Big Salary Added To Burr Ridge Budget

Burr Ridge IL

29 November, 2021

1:42 PM

Description

BURR RIDGE, IL — The Burr Ridge Village Board last week decided to add the community development director's position back to the budget. The salary range is $89,000 to $129,000. The community development director's position has gone unfilled for more than four years. In 2017, then-Community Development Director Doug Pollock became village administrator, a position he held until last year. The village had been planning to create a planner's position paying between $60,000 to $65,000. But Village Administrator Evan Walter said the village earlier this year received a lot of feedback that the range was considered too low. In the summer, the village hired a planner, but he left a few weeks later, taking another job in the same field. Many of the best candidates for the planner's position wanted about $85,000. The village, however, did not see enough value in the position to pay that much, Walter said. Since then, though, the village created a downtown business district, enacted a moratorium on new development in downtown and began contemplating a new long-term plan for development, Walter said. This additional work, he said, justifies creating a community development director's position. Trustee Al Paveza was among those supporting the position. "I was doubtful about the addition of such a large salary," he said. "But after going over the major projects that (Walter) could see coming up in the near future, I sort of brought my objection down." Mayor Gary Grasso said the community development director would take "a load" off Walter. "I expressed to him what the board has said publicly about their concern over how thin we were spreading Evan," the mayor said. "As we're getting into the budget cycle, this would be the time to approve a position." The board unanimously voted for it. Trustee Anita Mital was absent, with the mayor saying she was out of town.