Manager Defends Glenview’s New Finance Chief

Based on newspaper accounts in Daytona Beach, Florida, local government is having financial problems, and last year state auditors found a fair number of violations in the way Daytona Beach had done business. They said the community misused TIF money, bought one piece of land for more than its assessed value and acquired another parcel without having it assessed.

Since 2005, Ricardo Kisner had served as the community’s chief financial officer, so The Watch was puzzled when Glenview’s Village Manager Todd Hileman announced he was hiring Kisner to replace retiring finance chief Dan Wiersman.

Hileman says he shared our concerns until he paid a visit to Daytona Beach to talk with Kisner’s former boss and other department heads. “I wanted to look them in the eye and hear what they had to say,” Hileman explains. “The job of finance director is as important as the police chief, so we spent a lot of time researching Rick. He interviewed well. He had a lot of great technical skills, but we wanted to be sure.”

In the end, Hileman concluded that Kisner was an exceptional man caught in a bad situation. Daytona Beach council members are elected from districts rather than at large, and Hileman contends that form of govenment has turned the town into a “political hotbed,” where in-fighting is the norm, and reform is difficult.

As in Glenview under former Village Manager Paul McCarthy, each department head in Daytona Beach is responsible for his or her own budget, and that may also make it harder for top city officials to get a grip on how money is spent.

Kisner Wanted Out

Kisner, a native of Detroit, quickly decided Daytona Beach was not his kind of town. At work, he was frustrated by the slow pace of change. “It was a very laid back community, and it wasn’t really going anywhere. I could have blended in, but I didn’t want to do that,” he explains.

Kisner says he undertook an audit of the department one year before the state came in, so he was aware of many problems the state identified. Unfortunately, he says, he was not always able to change government practices. Land purchases, for example, were handled by the support services director. All Kisner did was cut the check.

What This Means for Glenview

Kisner has an MBA from the University of Michigan, experience in the corporate world, and he’s a CPA who shares Hileman’s commitment to accounting and planning methods used by the private sector.

“Our business models were 20 years out of date,” Hileman says of his early days in Glenview. “We could not maintain the level of staffing that we had. It was quickly becoming clear that our fund balance was in danger.”

Hileman warned village staffers that they would have to make changes. “It was the first time people were hearing this. They didn’t understand what I was doing. It was a shock to the system. I don’t believe in sugar coating these things,” he says.

Since then, Hileman has been trying to change the culture at Village Hall and overhaul business practices. That may have been a factor in the decision by former finance director Dan Wiersma to leave. “A lot of people are uncomfortable,” Hileman says.

More likely, he adds, experienced managers, like Wiersma and Public Works Director Bill Porter, opted to take early retirement, because it was to their financial advantage. Fully vested, Hileman says, they are “young enough to go out and get another job or consult” while collecting a village pension.

Finance Chief Says Glenview’s His Kind of Town

Kisner likes what he sees in Glenview. “I wanted to work in a community that holds government to a high standard. My role is to be the watchdog, the nay sayer. It’s not my job to give good news,” he says.

Over the next few months, he may be saying “nay” a lot. Village employees now enjoy as many as 26 days of vacation and unlimited sick leave – the product of “years and years of trying to keep unions out,” Hileman says. Recently, Village Hall reduced the amount of comp time employees could take from 240 hours to 80. “That decision has greatly improved productivity,” he says.

The village is also trying to figure out what to do with the Maine Water Company, a business purchased by the McCarthy Administration – expected to be a cash cow for Glenview. Instead, the utility is operating in the red, and Hileman has ordered an analysis of its operations to be completed later this summer.

Hileman and Kisner will also be working to keep Trustees Paul Detleffs and Phil White happy. They come from the corporate world and have not been pleased with the way Glenview managed its money. “They are as qualified as [Kisner] to be Glenview’s CFO,” Hileman says.

He believes Detleffs and White are satisfied with the changes they’ve seen so far, and Hileman claims to be sleeping better at night. “I’m feeling more comfortable about staffing levels. The quarter percent sales tax has helped shore up our future, and The Glen is doing fine – getting stronger every year. The office park there is huge,” he concludes.

Village Must Review Firing of Glenview Cop

A Cook County judge has ordered Glenview to hear more testimony in the case of officer Melanie Meyer, who was fired last fall. Judge Nancy Jo Arnold issued the order during a hearing on Meyer’s lawsuit against the village.

