Trustees discuss hiring a part‑time mower for street department; hours and pay still unsettled

Trustee Broccardo reopened discussion on hiring a part‑time employee for the street department to handle seasonal mowing, emphasizing the need to set clear parameters for pay and hours.

"Hiring a part time street department mowing is something I brought up...if we got the money to do it go head and set out there now the parameters of what we’re going to pay and what they got to do," Broccardo said, urging the board to decide whether to proceed this year. Trustees debated whether the position should be capped at 1,000 hours to keep it within the village's part‑time classification and avoid IMRF obligations, with proposals to limit seasonal work to April–October and to about 19–40 hours a week at peak.

Trustee Nelson said the board is generally supportive but asked the street department and finance committee to recommend a concrete rate and schedule. "I firmly believe everybody in the room is on board with hiring somebody at a part time...we just need to do is try to find out what we feel like is comfortable that we can afford to pay and by the end of the month have something in place," Nelson said.

Trustees also discussed alternatives to hiring a single employee, including contracting mowing to local lawn services and splitting the work among vendors; one concern raised was that a $19/hour contractor over 1,000 hours would approach a $19,000 annual contract. No formal motion to hire or to award a contract was made during the meeting; trustees asked the finance committee and street department to return recommended parameters and an advertised rate for applications.

Next steps: trustees asked staff and the finance committee to draft specific pay and hour recommendations and to prepare an advertisement so applicants can be reviewed before the start of the season.