Ortonville- During a special meeting Monday night, the village council voted 4-3 to replace the recently vacated full-time clerk/treasurer position with two part-time positions.
The council also eliminated the current part-time deputy clerk/treasurer position held by Teresa Karsney, although Karsney will continue to be employed by the village. In a separate motion, the village voted unanimously to pay Karsney a weekly bonus of $160 on top of her current wages, retroactive to Oct. 22. She will continue to receive that bonus until new staff is in place or Dec. 22, whichever comes first. Former Clerk/Treasurer Mary Clark resigned on Nov. 5 after an investigation and audit by Lewis & Knopf revealed inadequacies in her accounting practices, including checks that were not taken care of in a timely manner.
Ken Quisenberry suggested the two part-time positions to replace Clark’s duties.
‘In terms of restructuring, I wanted us to have more flexibility to add or change as we go along,? he said. ‘It leaves a lot of options open. If we had just replaced the full-time position, we’d be where we were before, unflexible.?
Council Trustees Harold Batten, Kay Green and Mary Kassuba voted no to creating two part-time positions to replace the full-time one.