After Meyer was terminated, Glenview’s police chief offered Sgt. David Sostak a six-month suspension for the same offense Meyer had committed.

Sostak collected overtime for attending six Cook County Circuit Court sessions, even though tickets he wrote were not scheduled for prosecution.

Meyer contended it was common practice for Glenview officers to go to court, since schedules issued beforehand were often inaccurate, and legitimate tickets would be dismissed if the issuing officer was not on hand.

The police department contends it offered Meyer the same deal it gave Sostak, but she refused to admit she had “stolen” money by putting in for overtime pay.

Officer Nick Aiken, Meyer’s husband, has resigned after 28 years on the force. Sources tell the Watch he would have faced charges of perjury for testifying on her behalf had he not agreed to step down.

The Board of Fire and Police Commissioners is not expected to reverse its decision on Meyer’s firing, but new testimony could improve Meyer’s chance of

Saving Money the Hileman Way

 

After sending Glenview’s experienced financial director packing under an early retirement program, Village Manager Todd Hileman has hired a new finance director from Daytona Beach. The state of Florida recently completed an audit there and concluded that on Ricardo Kisner’s watch, the city misspent redevelopment money by paying $661,000 for land appraised at $490,000 and $400,000 for another lot that was never appraised.

The auditors questioned the use of  special development funds to pay  for promotions of Bike Week, the Beach Street Barbecue Festival, the Bill McCoy Rum Festival and the Martini Walk.  They  did not report any missing money, but Daytona Beach’s development director conceded there was “lots of room for improvement,” and the city hired a consultant to assist with future financial dealings.

Auditors also said more than $500,000 in police operating expenses were paid from a fund established to redevelop Main Street — a violation of state law. Other questionable expenditures included $98,000 for lobbying, $83,000 for electric bills and thousands of dollars for food, board member tours, dues and city employee training. In addition, the state report charged Daytona Beach had been paying salaries and benefits from redevelopment funds that were not supported by time records, failing to use appropriate property values to determine the amount of tax increment revenues to collect and paying severance pay to a former redevelopment director who resigned voluntarily.

As Kisner was packing his bags for Glenview, Daytona Beach was struggling to make ends meet. With a slumping economy, the city posted a $2.8 million operating loss last fiscal year and was projecting another this year because of a decline in the housing market and possible changes to Florida’s property tax laws.

Rather than cut staff and services to close a gap between revenue and expenses, Kisner proposed taking $4.2 million from the capital projects fund. Critics questioned the fate of construction already underway – a new fire station and aquatic center. Kisner said the city could use bonds or impact fees from growing communities near those two projects to pay for the capital improvements.

Kisner admitted the city’s water and sewer funds had been operating at a loss for years and recommended using $355,000 from capital projects to help make up the difference. Also, Daytona Beach’s self-insurance fund was operating in the red, and Kisner hoped to take $1.8 million out of the capital projects fund to remedy that situation.

Kisner, who started work here June 9, will be paid $150,000 annually. His predecessor earned just $138,295. For more information, visit the home page of the Daytona Beach newspaper: http://www.news-journalonline.com/index.htm and search the archive under “kisner.”

Editor’s note: At the last village news conference on May 19, spokesperson Janet Spector Bishop declined to reveal the name of the new finance director, but as early as May 8 Florida media were reporting Kisner had taken a job in Glenview.

Musical Chairs at Village Hall

With at least 30 municipal employees accepting buy-out packages and several more resigning or retiring from local government, there are plenty of new faces at Village Hall. Public Works Director Bill Porter and Chief Financial Officer Dan Wiersma will be gone by July 1. Former Budget Director Al Zachowski has left to take a similar job in his home town, Lake Zurich. Purchasing Agent Bill Sarley retired, and his replacement was such a short-timer that no one at a village news conference could recall how he spelled his name!

Village Manager Todd Hileman, who positioned the buy-out program as a cost-saving measure, has recently added five new people to the management team. Among them, Dane Mall who will fill a new position – Risk Manager. He spent more than a decade working in that field, most recently for Lake County. He has a masters degree in public administration from Roosevelt University and is president of the Illinois Chapter of the Public Risk Management Association. He’ll earn $90,000 per year. 

