The Grundy County Board approved a $6,500 monthly contract with SKK Consulting to help bridge the gap while the county seeks a new supervisor of assessments.

SKK Consulting is run by Stephanie Kennedy, who has already been helping the county in the absence of Deb Ritke, who resigned as the supervisor of assessments to take a deputy assessor position in Will County.

“We were very fortunate to have Stephanie Kennedy available, willing and ready to come in and assist us so we could get what we call the state of being published,” said County Administrator Mary Kucharz. “Published means we could publish the taxes and get those out to the citizens.”

Kucharz said Kennedy assisted the current staff with getting the taxes published, and the county asked her to stay on.

When the county does hire a new supervisor of assessment, Kennedy will be in the office helping bridge the transition, helping with training and working with the current staff and township assessors.

Kucharz said there haven’t been any hiccups since Kennedy came in on this role.

“There’s a lot of things this year that have gone on that have just been serendipitous,” said Board Chairman Drew Muffler. “As problems have arisen, there’s been a solution right there. It was literally a two-day span between the time Deb left and the time Stephanie started.”

Muffler said the assessment office in Grundy County has been dysfunctional for a long time, and this is a golden opportunity to turn that around. He said Kennedy has been volunteering her time up until the contract could be finalized.

Kennedy is a former supervisor of assessments in La Salle County.