The city of Yorkville is looking to bring on a full-time assistant city administrator on a temporary basis.
City Administrator Bart Olson told the Yorkville City Council Tuesday night that the new position is needed.
“I’ve looked at it as just in general—my workload, the amount of projects that we’re getting ready to do—as something that we can use,” he said. “(We need) somebody with a particular set of skills to help start some of these projects and finish them within a year and then also to utilize any extra skills the person has.”
The position would have a $95,000 annual salary.
The opportunity is not viewed as a long-term commitment at this time, he said.
“Just for whatever it’s worth, I’ve always thought internally if we ever had a permanent assistant city administrator, that I would want to do a full national search for it,” Olson said. That would be something I would advertise.”
Alderman Chris Funkhouser said the city hadn’t talked about adding this job in previous budget talks, and that’s a reason to be concerned.
“I know that we’re in the process of discussing what we want (and) what staff wants,” he said. “We talked about police officers, public works, community development staff. We talked extensively about economic development. Now, we’re considering a full-time assistant administrator.”
Funkhouser said the idea doesn’t rest well with him. He said nearby Oswego utilizes a part-time employee who doubles as an assistant to the village administrator and a human resources director. He said that position is different from what Olson is describing, mainly because that’s a split capacity job.
To date, the city has budgeted for a part-time internship in the administration office.
“I’m just kind of looking here at $95,000 a year,” Funkhouser said. “That’s a pretty expensive position. The fact that you didn’t bring it up during our budget discussion concerns me.”
Ultimately, the City Council moved to approve the new job in a 7-1 vote. Funkhouser cast the lone dissenting vote.
The City of Yorkville is looking to fill the position immediately. For more information, interested applicants should contact the administration office at 630-553-4350.