These days, it’s possible to lease anything – houses, vehicles, appliances, even village managers.

Last week, the Oxford Village Council voted 4-0 to approve an agreement with the Illinois-based GovTempsUSA for Evan K. Teich to serve as interim village manager from Aug. 2 through Nov. 3. Councilman Tom Kennis was absent.

This agreement may be extended up to Feb. 2, 2018, if both parties agree to it in writing.

“It’s really an employee leasing agreement,” explained village attorney Bob Davis. “This is not a contract with the individual. This is more like a services contract.”

GovTempsUSA, a subsidiary of GovHR USA, is a public sector staffing firm, specializing in placing professionals in local government positions on a temporary basis.

Teich, a resident of Chicago, Illinois, will be paid $98 per hour for up to 40 hours per week.

“He only gets paid for the hours worked,” Davis said.

Originally, the proposed rate was $118 per hour, according to the attorney, but the village was able to negotiate it down to $98.

“That really means that (Teich) will be getting $70 an hour of pay and the balance goes to the leasing entity,” Davis said. “For that money, the leasing entity takes care of all of his insurance, all of his benefits and all of his other perks that we would normally pay (for), which, as you all know, tallies up pretty quickly.”

Teich has worked in municipal government since 1988.

He served as the village administrator for Itasca, Illinois and Sussex, Wisconsin for a total of 12 years. Prior to that, Teich spent eight years as the assistant to the village manager in Vernon Hills, Illinois and was the permit coordinator for the City of Evanston, Illinois for nine years.

Council’s chief concern about the leasing contract was the overtime rate. Any time worked in excess of 40 hours in a week will be billed at an hourly rate of $147.50, according to the agreement.

“The overtime rate is, in my opinion, very high, so I would have council be very aware that you should probably try to limit (his) work to 40 hours per week, if that’s possible,” Davis said.

Given that any time officials spend on the phone talking to Teich will be considered billable hours under the agreement, council wanted to ensure there’s not excessive contact that results in overtime charges.

“There’s nothing, shy of a true emergent circumstance that could come up, that can’t wait until the next day or a Monday,” said Councilman Erik Dolan. “He’s not going to, realistically, be interested in handling billable business out of the goodness of his heart. And we should not be contacting him, by any means, after hours.”

Given the village is paying Teich by the hour, Councilwoman Maureen Helmuth noted, “It wouldn’t hurt to come in under 40 (hours a week).”

“My concern is that is not going to happen and there is going to be outreach (from) a hundred different directions, (at) all hours of the day. And I would like to avoid paying (for) that,” Dolan said.

In light of these concerns, officials voted 4-0 that “any expected overtime (of a) non-emergency nature should be preapproved” by council and that council “make every effort not to contact” Teich except during “regular business hours” or in the event of an emergency.