La Grange officials have decided to take a new approach to the village finance department.
Instead of having a village employee providing the services, the Village Board hired Lauterbach and Amen for client accounting and advisory services at its meeting June 22.
“We’re looking for a relatively long-term relationship with Lauterbach and Amen on our finance department,” village President Mark Kuchler said. “We didn’t do it to save money. We did it to make the department more professionalized, to make sure that we’re doing everything that we should and doing it best in class. That was the idea.”
The in-house position of finance director had been open since Suzy Mika left the village in May 2025 to take the same position with Villa Park. Her role had been filled on a temporary basis by Annmarie Mampe, who works for MGT Impact Solutions, a Florida-based firm specializing in staffing local government positions.
But village officials had always maintained they were committed to finding a permanent finance director until deciding to outsource the operation.
La Grange issued a request for proposals for the contract in April, and Kuchler, village manager Jack Knight and deputy village manager Charity Jones, interviewed various candidates before deciding on Lauterbach and Amen.
Lauterbach and Amen’s contract runs from July 1 through 2028.
The monthly cost to the Village will be $17,500 the first year, $18,250 the second, and $19,000 in the contract’s final year.
The agreement specifies that all employees provided to the village are Lauterbach and Amen employees, and that the firm is responsible for paying their salaries, taxes and benefits.
That includes Kathleen Morley, who will serve as the finance director. Morley has 35 years of accounting and financial management experience, and has worked for the Villages of Northfield and Kenilworth. The assistant finance director will be Joanna Katterman, who has an accounting background and served the villages of Indian Head Park, Willowbrook and Orland Park.
Residents had questions about the move.
John Pluto wanted to know if the village would have to pay for a search firm if either one of the Lauterbach and Amen employees leave.
“If one of them takes a leave of absence or leaves Lauterbach and Amen, the nice thing about having an accounting firm is they have a deep bench,” Kuchler said. “They will then supply someone else.”
Kuchler added that the arrangement with Lauterbach and Amen would enlist their services in other, larger projects that require more than two people.
“We expect it will either save money or be revenue neutral as to what a finance director would have cost, including all the benefits and things like that,” he said.
Al Forman was concerned about village oversight of the company.
“I must stress one word tonight: that’s oversight, every outsourcing agreement requires strict oversight process to guarantee value. Who will ask the hard questions … and verify our savings?” he said.
The next La Grange Village Board meeting will be 7:30 p.m., Monday, July 13 at the La Grange Village Hall, 53 S. La Grange Rd.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