Director of Budget and Performance Measurement Jessica Rio has spent the past 12 years with the city of Chicago. Village Hall says she was director of performance management at the Office of Budget and Management, but as recently as 2005 news accounts describe her as spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Environment. She’ll be responsible for overseeing the village’s annual and five-year operating budget. Her salary: $115,000 per year.

Thirty-year-old Molly Talkington is described as a senior budget analyst. She comes from Naperville where she served as a budget analyst from 2004-2007.  Like Manager Hileman, Talkington has a masters in public administration from Northern Illinois University.

And then there’s Michele Reynolds, the new purchasing agent, who will get $90,000 per year. She claims 18 years of experience in government purchasing, served as principle purchasing officer for Lake County and also worked for the Rockford Housing Authority.

Meanwhile, top managers at the Hall are changing chairs. Chris Clark, Deputy Manager, has surrendered direct oversight of the department of public works to Acting Director Jerry Burke who will report to Clark.

Joe Kenney is now director of Capital Development. He’ll report to Don Owen, who’s been promoted to deputy manager and will oversee operation of the village manager’s office and capital projects. Both Clark and Owen earn $140,000 a year.

Editor’s note: Organizations often replace highly paid, experienced staffers with younger people who cost less, but we suspect the Village Manager’s claim of saving taxpayers’ money is a pretty slim fig leaf. The village is now predicting it will save $5-$7 million over five years. Thirty people have retired, but ten have been hired.

We recently asked Village Hall to help us understand changes in the finance department for example. We noted that in 2007 there were 17 employees: a finance director, an assistant director, a budget manager, an internal auditor, a purchasing agent, a senior financial manager, an accounting supervisor, an accounting clerk, three part time employees as well as three seasonal part time personnel or “paper shredders.” Their salaries totalled $1,489,241.

We wondered who was doing which jobs today and how much they were making. Once upon a time we could have found that information in the annual audit, but for some reason those details are no longer included.

Village spokesperson Janet Spector Bishop said it would take a few days for her to round up the numbers. She suggested we read “Lynne [Stiefel’s] excellent article in this week’s Announcements.  It does a great job of contexting what we’re trying to do, i.e., moving toward a business model for our organizational structure.”

Spector Bishop also e-mailed charts showing that the village will ultimately have 16 employees in finance and save an estimated $216,000 per year.

Since the village has hired an outside consultant to assist with IT functions related to finance, we wonder if that saving is real, and we worry about our local newspaper when the P.R. person at Village Hall starts singing its praises. Are the reporters at the Announcements really digging and providing context or just passing along platitudes from the Village Manager? Note that Spector Bishop did not recommend reading the Glenview Journal. Its reporter, Tom Robb, summed up the situation at Village Hall this way: “The top tier of Glenview’s village administration is expanding as early retirements shrink the overall village workforce.”

Village Manager Hileman is a fairly young guy – well under 40, and he may be more comfortable playing boss to the new kids, but in the long run you have to wonder if these changes are a good deal for Glenview.

The guy who used to be Glenview’s budget manager, for example, had 32 years of municipal government experience compared with Jessica Rio’s 12. He was a certified CPA, had an MBA and was a certified government finance manager through the Association of Government Managers. Rio has a masters degree in urban planning and public policy.

And, finally, we have to ask about those salaries Glenview is paying its new execs. While assistant village managers earn $140,000 per year, local cops start at around $54,000 and top out at $72,000.

The Real Price of Postal Service

When the U.S. Postal Service announced it would not build a second mail processing center on Chestnut Avenue in Glenview, local leaders took a bow. “The village has been working around the clock to persuade the USPS to find an alternative site outside of Glenview,” said spokesperson Janet Spector Bishop.

The village recently received a bill for nearly $15,000 from Venable LLP, a lobbyist in the D.C. area.  Bishop said Veneable was “well connected to the United States Postal Service and represented the village” over the Chestnut Avenue site.

And what did we get for our $15,000? The post office is now planning to purchase property on old Willow Road in Northbrook, where it is likely to impact traffic on a main north-south access route to The Glen – Shermer Road.

IT Consultants to Get More Cash

The trustees have also approved more than $640,000 for consulting on information technology. In explaining why it was better to have a consultant providing this service, Manager Hileman told the board, “I just don’t feel comfortable with lay people attempting to support back end sophisticated applications.”

