Antioch to contract short-term public-works consultant as 'assistant director' while staffing evaluated

The Village Administrator proposed hiring a senior-level public-works consulting resource included in the FY27 budget to provide capacity and help evaluate long-term staffing needs in the public works and engineering department.

Administrator (S6) said the twofold purpose is to add resource capacity while also serving as a management tool to help the administrator understand operations and staffing needs: "This allows us to bring in a specialized senior level, expert on a temporary basis while we evaluate the long term staffing needs of the department." He said the individual would effectively function as an assistant director of public works for the next 8 to 9 months, reporting formally to the administrator while working alongside Dennis (the current operations lead).

Trustee Tracy Pierce asked whether the contract effectively duplicates the village engineer role or if it would relieve Dennis of engineering review tasks. Administrator (S6) replied that the consultant would be broader than a consulting engineer, could provide efficiencies on reviews and could be the basis for recommending a future full-time position after the evaluation period.

Trustees expressed support for moving the item forward and asked staff to clarify roles and reporting lines in the contract documents.