Village Posting for New Clerk, Bond Rating Safe For Now

Mount Pleasant trustees Monday night unanimously approved appointing Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Sue Stearns as the Interim Clerk/Treasurer until a more permanent replacement can be found.

Former Clerk/Treasurer Veronica Rudychev resigned earlier this month citing harrassment and retaliation. Though Stearns had stepped up to take over many of Rudychev's duties, she was formally appointed after the new board - including newly elected President Mark Gleason - was sworn into office.

Interim Administrator Tim Zarzecki asked the board for some direction in filling the position. First, the village will post the position internally for five days, according to ordinance. If there aren't any applicants or a satisfactory candidate is not identified, then the position will be posted for external candidates to apply.

"I want to commend Sue for stepping up and doing a great job," new Trustee Dave DeGroot commented.

There was some discussion over whether or not the clerk is a member of the management team. Zarzecki noted that language was included in the posting that brought Rudychev to Mount Pleasant because there wasn't even an interim administrator in place then.

Trustees discussed it briefly, and it was agreed the job description would read that the clerk reports to the administrator at the direction of the board.

In other village board meeting news, Zarzecki announced that Moody's has not lowered the village's bond rating even though the 2011 audit was approved and accepted a few weeks ago. Mount Pleasant will remain at a AA2 rating, which is the third highest allowed.

The 2012 audit is expected to complete sometime this spring or early summer. Whether or not the village's bond rating will change will mostly depend on cash reserves, which have been severely depleted, in part, because of overtime overruns in the South Shore Fire Department.