Latest news with #AlexAlexandrou
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Aurora Chief Management Officer Alex Alexandrou to retire
After working at the city of Aurora under four different mayors, Chief Management Officer Alex Alexandrou is heading to retirement. Alexandrou, who is in his 25th year of working at the city and 34th year in the public sector, will serve out his last day working at the city on May 13. That's the day Mayor-elect John Laesch, alongside newly-elected and reelected members of the Aurora City Council, are set to be sworn into office. 'I think it's time,' he said when asked why he is retiring. 'I've been doing this a long time.' The job can be 'quite a pressure cooker at times,' he said, which 'casual observers of local government may not understand.' His current job, which has basically been to be the city's manager, has been a 24/7 position, he said. It's the relationships, both with other city staffers and with colleagues in other communities, that Alexandrou said he will miss most about working at the city of Aurora. The city has been fortunate to be part of the Illinois Municipal League and the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference, which has 'done a lot of great work together as a group effort,' he said. But Alexandrou will also miss the 'certain energy and adrenaline' when responding to a crisis or when a task needs to be done quickly, he said. That's because he is still a risk manager at heart, he said, which is the job he was first hired for at the city of Aurora. It was former Mayor David Stover who hired Alexandrou as the city's first-ever risk manager, and he also asked Alexandrou to be the interim human resources director in the last 18 months of his administration. Alexandrou was then formally appointed to lead the human resources department under former Mayor Tom Weisner, who was elected after Stover. The city went through a significant reorganization because of the 2008 recession, Alexandrou said, and so he ended up as the head of the city's administrative services department. He served in that position, managing city operations like HR, the city clerk, IT and more, until he was given his current job as chief management officer by Mayor Richard Irvin in 2017. 'I'm eternally grateful to all the mayors I've worked for,' Alexandrou said. At an event honoring outgoing Mayor Irvin and many from the mayor's office on Tuesday night, Irvin said that without Alexandrou, his big ideas would have been nothing but words on a piece of paper. 'There's people that you meet in your life that are just extraordinary, that are outstanding, and you realize that without that person, it wouldn't have looked the way that it looks now,' Irvin said. Alexandrou told The Beacon-News that he has helped to do 'really transformative things' because Irvin gave him the opportunity. Some of those things, which he saw from idea to execution, include the transformation of the Fox Valley Mall, the redevelopment of the old Copley Hospital into Bloomhaven and the redevelopment of downtown anchored by the Paramount Theatre, he said. He is proud to have played a part in changing the reputation of Aurora, he said. Another thing Alexandrou said he is proud of is how the city 'weathered so many different storms,' such as the deadly mass shooting at Henry Pratt in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest. Chuck Nelson, who served under Irvin as his previous deputy mayor and under Weisner as his chief of staff, said that Alexandrou is an 'aggressive learner' with strong leadership, organizational and communication skills. 'There are so many things that define Alex,' Nelson said. 'He's good to have in your corner because he's a problem- solver.' None of it, Alexandrou said, was done alone. He has been proud to work with the city's 'tremendous team' and 'very talented professionals,' many of whom he sees as good friends, he said. While his job involved supporting the mayor and making sure the city was aligned on important things like public safety, economic development and education, it was also about delivering the city's 'bread and butter services' to residents, according to Alexandrou. He said those are things people may take for granted, such as 911 services, EMS, police, drinking water and city-run parks. 'All that takes constant attention,' he said, 'and that's not counting the unexpected that may happen every day.' Alexandrou said he is proud of all the city departments, and specifically called out the police, fire and public works departments. The administration pushed them hard, and they deserve all the credit and compensation they get, he said. When it comes to dealing with a crisis, Alexandrou said none do it better than the city's team, and that includes the Aurora Police Department, Aurora Fire Department and Emergency Management Agency. 'Sometimes you have to be over-prepared, because it's not a question of if, but when,' he said. As for what's next, Alexandrou doesn't yet know, he told The Beacon-News. First, he's going to take some 'well-deserved time off' this summer, he said, and then start looking, but he's 'not in a particular hurry' 'We've been through a lot the last four years, so I'm looking forward to spending some time with family,' he said. rsmith@
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Aurora Chief Management Officer Alex Alexandrou to retire
