New Poplar Grove administrator has plenty to do... - Belvidere Daily Republican

 

New Poplar Grove administrator has plenty to do
By Bob Balgemann
Reporter

POPLAR GROVE - New Village Administrator Diana Dykstra spent much of her first day with Village President John Neitzel.

She met quite a few residents later that day, when a meet and greet open house was held at 6:30 p.m. in village hall. Thirty minutes later the regularly monthly village board meeting was held.

End result was a plate of issues that was quickly filling up.

Among those asking her to look into particular matters were trustees Owen Costanza, Jeff Goings and Ron Quimby. They were unhappy with the first village administrator, Mark Lynch, and on May 10 voted against keeping him for another year.

Not long after surviving the 4-3 vote, with Neitzel breaking the 3-3 tie in his favor, Lynch resigned and left the village on Jul. 31.

Enter Dykstra, former village administrator, clerk and treasurer of Darien, Wis., on Jan. 12.

Costanza, Goings and Quimby are concerned about the village having three supervisors for just three employees. It could be four supervisors, though not all consider Neitzel, a part-time village president, as having such responsibilities.

They consider Dykstra, Public Works Superintendent Jeff Strate and Office Manager Maureen Brzinski to be supervisors. While the title on the office door states "secretary," they say Brzinski is and always has been much more than that.

The way they see it, Strate supervises two public works department employees while Brzinski supervises a receptionist/secretary, who works in the office. Dykstra supervises all of them and runs the village's day-to-day operation.

FROM FOUR TO TWO

There used to be four public works employees but Lynch dismissed two of them, near the end of his tenure, and they have not been replaced. All public works people are represented, except Strate, under a union contract.

Costanza said he thought the village staff was too small to have three supervisors. "With everything being outsourced, why do we need a public works director?" he asked. "She did three jobs when she was in Darien."

He also would like her to review the recently approved "flow chart," which specifies who is responsible to whom. After looking at the workload, he would like her to "recommend a decrease or increase" in staff.

Costanza considers Neitzel to be a supervisor, though he's not involved in the day-to-day operation of the village.

"She has to make that call," Goings said of the staff structure and number of employees.

In Quimby's view, "let her (Dykstra) have free rein and decide on the structure. Do we have enough employees, too many, not enough? That will be up to her."

Lynch embarked on a similar path and thought the village needed a billing clerk and in-house attorney. A full-time treasurer also was discussed. While some money was proposed for that change in the 2014-15 budget, it did not happen.

As the Jan. 12 board meeting wore on, other issues were discussed that will require the new administrator's attention.

One of them was the growing number of problems at both sewage treatment plants.

Above is from:  New Poplar Grove administrator has plenty to do... - Belvidere Daily Republican