The Watch wondered what benefits residents might notice now that the village has switched to an outside consultant for IT. Director of Support Services Amy Ahner said it is now possible for village residents to view board meetings from their laptop computers while they’re at Village Hall.

Editor’s note: The only people we can imagine caring about that capability are developers who may need to do some catching up before making presentations to the board. And what were the trustees thinking when they let Todd Hileman’s remark pass. The choice is not between “laymen” and consultants but between experts on staff and experts who work for an outside company. That’s a public debate worth having, but not a single member of the board took the opportunity.

Village Survey Underway / Complaint Hotline Open

Survey experts from Northern Illinois University will be calling Glenview residents April 17-May 20 on behalf of the village – hoping to catch up with at least 450 people willing to discuss municipal services.  Village leaders hope the 2008 resident satisfaction telephone poll will help them identify resident needs and  community concerns. NIU says the survey will take about 10 minutes. Questions? Call 847-904-4370.

Meanwhile, Village Hall says residents can complain about inspection issues (building, health, fire) or property maintenance (weeds, garbage, grass) by calling 847-904-4340.

Village Hall to Close

Village offices will close at noon Friday, April 18 so staffers can make their way to Park Center for a pep rally of sorts — the annual “All Staff” meeting.  “We’ve had so many changes in trying to manage our financial future,” said Village Manager Todd Hileman.  “This is an opportunity to have a very frank discussion of how things look down the road.”

Meanwhile, Communications Director Janet Spector Bishop reports water dripping from the ceiling over her computer, and Hileman admits it’s time to replace the roof of Village Hall. He figures the job will cost $125,000-$150,000 but says he doesn’t want to spend the money.

Talks continue between the village, park and school districts over construction of a new civic center where all could have offices. “We really need to do something to get our employees back together,” Hileman says.

About 50 municipal employees are stationed outside of Village Hall – at the new police station or in the old police department digs. Village leaders once described that space as outdated, inefficient and out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. They have since reopened the old building just south of Village Hall, installed new carpet, moved some desks and a coffee pot in to create a new home for village inspectors.

Glenview’s Top Money Man Cashing Out

Dan Wiersma, Glenview’s budget director for nearly a decade, is calling it quits — accepting a buy-out offered to senior employees who depart by June 30. Wiersma earns $138,295, and the village is prepared to pay even more for his replacement. Here’s the ad placed by a municipal headhunter:

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

The Village of Glenview, IL (pop. 45,000) a dynamic, progressive community located in the northern suburbs of Chicago, is seeking highly motivated and experienced municipal finance professionals to lead its financial operations. Located 17 miles north of downtown Chicago, the Village of Glenview has undergone significant development and redevelopment in recent years following the closing of the Glenview Naval Air Station which comprised 1.5 square miles in the center of the Village’s corporate limits. The Village is a AAA rated community with an annual budget of $208 million and 350 full time employees. CFO candidates must possess outstanding leadership and management skills with a strong desire to work in a municipal environment that embraces analytical approaches to service delivery including the development of departmental business plans, the establishment of performance measurements, and the development of five-year operating and capital budgets to assist in facilitating policy decisions. The Village seeks Candidates with a comprehensive knowledge of progressive public finance practices, short and long range financial planning experience, TIF experience and budget preparation. A bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business administration or related field is required; a CPA, MPA, MBA or similar advanced degree is preferred. Candidates should have seven to ten years increasingly responsible experience in public finance management. Private sector experience welcome provided candidates have strong background in fund accounting. Starting salary: $145,000 +/- DOQ, plus excellent benefits, negotiable, dependent on qualifications and experience. Residency not required. Apply with résumé, by April 20, 2008.

Glenview’s Protests Push P.O. to Northbrook

After months of protest by phone, mail and e-mail, village residents and leaders report victory in their fight to keep the U.S. Postal Service from building a second mail processing center here. The need arose when Winnetka announced it would not renew the lease on the downtown post office in that community – a center for distribution of mail to Northfield and Winnetka.

The postal service then began a search for alternative locations, including one on Chestnut Avenue west of Waukegan Road. Already under pressure for considering the General Board’s office complex on Chestnut, village officials freaked.

