Embattled village clerk resigns

Trustee had asked her to step down in December

By Gail Peckler-Dziki
Correspondent

The Silver Lake Village Board unanimously approved a separation agreement with Village Clerk-Treasurer Terry Faber after a closed session held Feb. 17.

Board member Carolyn Dodge was absent from the meeting.

Faber was appointed clerk and treasurer 11 years ago.

Faber was present at the board meeting, which started at 7 p.m. When the closed session to discuss her separation from the village began, she left the building.

This process began late last year when village Trustee Pat Dunn sent Faber a letter requesting that she resign.

It appears the precipitating event was the discovery of a lack of sewer budget for 2015 and what some board members viewed as an unsatisfactory answer Faber gave the board when questioned about the matter.

Dunn wrote in his letter, dated Dec. 17, “Your actions and comments at last night’s Village Board meeting were rude, unprofessional and uncalled for. Your job is not to ‘babysit the Village Board,’ but to make sure that ALL budgets are completed in a timely manner and presents (sic) to the board for approval. The budgets in question last night should have been completed and voted on in January of 2015 before the current board took office.”

The letter continued, “You failed to do your job to bring those budgets to the board. When you did bring them to the board one had to be tabled because there were so many glaring mistakes. The auditor reports for the last four years have said that you are incompetent at doing your job.”

Also mentioned by Dunn in his letter were complaints from various village residents and agents of other governmental agencies and an item in the village auditor’s report that stated that there was no one in the office who was qualified to make proper journal accounting entries.

When Faber refused to resign, Dunn requested that an item regarding her separation be put on the agenda at that time.

Faber will remain in he clerk/treasurer position until March 4. Village President Bruce Nopenz said the village would begin looking for a replacement and stated, “This is a small village and there are two full-time people left in the Village Hall. This way we will spend taxpayer dollars more effectively.”

See the Feb. 26 print edition of the Westosha Report for the full story


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