After working at the city of Aurora under four different mayors, Chief Management Officer Alex Alexandrou is heading to retirement. Alexandrou, who is in his 25th year of working at the city and 34th year in the public sector, will serve out his last day working at the city on May 13. That's the day Mayor-elect John Laesch, alongside newly-elected and reelected members of the Aurora City Council, are set to be sworn into office. 'I think it's time,' he said when asked why he is retiring. 'I've been doing this a long time.' The job can be 'quite a pressure cooker at times,' he said, which 'casual observers of local government may not understand.' His current job, which has basically been to be the city's manager, has been a 24/7 position, he said. It's the relationships, both with other city staffers and with colleagues in other communities, that Alexandrou said he will miss most about working at the city of Aurora. The city has been fortunate to be part of the Illinois Municipal League and the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference, which has 'done a lot of great work together as a group effort,' he said. But Alexandrou will also miss the 'certain energy and adrenaline' when responding to a crisis or when a task needs to be done quickly, he said. That's because he is still a risk manager at heart, he said, which is the job he was first hired for at the city of Aurora. It was former Mayor David Stover who hired Alexandrou as the city's first-ever risk manager, and he also asked Alexandrou to be the interim human resources director in the last 18 months of his administration. Alexandrou was then formally appointed to lead the human resources department under former Mayor Tom Weisner, who was elected after Stover. The city went through a significant reorganization because of the 2008 recession, Alexandrou said, and so he ended up as the head of the city's administrative services department. He served in that position, managing city operations like HR, the city clerk, IT and more, until he was given his current job as chief management officer by Mayor Richard Irvin in 2017. 'I'm eternally grateful to all the mayors I've worked for,' Alexandrou said. At an event honoring outgoing Mayor Irvin and many from the mayor's office on Tuesday night, Irvin said that without Alexandrou, his big ideas would have been nothing but words on a piece of paper. 'There's people that you meet in your life that are just extraordinary, that are outstanding, and you realize that without that person, it wouldn't have looked the way that it looks now,' Irvin said. Alexandrou told The Beacon-News that he has helped to do 'really transformative things' because Irvin gave him the opportunity. Some of those things, which he saw from idea to execution, include the transformation of the Fox Valley Mall, the redevelopment of the old Copley Hospital into Bloomhaven and the redevelopment of downtown anchored by the Paramount Theatre, he said. He is proud to have played a part in changing the reputation of Aurora, he said. Another thing Alexandrou said he is proud of is how the city 'weathered so many different storms,' such as the deadly mass shooting at Henry Pratt in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest. Chuck Nelson, who served under Irvin as his previous deputy mayor and under Weisner as his chief of staff, said that Alexandrou is an 'aggressive learner' with strong leadership, organizational and communication skills. 'There are so many things that define Alex,' Nelson said. 'He's good to have in your corner because he's a problem- solver.' None of it, Alexandrou said, was done alone. He has been proud to work with the city's 'tremendous team' and 'very talented professionals,' many of whom he sees as good friends, he said. While his job involved supporting the mayor and making sure the city was aligned on important things like public safety, economic development and education, it was also about delivering the city's 'bread and butter services' to residents, according to Alexandrou. He said those are things people may take for granted, such as 911 services, EMS, police, drinking water and city-run parks. 'All that takes constant attention,' he said, 'and that's not counting the unexpected that may happen every day.' Alexandrou said he is proud of all the city departments, and specifically called out the police, fire and public works departments. The administration pushed them hard, and they deserve all the credit and compensation they get, he said. When it comes to dealing with a crisis, Alexandrou said none do it better than the city's team, and that includes the Aurora Police Department, Aurora Fire Department and Emergency Management Agency. 'Sometimes you have to be over-prepared, because it's not a question of if, but when,' he said. As for what's next, Alexandrou doesn't yet know, he told The Beacon-News. First, he's going to take some 'well-deserved time off' this summer, he said, and then start looking, but he's 'not in a particular hurry' 'We've been through a lot the last four years, so I'm looking forward to spending some time with family,' he said. rsmith@
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New study to consider staffing levels at Aurora Police Department
A new study set to begin soon will take a look at both the number of employees the Aurora Police Department needs and where those employees are needed most. The Aurora City Council on Tuesday night approved an agreement with Matrix Consulting Group to complete the Aurora Police Department Staffing and Strategic Planning Study at a price of around $134,000 plus a 5% contingency. The resolution was passed as a part of the meeting's consent agenda, which is typically used for routine or non-controversial items that are all approved with one vote and without discussion instead of needing to vote on and talk about each individual item. The item was discussed at a meeting of the Aurora City Council's Finance Committee on Jan. 30, where Aurora Chief Management Officer Alex Alexandrou told committee members that the planning study would be the first of its kind in the department's history. The Aurora Police Department has been looking at its own staffing needs for the past couple years, and through formal and informal surveys, police officials have heard by 'overwhelming feedback' that people want more police officers and more officers in neighborhoods, according to Aurora Police Lt. Bill Rowley. While police departments are recommended to determine staffing levels based on their city's population, the Aurora Police Department wants the Staffing and Strategic Planning Study to use a more 'strategic, analytical and community-level approach to Aurora's needs,' according to a