There were many accolades when the Lake Forest City Council honored Finance Director Elizabeth Holleb. For one council member, it was Holleb’s ability to take complex municipal finance matters and put them in language easy to comprehend.
“You made this all made sense to me,” said Alderwoman Nancy Novit, 1st at the Jan. 21 City Council meeting. “I can’t imagine anybody stepping into your role and handling it with as much grace and patience.”
After more than 12 years as Lake Forest’s top financial officer, Holleb retired on Jan. 24. She received a Resolution of Appreciation plus many other tributes from many attendees including Illinois Municipal League Chief Executive Officer Brad Cole, Mayor Stanford “Randy” Tack, and City Manager Jason Wicha.
“Elizabeth’s biggest legacy will really just be the impact on our organizational culture. Every operational human resource decision across every department is inherently viewed through a financial lens first and not just viewed with the immediate impacts but with the long term horizon,” Wicha said. “She deserves an enormous of credit for having all of us view these decisions through that lens.”
Since June 2012, Holleb has overseen the city’s finances and its approximate $115 million annual budget with 211 full-time employees. Throughout her tenure, the city has continued receiving a Triple A bond rating and collected other financial awards.
“I’ve very proud we have been able to maintain that through recessionary periods and COVID. I think the solid fiscal management that the city has a history of, has allowed us to maintain that Triple A bond rating,” Holleb said in an interview.
Holleb is closing out the latest chapter of a 35-year career she pursued after taking a government accounting course in college.
“I was looking for a career opportunity that would allow me to be part of public service,” she remembered.
There have been stops in Northbrook, Oak Park and then out west to Las Vegas, Nevada, and SeaTac, Washington. In October 2003, anxious to return to the Midwest, Holleb was named finance director in Highland Park, where her tasks included navigating the city through the 2008 economic collapse.
In June 2012, Holleb decided to move north professionally becoming finance director in Lake Forest.
While the two cities are very close geographically, she noted the revenue sources are different with Highland Park more reliant on sales taxes and Lake Forest overall more dependent on property taxes, which she believes allows for more stability against greater economic forces.
As she analyzes her 12-plus years in Lake Forest, she cites her department’s work on public safety pensions as a top achievement.
“We became more proactive and more aggressive in meeting those funding those obligations and I think that will save Lake Forest taxpayers millions of dollars in the long term,” she said.
In terms of internal triumphs, Holleb points to the implementation of a new computer software system that she believes has led to greater efficiencies and transparency.
She noted city personnel started using the new system shortly before the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the corresponding lockdowns in 2020.
“That was very fortunate for us as an organization because we had already automated so many of our financial processes that we were able to keep up and manage and do work from home remotely with our new financial system,” she said.
Holleb did have some difficult moments over the last 12 ½ years including a report by a special counsel hired to investigate a city lobbying effort where almost $200,000 was spent without formal city council approval.
Holleb was one of several city officials criticized for her actions in the lobbying effort by the special counsel. Now almost seven years later, Holleb said she did nothing wrong but acknowledges it was a difficult period.
“I have always taken great pride in my integrity and conducting my job in the highest ethical standards,” she said. “To have my reputation marred by that event was troubling and difficult to work through. But I don’t think the complete story was ever told and that was probably the hardest thing for me.”
She later added, “I got through it and in the end, I think it helped improve certain processes within the city and so I think that benefitted the organization going forward.”
Also in 2018, Holleb received a cancer diagnosis. She is still heartened by how the staff supported her during her illness.
“Working here help me get around that,” Holleb said, noting she feels a debt of gratitude. “That will be a memory that will stay with me forever.”
As for other parts of her job, Holleb acknowledged an occasional source of frustration is the breakdown of property taxes where the city represents 22 % of the tax bill, with the two local public school districts taking up larger chunks.
“One of the challenges of working in the State of Illinois for a government finance office is we have so many taxing districts that impact the tax levy and yet we have no authority over those other taxing districts that they levy for taxes,” she said.
Holleb said she decided to retire from Lake Forest as she thought she reached a professional crossroads and thought it was a good time for a transition.
However, she will continue working. She has already been named interim finance director in Lincolnwood and is set to be in that community through May. She said she is open to other interim assignments in the future or there could be some teaching.
The city is now looking for a permanent replacement with the search process expected to be complete in March, according to spokeswoman Dana Olson.
In the meantime, Assistant Finance Director Diane Hall will Holleb’s role on an interim basis.
Yet Wicha, the city manager, spoke of the road ahead by whoever is hired tipping his hat toward Holleb by saying, “There are very large shoes that need to be filled by whoever comes after her.”
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
