Bill Kreeb to lead Belleville Township transition group

The Belleville Township Transition Task Force on Wednesday voted to name Bill Kreeb as chairman of the group called to give recommendations to the City Council on how the city should take over the township’s duties.

Kreeb recently retired as president and CEO of the Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House, which helps poor and homeless people in the East St. Louis area.

Kreeb said the task force’s goal will be “to come with some recommendations that we’ll provide to the City Council as to the best way to transition the township duties to the city of Belleville and we hope to do that within the next three months because we understand they’ll be voting on a tax levy in December.”

Earlier this year, the township board and city aldermen passed ordinances calling for the dissolution of the township and for the city to assume the township’s duties next May.

The township is tasked with giving assistance to needy individuals, who can receive up to $245 a month in aid.

City Clerk Dallas Cook, who also serves as the township clerk, told the task force members he would send them his report about his suggestions for the transition. He recommends the city hire a part-time employee to handle the township’s duties of giving aid to needy individuals. After six months, he would review whether the part-time employee is adequate or if a full-time employee is needed.

The township currently has two full-time employees.

Township Trustee Joy Schreiber told the task force she prepared a 38-page report regarding the transition. Her cover page raises questions for the task force members to consider, including:

Which city department should a caseworker position be created? What is the manpower required for giving general assistance to poor and indigent residents? Who will cover this position when the caseworker has a day off?

Schreiber also told the task force to contact Evanston city officials who recently took over the Evanston Township’s duties. Cook said the Evanston city administrator is expected to send Belleville a report on how the city assumed the township’s responsibilities.

Task force members discussed whether to hire an intern from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville to help the city assume the township’s duties but decided not to pursue that because on Tuesday the Belleville Township board rejected a plan to pay for half of the intern’s salary of about $11,000.

Kreeb and other board members talked about the possibility of finding a college student who would volunteer as an intern to help with the transition.

On Tuesday, Cook criticized the proposal to spend $11,000 to hire an intern because he and his assistant have put in “countless hours” of research into the transition issue. Mayor Mark Eckert said the candidate being considered is a graduate student who is studying community development and human resources and “would be a great person” to help the city.

This story was originally published July 20, 2016 at 2:12 PM with the headline "Bill Kreeb to lead Belleville Township transition group."