Schafer named new Spencer village administrator

By Valorie Brecht After nearly nine years as deputy clerk-treasurer, Deb Schafer is already well familiar with the ins and outs of Spencer government as she steps into the role of village administrator/clerk-treasurer. Schafer took over the position vacated by Paul Hensch, who had his last day on the job on Friday. Hensch plans to move to Milton (a city of about 5,700 northeast of Janesville) to serve as the city administrator there.

When the village administrator position was posted several weeks ago, Schafer initially did not plan to apply, as she plans to retire in a few years, anyway. However, she had several people reach out and ask her if she was going to apply.

“I also knew the workflow and am involved with a lot of projects for the village. If something happened with Paul or he went on vacation, I was already used to stepping in and taking on those responsibilities until he got back.

“So, I have experience, and I have developed relationships with a lot of the residents as well. So I said, ‘OK, I’ll try.’”

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Deb Schafer Schafer,

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The village board approved Schafer as the village administrator/ clerk-treasurer at its meeting Nov. 13. Village trustee Bill Hoes said the board was glad to hire Schafer since she already had so much experience.

“We would rather hire in-house when we have a qualifi ed applicant already sitting there,” he said. In the coming weeks, the village will look for someone to fill the deputy clerk-treasurer role.

Schafer anticipated taking on a greater degree of leadership in her new position.

“Right now, I do a lot of processing financial things like payroll, accounts receivable and invoices. So I keep track of all that type of work, but then now it’ll be working with public works, and planning projects going on in the community.

“I’ll also do more of putting together documents and meeting agendas, and making decisions with the board. The board makes the decisions, but I’ll put the information before them.”

She will also be in charge of elections for the villlage. She is excited to continue to work to improve the community for the benefit of all.

“My goal is to work together as a team to make Spencer a great place to be. I’m looking forward to working with the board,” she said.

Besides her job, Schafer stays busy serving as the Spencerama coordinator, something she’s done since 2017. She also helps plan the summer Music in the Park series. In addition, she enjoys being involved at her church, camping, gardening, biking and spending time with her nine grandchildren.