Across the globe, Dec. 31 is celebrated as New Year’s Eve. But in Riverside Township, the holiday had to pull double duty alongside Frances Sitkiewicz Day, dedicated as the final day of Sitkiewicz’s tenure as the township assessor.
“It was time,” Sitkiewicz said of her decision to retire from her position. “I have some grandchildren in the area, and I wanted to spend more time with my family, and I do want to spend time traveling. My husband and I both enjoy traveling, and a very wise friend told us not to squander our 60s, so I’m going to listen to her.”
Mary Jo Miller is now the township assessor as of Jan. 1.
“She is going to do a wonderful job,” Sitkiewicz said of her successor. “She’s been working with me since 2010, since my first year as assessor, so I know she’ll do a fantastic job, and everyone can rest assured that there will be a seamless change in service.”
Sitkiewicz said she started working part-time in the assessor’s office in 2001 and worked her way up to the top spot.
“I was the assistant to the previous assessor, Scuffy Gross. Back then, the office was a lot different than it is right now. It’s amazing what 25 years can do with technology,” she said. “I had a son in preschool, so I just came in a couple hours a week, and then I started working more as we started introducing more technology in the office.”
Soon enough, Sitkiewicz was taking classes to become a certified Illinois assessing officer, a requirement to work in property assessment, so she could become the deputy assessor.
“When Mr. Gross decided it was time for him to retire, I ran. The first election was held in 2009, and then I took office in 2010,” she said.
She said the passion that sustained her through her quarter-century of work in the assessor’s office came from helping everyday people.
“We were truly helping people in our township. To be able to tell someone that we’re going to be able to find thousands of dollars for you because you didn’t get your homeowner exemption for the last three years, and they’re surprised about that, and, usually, it’s at a time when they really needed it,” she said. “Being able to help people figure out the property tax system, which is not very easy in Cook County, but they knew that they could come and depend on a good answer from the Riverside Township Assessor’s Office.”
She said she especially enjoyed doing outreach events for constituents to talk about property taxes.
“Our community always asks great questions, and the people who came, obviously, were always very interested. It was just great getting to know people,” she said. “Most people come every year to file appeals or file for their senior freeze exemption, so I got to see them every year, and that was really fun, to get to know people and see them on a regular basis, in my office and also in town. It’s great working in such a small town.”
One underrated fact about the township assessor beyond the fact that they’re elected, Sitkiewicz said, is that they must take classes beforehand, which is not a qualification for any other public office.
“Assessment should be uniform throughout the state, so that’s the reason for education qualifications,” she said.
Going forward, she said her mind will be occupied less by thoughts of property tax assessment and more of where to travel next — and where she and her husband can have fun biking around.
“Some dream destinations are Alaska and probably Africa. We want to spend some time in Europe to go to Poland, and Italy is one of our favorite places,” she said. “We have a trip lined up in the spring for Croatia. We like to take biking trips, so, most of our trips, as long as we can, we’ll be biking.”