staff report included with Tuesday's City Council meeting agenda. Matrix Consulting Group will do a 'multitask analysis' of the Aurora Police Department to figure out how many employees the Aurora Police Department should have as well as the most efficient and impactful way to use those employees, Rowley told the Finance Committee on Jan. 30. The multitask approach will begin with a look at the current state of the Aurora Police Department and the city itself, according to Rowley. He said that, during this stage, Matrix Consulting will gather input from city leaders and others to get a 'holistic' view of the city and its public safety needs, particularly as they relate to the police department. The company will also look for community and employee input through surveys and community meetings before putting all this initial information together into an overview of the Aurora Police Department, Rowley said. From there, Matrix Consulting will compare the Aurora Police Department to nearby law enforcement agencies and to nationally-recognized best practices, he said. The survey will also take a look at Aurora Police Department employees' workloads, which along with the department's current staffing levels will show how many employees the department actually needs rather than just relying on city population data, according to Rowley. He said this analysis will also include what time of day and what days of the week staffing needs are the greatest, among other things. The Aurora Police Department currently splits its efforts among different beats, which similar to Aurora City Council wards divide up the city based on geography and police calls, and these will also be considered under the study to see if changes need to be made, Rowley said. The study will look beyond the department's current needs to also consider what will happen if the city's population grows to 250,000 when the city's southeast, southwest and far west sides are all built out, according to Alexandrou. 'We really want to make this as robust and predictive for us as possible,' he said. The study should take around five months to complete and will be available to both the Aurora City Council and others in the community, Rowley said. rsmith@
Chicago Tribune
13-02-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
New study to consider staffing levels at Aurora Police Department
A new study set to begin soon will take a look at both the number of employees the Aurora Police Department needs and where those employees are needed most. The Aurora City Council on Tuesday night approved an agreement with Matrix Consulting Group to complete the Aurora Police Department Staffing and Strategic Planning Study at a price of around $134,000 plus a 5% contingency. The resolution was passed as a part of the meeting's consent agenda, which is typically used for routine or non-controversial items that are all approved with one vote and without discussion instead of needing to vote on and talk about each individual item. The item was discussed at a meeting of the Aurora City Council's Finance Committee on Jan. 30, where Aurora Chief Management Officer Alex Alexandrou told committee members that the planning study would be the first of its kind in the department's history. The Aurora Police Department has been looking at its own staffing needs for the past couple years, and through formal and informal surveys, police officials have heard by 'overwhelming feedback' that people want more police officers and more officers in neighborhoods, according to Aurora Police Lt. Bill Rowley. While police departments are recommended to determine staffing levels based on their city's population, the Aurora Police Department wants the Staffing and Strategic Planning Study to use a more 'strategic, analytical and community-level approach to Aurora's needs,' according to a staff report included with Tuesday's City Council meeting agenda. Matrix Consulting Group will do a 'multitask analysis' of the Aurora Police Department to figure out how many employees the Aurora Police Department should have as well as the most efficient and impactful way to use those employees, Rowley told the Finance Committee on Jan. 30. The multitask approach will begin with a look at the current state of the Aurora Police Department and the city itself, according to Rowley. He said that, during this stage, Matrix Consulting will gather input from city leaders and others to get a 'holistic' view of the city and its public safety needs, particularly as they relate to the police department. The company will also look for community and employee input through surveys and community meetings before putting all this initial information together into an overview of the Aurora Police Department, Rowley said. From there, Matrix Consulting will compare the Aurora Police Department to nearby law enforcement agencies and to nationally-recognized best practices, he said. The survey will also take a look at Aurora Police Department employees' workloads, which along with the department's current staffing levels will show how many employees the department actually needs rather than just relying on city population data, according to Rowley. He said this analysis will also include what time of day and what days of the week staffing needs are the greatest, among other things. The Aurora Police Department currently splits its efforts among different beats, which similar to Aurora City Council wards divide up the city based on geography and police calls, and these will also be considered under the study to see if changes need to be made, Rowley said. The study will look beyond the department's current needs to also consider what will happen if the city's population grows to 250,000 when the city's southeast, southwest and far west sides are all built out, according to Alexandrou. 'We really want to make this as robust and predictive for us as possible,' he said. The study should take around five months to complete and will be available to both the Aurora City Council and others in the community, Rowley said.
