Sugar Grove officials approve hiring of St. Charles resident as new village administrator

For years, St. Charles resident Scott Koeppel has driven through Sugar Grove to get to his job as Kendall County’s administrator.

Soon, he won’t just be passing by Sugar Grove. He’ll be stopping there.

Koeppel, who has been Kendall County’s administrator since 2017, has been hired as the village of Sugar Grove’s administrator. The decision was announced during the April 4 board meeting. He will begin his new role May 15.

“I drive through Sugar Grove everyday on my way to work,” Koeppel said. “I’ve always wondered why such an amazing place that’s right by [Interstate] 88 hasn’t done more in the last 10 years or so because of the development we’re seeing in Kendall County and that’s not far away. From the things I’ve learned, it’s probably going to happen [in Sugar Grove]. It’s already starting to happen.”

A lot certainly has happened in Kendall County, and Koeppel is a key reason why. He’s made such an impact that Kendall County Board member Matt Kellogg had to fight back tears when speaking on Koeppel’s behalf during public comment.

“You’re getting a great person here,” he said. “The phone calls today of ‘Oh, my God, what are we going to do?’ were followed immediately by ‘We are so excited for Scott and the opportunity that he has and the village of Sugar Grove is getting an amazing person.’”

Among the most notable of Koeppel’s lengthy list of successes in Kendall County is the Eldamain Road bridge.

“It’s going to open up this spring and be a north-south connection through Kendall County,” Koeppel said. “Up and down, it’s going to connect [Interstate] 88 to [Interstate] 80 so you’re going to be able to take that instead of going through downtown Yorkville. That’s huge.”

Another recent accomplishment includes working with Montgomery and Oswego to bring Lake Michigan water to Kendall County.

“Nobody has it now, but it’s coming,” Koeppel said. “It’s a huge project.”

Koeppel also has helped bring a 1-million-square-foot DHL warehouse to Kendall County and was part of the Kendall County CAT Task Force that turned the former Caterpillar plant in Oswego into a home for nine businesses, including the U.S. Medical Glove Company and Tangent.

“Scott is a genuine person who has put together a great team for us and left us in such a better spot than we were five or six years ago,” Kellogg said. “I’m excited to see what he’s going to do here. You have all kinds of growth. He’s done amazing things with our economic development. We’re going to miss that part of it. He’s going to do great things for you.”

While infrastructure has plagued Sugar Grove, Village President Jen Konen is confident Koeppel can help the village finally overcome it.

“I think the biggest thing is we were trying to check certain boxes and we know the village has hurdles and one of them is infrastructure,” she said. “A lot of developers can’t handle the cost of infrastructure because the project isn’t viable.”

Koeppel has had success in getting grant money for projects, something that is attractive to Sugar Grove.

“Scott’s been very successful in Kendall County with acquiring grants so that was a big motivation for us,” Konen said. “We know that we’re going to need that. He has a great personality and is easy to get along with. That’s a big thing. We have a fabulous staff and we wanted to make sure we had an administrator that was able to lead them without being a micromanager. He’s going to fit in really well for us. We’re excited and hopefully he’s here for the long haul.”

Koeppel sounds equally excited to see what he can do for Sugar Grove.

“It’s a very interesting opportunity for me and they are also very fiscally responsible, which aligns with me,” Koeppel said. “They’ve brought in [village of Sugar Grove Economic Development Director] Michael Cassa and dedicated money to economic development. I didn’t want to come in somewhere where it’s status quo or trying to fix a broken budget or something like that. It’s a unique opportunity. Brent [Eichelberger] was here for a long time and did a great job. He hired well. I get to come into a well-run machine and get to keep it going and hopefully make it a little bit better and add some of my talent to the group. That’s really what I’m excited to do.”