West Cook News

The Burr Ridge village board recently discussed the creation of a new administrative position in the Village to help handle special events.

During a Dec. 12 meeting, the board discussed the creation of a Special Projects Manager in the Administration Department of the Village. Village Trustee Russell Smith had a lot of hesitation about the creation of the position because they are in the middle of a fiscal year and have already done reevaluation this year. He was concerned about paying another head in the City and wanted to wait until the planning session for next year’s budget.

Village administrator Evan Walter explained that the position was desperately needed in the Administration Department because they have a very small department, essentially three people, who had to deal with everything in the city and were overwhelmed with special events among everything else. He said he had multiple employees under him who were working more than 40 hours a week but could not qualify to receive overtime and so were working unpaid hours.

"The reason for the timing is because our department handles special events," Walter said in the meeting. "Those planning discussions need to happen now if we're going to have people who change jobs, which would ultimately happen if this were to go through. We can't have those things taking place in March or April because it would be effectively too late at that point. On the Ridge is scheduled for the first week of May. Armed Forces Days is covered for the third week of May. We have 12 concerts on tap, three special features, car show, Taste of Brainteaser at the end of the summer, but you're actively seeking to add new events and new partnerships to our calendar at all times. We had a lot of success with that tonight, and we want to continue to see those going forward per results of the board direction as well as the community survey, which we just reviewed."

Trustee Anita Mital agreed with Walter, saying that the current team was very well oiled and worked together very well but simply did not have enough manpower to take it to the next level that has been planned since the end of the pandemic. Revenues are up across the board, so there will be enough money to fund the position without impact.

Following the discussion, the board voted to pass the motion and create the position.