Nicole Aimone, Editor-in-Chief
The village of Spring Green could see some restructuring and new positions as they work to alleviate workload stress for the clerk and office staff.
At a special meeting Jan. 6, the village board discussed plans from Village Clerk Wendy Crary to create a Utility Clerk position, that would be responsible for administrative work and billing for the municipal water and sewer services.
The position would complete billing and receipting for almost 900 water and sewer accounts the village services, along with administrative work for the public works department.
Currently, Crary and office staff are responsible for these duties, in addition to Clerk and Treasurer duties, which has caused additional working hours and stress for the staff.
With the additional position, Crary would continue to oversee accounting for the utility services, and perform reporting and auditing work.
The board also discussed creating a Village Administrator position, with the idea that Crary would hold the title of Clerk, Treasurer and Village Administrator, and be performing duties for all three jobs, according to Trustee Robin Reid.
Reid said Crary is largely already performing the duties for three positions. This would simply make it official.
According to the meeting minutes, Reid commented the village would have been in serious trouble throughout the COVID-19 pandemic without Crary.
During public comment, village resident Damian Barta spoke to Crary’s on-going performance.
“I just want to say that I love the way all of you interact and that it sounds like Wendy is a treasure for the village,” said Barta.
Resident Ed Lilla agreed with comments regarding Crary’s performance, and supported the proposed positions.
“I want to reiterate Damian’s comments and I attend primarily out of concern, but I am relieved to hear the proposed changed for the village,” said Lilla.
The village board did not take any action on the positions at the meeting, but did advise the Personnel Committee to create a plan for making and implementing the positions. The committee will bring forth a proposed plan and job descriptions at an upcoming meeting.