the Village for at least 18 year and not just hired. Secondly it's the recession that the entire country, the Stat of Illinos, and County of Cook are in and the trickle down effect that is the reason why the Village is having financial crisis. The Finance Director did not cause any of this.

Jeanine wrote:

How could the Village be that bad, afterall, almost EVERY single year, Finance Director Beverly Sterrett received the award from the State or County (I can't remember which) for the books balancing. How could they always be in the black, when obviously, in just a few short months, the new administration found SV is not in the black. Maybe SV needs a complete audit to see where this money has gone and what line items were played with.

The Village like many other government units and business Financial condition is due to the recession and the poor economic conditions having a trickle down effect. You were correct when stating that the Finance Director has received awards every year from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) for excellence in financial reporting. This is the organization that is the leader in public financial management and these awards were received for preparing comprehensive annual financial reports (CAFR) that went far beyond minimun requirement of generally accepted accounting principles. The awards could only be earned after the Village's financial statements went through a rigorous review by members of the professional staff including independent auditors, academics and financial statement prepares.

As far as the Village's audit the auditing firm of McGladrey and Pullen, a very prestigious old firm with 26 offices in 7 states and more than 7,000 employees has audited the Village for a number of years. The Village has always received unqualified audit opinions every year and no adverse comments in a management letter. The Finance Director has done a good job. The financial problems of the Village have to do with the economy not the job preformance of the Finance Director.

Thank you for clearing that up. When you sit in an open board meeting, and the then Mayor Peckham stated that Bev Sterrett received the awards from the State of Illinois for blancing the books, it makes you question things. Such as, if the Village is in in the red, how can she receive awards for Balanced Books? Obviously, if you are in the red, your books aren't balanced. But, that is the statements made by the board previously. That was the question which I'm sure alot of others had.

Leave Mayor Towers and his wife along Sauk Village Voice !!!!! Is there a problem because he is the first black Mayor of Sauk Village?