Rockford Sun

Village of Rockton Administration Committee met Sept. 30.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Chairman Danielson called the regular meeting of the Administration Committee to order at 5:30 pm. Members present: Mayor Peterson, Scott Danielson, Dave Winters and Justin York

Staff present: Dan Barber, Dan Baumgartner, Sally Bennett, Tricia Diduch, Chief Hollinger and Jodi May

Motion by Mr. Winters, second by Mr. York to waive the reading of and approve the minutes of September 16, 2024. All ayes. Motion approved 3-0.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Maggie Darr, resident of 775 Wingate Place, stated that she has been a Rockton resident for 6 years and has lived in the stateline area for the past 12 years. Ms. Darr said that she is interested in local government and seeing what we’re doing here in the Village.

MAYOR – JOHN PETERSON

Mayor Peterson discussed the Village Administrator position with the Committee. Mayor Peterson said that he obtained a job description for the city of Plano, Illinois and that he really liked the way it read. Mayor Peterson acknowledged that every community has a different need whether its human resources (HR), cybersecurity, job descriptions, budget process, grant writing etc…and that Ms. Diduch spoke to Dawn Peters with the Illinois City/County Management Association (ILCMA) about helping the Village with this process. Ms. Diduch stated that this is what the ILCMA does and that they can assist the Village with this. Mayor Peterson said that he would like outside people to conduct interviews to get this hire right and make sure that it’s a clean process. Mr. Danielson stated that he likes the non-biased approach, but that he’s not sure if this is a short-term or long-tern process. Mr. Danielson said that the Village needs to look at the gaps we have now and add those responsibilities to the job description. Mr. Winters suggested that Ms. Peters should come to the Village and learn the current tasks of staff. Mayor Peterson said that he will reach out to Ms. Peters about this. Ms. Diduch stated that the Village needs to be clear on specific job duties such as HR. Mr. York said that he feels very strongly that this is a two-phase situation and that this person needs to know about information technology (IT), but that this can be something that is learned. Mr. York inquired if the police chief would report to the Village Administrator and Mayor Peterson said that they would work together collaboratively. Mr. York asked how long this process will take and if the Village will have this done in time for the next fiscal year. Mayor Peterson said that he believed the position would be hired by then. Mr. Baumgartner stated that he liked the idea of someone coming in from the outside for the interview process. Ms. May said that she agrees, but that the Village needs to be careful and really think about the position. Ms. May stated that the Village also needs a strategic plan (20-year plan) and see the bigger picture.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT – SCOTT DANIELSON, CHAIRMAN

None.

PUBLIC SAFETY & LEGAL – DAVE WINTERS

None.

ADMINISTRATION – JUSTIN YORK

Mr. York discussed the acceptable use policy (draft) with the Committee. Mr. York stated that he reviewed it and that it looks good, but that the Village would need to provide some type of orientation or training. Mr. Winters said that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has training programs available to do this.

Mr. York also discussed the Village Clerk salary since it needs to be approved by ordinance. Mayor Peterson said that he doesn’t intend on changing the Village Trustee’s or Mayor’s salaries, but that the Village Clerk’s salary needs to be determined. Mayor Peterson proposed that the Village Clerk receive a salary of $22/hour with a 3.5% increase every year after that for three years. Mayor Peterson commented that the Village Clerk receives $50/meeting for the Committee and Village Board meetings and proposed that she receive $100/meeting like the Mayor and Village Trustees receive for the Village Board meeting. Mr. Danielson inquired about meeting pay and the Village Clerk stated that it has been the same for the last 10 years she’s been in office. Mr. Danielson agreed that there needs to be an increase in pay, but suggested $75 instead of $100 for the Village Board meeting. The Committee was okay with this.

Mr. York spoke to the Committee about the Village wide incident response plan (cybersecurity) and stated that Garcea Technologies would charge $15,000 for this. Mr. Winters stated that he thought that CISA could do a lot of this. Mr. York said that he thinks that this is too much money to spend on an incident response plan. Mr. York stated that the Village met with CISA and that we dealt with what we needed to in regards to cybersecurity. Mr. York said that in the future he would like the Village Administrator to be a part of the incident response plan. Mr. York commented that he doesn’t recommend approving this and that he would like to remove this from the Village Board agenda. The Committee was okay with this.

THE CHIEF– MATT HOLLINGER

Chief Hollinger advised the Committee that he will be at DeeDee’s for “Coffee with a Cop” at 7 am on Wednesday morning if anyone is interested in attending.

Chief Holliger stated that the police department will have the written test for the 43 applicants that have applied for the open police officer position.

Chief Hollinger added that on Wednesday, October 23rd that there will be a community forum held at the Roscoe Township Community Center at 5:30 pm. Chief Hollinger said that the police chiefs and fire chiefs from Rockton and Roscoe will be in attendance.

Chief Hollinger stated that he and Deputy Chief Jobst will be attending the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference in Boston October 19th -22nd .

PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATOR – TRICIA DIDUCH

Ms. Diduch stated that she emailed her September activity report to the Committee and that she included presentation information from the Illinois Municipal League (IML) conference with links so that they could be viewed as well.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

None.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS ALLOWED BY LAW

Mayor Peterson advised the Committee that he had a zoom meeting with Richard Barnes, owner of the Red Barn Golf Course, in regards to him possibly building condos/apartments on his property. Mayor Peterson told Mr. Barnes that if he was interested in doing this that there was a process that he would need to go through with the Village for approval.

ADJOURN

Motion by Mr. Winters, second by Mr. York to adjourn at 6:25 pm.

https://rocktonil.gov/vertical/sites/%7B5EFC50B8-A3D6-48DC-ACA0-E05F307CFA0B%7D/uploads/9-30-24_Administration_Minutes.pdf