Blakemore, whose job in Plainfield will start on Dec. 13, is replacing Brian Murphy, whose contract ended in April. Until then, Blakemore is working as city administrator in Marengo, where he has worked since 2005.

Blakemore will be paid a salary of $180,000 in addition to a monthly stipend of $500 for car expenses. He will also be reimbursed up to $5,000 to relocate to Plainfield.

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The new hire has a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from Northern Illinois University, which is where he also earned his master’s degree in public administration.

“When we embarked down the road of searching for a new administrator, I was hopeful,” Mayor John Argoudelis said at the meeting, adding he thinks Blakemore is the right person for the job and came at the right time. “It was my hope that everyone would coalesce around a candidate. … Sure enough, the moon and the stars, everything seemed to align.”

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Argoudelis said Blakemore, who has “the solid support of everyone on this dais” will help make Plainfield “the best Plainfield.”

Blakemore attended the meeting with his wife and young son. He said he’s humbled by the honor to be the village administrator, which is why he brought his family.

At the meeting, trustee Brian Wojowski congratulated Blakemore and said the board is excited to have him on board, which trustee Harry Benton seconded.

“We all had that warm, fuzzy feeling that you were going to take the village to the next step in our village,” Benton said.

Trustee Tom Ruane also welcomed the new administrator to Plainfield and said it’s telling when someone chooses their place of work as the same place to grow their family.

Argoudelis also acknowledged the differences that have arisen in the past between trustees, but he said the process has brought the board together.

“As a side effect of it, the by-product was that it was a bit of a team-building exercise,” he said. “I’m really excited that moving forward, we’re going to see a lot of good things happen with very broad support of this board.”

Argoudelis announced the end of former Village Administrator Brian Murphy’s contract on April 6, which received pushback from trustees.

The mayor said Murphy, who held the position for more than a decade, wasn’t the man for the job, Patch reported.

“I struggled with whether Brian was the right person to continue forward for us,” he said at a special meeting April 6. “I have chosen not to reappoint Brian because I really believe we need to conduct a national search, bring in a new set of eyes, so we can fulfill the promise we made to the voters of Plainfield so we can reexamine how Plainfield does business, top to bottom.”

In June, the board unanimously voted to pay a Northbrook firm $22,000 to search for someone to fill the position.

Until Blakemore’s hiring, Traci Pleckham, the former assistant village administrator, served as interim in the role.

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