McLean County government leaders are signaling their support for keeping Cassy Taylor as county administrator after she has served in the interim role for six months.
The County Board Executive Committee voted 8-0 on Monday on a five-year contract for Taylor to become county administrator. The vote came after a closed session that lasted nearly an hour.
The full county board is scheduled to vote on the contract during its monthly meeting on Thursday.
The county named Taylor, a former assistant county administrator, to the interim post in June after Camille Rodriguez resigned to take a public health job in Colorado.
“We are all very pleased with the stability and the sustainability and the good job she has done,” said County Board Chair John McIntyre. “It’s been an overwhelming task.”
In recent months, Taylor served as the county staff’s point person on its once-per-decade redistricting process and guided the county board through adoption of a $129.1 million annual budget that includes federal pandemic relief.
"The circumstances that we've been dealt with, I don't know if any of us realize in history what has happened here with the pandemic and all the other challenges we have had," said McIntyre, adding no one on the executive committee suggested the county open a search to fill the county’s top administrative post.
“I believe the majority of our board members are happy with the job that she’s done and the accessibility she has displayed and the even-keeled (manner) in going through the decision-making process,” McIntyre said.
If approved, the contract will pay Taylor $150,000 per year. She also would get $10,000 annually in deferred compensation and $7,000 in vehicle reimbursement, according to McIntyre. Rodriquez signed a five-year contract in 2019 for $130,000 per year.
McIntyre said the compensation package for Taylor is comparable with county and municipal government employees in similar-sized counties in Illinois.
Taylor has worked in McLean County government for six years and has worked in county government for more than 20 years.
She declined to comment until after the county board votes on the contract later this week.
Voting equipment
In other business, the executive committee unanimously backed a $975,000 contract with Omaha, Neb.-based Elections Systems & Software (ESS) to replace much of the county’s voting equipment.
Funding will come from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The county board will vote on the contract at its meeting on Thursday.
