River Forest Meeting Roundup: Board Welcomes Cotter

Missed Monday's River Forest Village Board meeting? Patch has the recap.

Zoning Requests Approved: The brief meeting began with the village board unanimously approving two Zoning Board of Appeals variation requests, one in the 1400 block of William Street, the other in the 200 block of Lathrop Avenue.

Financial Positions Consolidated, Created: An ordinance eliminates the titles of village comptroller and village treasurer and rolls it into one position, finance director. Currently, that position is held by Joan Rock. 

Trustees also shored up another measure of "administrative housekeeping" by voting on language changes making the responsibilities of "budget officer" the domain of village administrator Eric Palm. 

It's been that way since 1982, but changes to River Forest's budget policies warranted tweaks to the existing ordinance's language. 

Welcome Cotter: Phil Cotter was approved to take over the Public Works Director position from Greg Kramer, who retired last April. Cotter has served as the department's interim director. His new gig comes with a salary of $100,000 a year.

To help pay the salary, the board agreed to cut the assistant director of public works position and create an internship program. Both measures are expected to save an estimated $130,000 in two years, officials said.

New Investment Firm in the Mix: Trustees approved the investment of village funds using PMA Financial, Inc. The move gives River Forest the option to use PMA's services, such as financial planning and cash flow analysis.