Western Springs Manager Retiring

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL — The manager of Western Springs is set to announce her retirement Monday after four years at the helm.

On Friday, the Village Board released its meeting agenda for Monday. The document indicated that Village Manager Ingrid Velkme was retiring.

After a closed meeting Monday, the board is expected to vote on appointing Deputy Village Manager Casey Biernacki as the acting village manager, effective at 5 p.m. Friday.

Velkme assumed the manager's job upon the retirement of the village's longtime manager, Patrick Higgins, in 2017.

Velkme started with the village government in 1987, left in 1991 and returned in 2000.

Last week, the Village Board had scheduled a closed session on personnel issues, likely about Velkme's position. Then that session was canceled.

In 2017, the selection of a village manager was a closed process. At a June meeting, Higgins publicly announced his retirement, effective two months later.

Then Village President Alice Gallagher, who took office about a month before, said Higgins' retirement was discussed in closed session a week earlier. In that same session, she said, Velkme was interviewed for the position. At the time, Velkme was the deputy village manager and director of administrative services.

At the meeting, Gallagher praised Velkme and detailed her work history. She did not say the board had voted on Velkme as the new manager in closed session. Such a vote behind closed doors would have violated the state Open Meetings Act. But Gallagher indicated the board had settled on her.

She said the board determined a national search for a manager would take too long and be too costly. It would also stop the village's progress in the transition, she said.

At a later meeting, the board approved a contract for Velkme.