Glenwood village president's salary to jump $10K, village clerk's by $8,500

GLENWOOD | The Village Board on Tuesday voted to increase the annual salaries for the positions of village president and village clerk.

"It gives the mayor a total salary of $25,000, which is an increase from $15,000 total," Village President Kerry Durkin said.

The village clerk will see a bump in pay from $1,500 to $10,000.

Neither Durkin nor current Village Clerk Ernestine Dobbins will benefit from the pay increases unless they are victorious in the April election because the increases will not go into effect until after the election.

Dobbins was appointed clerk in December when former Clerk Carmen Hopkins was sworn in to replace Joe Barry as a village trustee.

Durkin on Tuesday said he has reconsidered and will run for a second term as village president. He had announced in August he would not seek re-election.

Trustee Twone Thomas cast the only vote of no for the salary increases. Trustee Terry Campbell was not present for the vote.

"I feel right now, financially, we've been spending too much money and we're in a bind, and I don't know what we're going to look like for next year," Thomas said. "A raise from $1,500 to $10,000, that's quite a bit."

Thomas said village trustees make $6,000 annually.

Hopkins said he believes both raises were justified. He said that having served as village clerk, he knows how time consuming the job can be.

"To me, that's something that should have been done a while ago," Hopkins said.

In other village news:

* The board approved the purchase of a 2003 Vactor 2100 truck in an amount not to exceed $160,000.

Public Works Director Patrick McAneney said the new truck would be used to clean out storm and sanitary sewers.

He said the old truck that will be traded in for $5,000 was not able to vacuum debris from the sewers.

McAneney said it has cost the village from $1,100 to $1,500 daily when an outside contractor has had to be called in to perform the services the new truck will provide.

* The board also approved the purchase of new holiday decorations in an amount not to exceed $16,000.

* The board unanimously approved an ordinance that gives owners just 30 days to purchase a vehicle license sticker for newly acquired vehicles.

Village Administrator Donna Gayden said the ordinance simply makes official what the village has already been enforcing.

"The ordinance read 60 days, but the village has always done 30 days," Gayden said.