“The village has been working around the clock to persuade the USPS to find an alternative site outside of Glenview,” writes spokesperson Janet Spector Bishop. Fortunately, she continued, the village had received a letter from the USPS indicating it was considering a site in Northbrook — near Shermer and Old Willow.

Editor’s note: Before they hang up the “Mission Acomplished” banner, local officials would do well to consult a map. The location now being considered is technically Northbrook, but it might as well be northwest Glenview, as it’s likely to impact traffic on a main north-south access route to The Glen – Shermer Road.

Village Objects to Post Office Plans

Village officials are miffed over postal service plans to open a mail processing facility at a vacant industrial site on Chestnut Avenue in Glenview, despite complaints about traffic congestion in the area. The search for a new location comes after Winnetka announced it would not renew a lease on a downtown site in that community one year from now.

The postal service is looking for a place to park 40 mail trucks while sorting and storing mail for Winnetka and Northfield. In addition to the 1879 Chestnut Avenue location, officials are considering three other options in Glenview – a former car dealership site at 2100 Waukegan Road, and facilities on Johns Drive and Johns Court.

Village Hall hired a commercial real estate broker to look for other possible locations, and Village President Cummings has suggested the operation should be located in Winnetka. She proposed forcing residents of that community to pick-up their mail elsewhere if they’re unwilling to allow postal operations in town. “That would be a huge leverage to get Winnetka’s attention to help them solve their own problem,” she told the Glenview Announcements.

The postal service had considered expanding operations at The Glen, but village officials refused permission. Because the other sites are zoned for industrial uses, the village could not refuse to allow mail sorting and storage.

Also Collecting Consulting Fees

Glenview will pay a Chicago-area firm, Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers, up to $77,000 to operate its water systems for the next three months and let us know what could be done better. The village has historically hired people to do the job, but it’s considering full or partial outsourcing. Glenview water companies supply about 90,000 residents of Prospect Heights, Maine Township and the village. Several high-level staffers have recently retired or left to take new jobs, so Deputy Village Manager Chris Clark wanted to get an assessment of how Glenview manages its water systems before hiring any new personnel. “We look at this as an opportunity. We’ve got a complex system, and there are many ways to do business. There’s always room to learn,” he told the trustees. Earlier, the village called in consultants to assess how Glenview was managing IT services and its fleet of vehicles.

Village May Hike Parking Fees and Charge for Emergency Medical Service

 

The trustees will hold a special workshop  at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 21 to consider an increase in commuter parking fees.  Residents now pay $300 a year, but a consultant hired to analyze lot maintenance costs says Village Hall should be charging $500 if it wants to break even.   Among other things, Glenview must pay a share of parking revenue — $900,000 a year — to Metra.  The village also covers the costs of maintaining daily pay machines that often break.  Officials would like to replace them, and that would cost an estimated $150,000.  Finally, Glenview acquired land at 1148 Depot Street, intending to use it for commuter parking, but there’s no money to demolish the existing building and pave the lot.  The price tag for that project:  $50,000.

Strapped for cash, the board may also begin collecting fees for ambulance service from residents who have Medicare, Medicaid or insurance coverage.  The fire department spends just over $3 million per year on emergency medical care — $890 on average to transport patients to area hospitals.  “Most communities use EMS billing to support a portion of the cost of the service,” says a staff report to the trustees.  “There are no studies showing that ambulance fees negatively affect an individual’s decision to call 911 when needed.” 

Coulson on New State Panel for Kids

Lawmakers in Springfield have agreed to address fundamental inequalities that children in Illinois face. Some are born to wealthy families with plenty of resources. Others are dirt poor, so state government will establish savings accounts to try and level the field. Glenview’s State Representative Elizabeth Coulson has been appointed to the newly-formed Illinois Children’s Savings Account Task Force, a group set up to implement the program.

Coulson said the accounts will allow more kids to attend college. “Higher education is increasingly important to a person’s ability to succeed in today’s job market,” Coulson said. 

The task force will hold four public hearings to seek input from Illinois families, schools, and financial service providers, among others and will report findings no later than September 1, 2008.

Storm Aid Blows In

After months of waiting, Village Hall finally got some good news from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA will send $1.1 million to help reimburse Glenview for the costs of cleaning up after heavy storms and flooding in August. The village spent more than $1.46 million on that effort.