Police Chief Gets Pay Bump as Interim Administrator

Mount Pleasant trustees Monday night unanimously approved giving Tim Zarzecki an additional $550 a week for doing double duty as the police chief and the interim administrator.

Zarzecki was appointed interim administrator on Feb. 15. The position has been vacant since May 2011 when the board fired Mike Andreasen. He died unexpectedly on June 1.

Planning Director Ron Meyer has served as the interim administrator on and off since Andreasen's ousting; both as part of a management team with former President Carolyn Milkie and former Clerk Deb Salas and then after being appointed by the board early in 2012 and again after Mark Morien resigned last fall.

Trustee John Hewitt made the motion to approve the weekly stipend that will add to Zarzecki's $91,292 annual salary.

"(Zarzecki will continue) in this capacity until further notice," Hewitt said. "And he will continue until the village board discontinues the assignment."

After the meeting adjourned, Zarzecki said he's settling in to his new role and that his duties as police chief have prepared him for the challenges of learning a new position. Having a good staff certainly helps, he added.

"I can't say enough good things about our staff here," he stated. "They do an outstanding job and keep things going smoothly."

Trustee Karen Albeck called the open-ended appointment "cost effective."

Zarzecki's stipend will come out of the salary trustees budgeted for a full time administrator in the 2013 budget.