Moore retiring as city treasurer, says she may ‘potentially’ become candidate for mayor

QUINCY — Linda Moore will retire as the city’s treasurer on Dec. 31, and she says her immediate plans are to travel with her 89-year-old mother.

“The first place will be Elizabethtown, Pa. I have great nieces who are 7 months old,” Moore said. “We’ve only seen them once, so we’re anxious to go and spend time with them. I have a brother in Atlanta, I have a brother in Fairhope, Ala., and I have nephews in St. Louis. So we have places to go.”

Moore’s long-range plans are more fluid. Asked Friday if becoming a candidate for mayor was a possibility, she said one word: “Potentially.”

Moore’s retirement, as well as Kelly Stupasky’s appointment as city treasurer, are on the agenda for Monday night’s Quincy City Council meeting. Moore said she originally planned to retire between October and January.

“For personal reasons. I was going to stay around to the end of January,” she said. “When I looked at the whole picture, we need to hire a clerk so that the treasurer’s office is up to full speed. Also, since the end of September, I’ve been working on issues with insurance claims. It’s really not fair to the treasurer’s office that I’m taking up a headcount, doing something else.

“I really felt it was time to let the treasurer’s office become whole, because we’re going to go live with our new software on July 1.”

Moore, 63, said the city will soon begin training to implement Tyler Munis software that will keep track of the city’s finances — everything from accounts payable to accounts receivable to payroll and cutting checks.

The city treasurer is primarily responsible for tracking, collecting and investing city funds. The treasurer also is treasurer of the city’s fire and police pension funds.

Moore’s first day as city treasurer was Sept. 11, 2017. The Adams County Democratic Central Committee recommended she serve the rest of Peggy Crim’s term. Crim announced her retirement in June 2017 after more than 16 years as treasurer.

Crim became the city’s first female treasurer in 2001 when she replaced Bill Hoffman. 

Stupasky, who had worked for banks in Quincy for more than 36 years, was named manager of the treasurer’s office on March 3. He will be the first male treasurer for the city in more than 22 years.

Moore, a 1981 Quincy College graduate, retired in 2016 from ESPN as senior director of business operations and planning. She held multiple roles with the sports network, managing departmental budgets for four business units in ESPN Enterprises totaling $10 million.

Moore said she was approached about running for mayor when she first returned to Quincy in 2016.

“I hadn’t been back long enough, and I didn’t really know what the landscape was,” she said. “I didn’t really know if I’d be interested. Then (former Quincy Mayor Chuck) Scholz came to me and said, ‘Hey, we need somebody to replace Peggy Crim. Would you be interested in being the treasurer?’ 

“My first response was, ‘No, I’m not going into politics.’ Then my second response was, ‘Well, gosh, the financial end of things. That’s what I did for 20 years.’ That’s how I made a name for myself at ESPN because I turned a lot of bad projects good. Maybe I ought to think about this. At the time, I also was very bored being retired.”

Moore said she learned how the city operates “from the inside out” during her six years in the treasurer’s office.

“It’s very different than what my impression was before that,” she said. “It was a great experience for me to work for the city. I’ve really enjoyed working with all of the people. We have some great employees. You only hear the bad things in the media or in the public gossip machine, but the truth is, there are a lot of really, really good dedicated, loyal public servants who work for the city. We need more people like them.”

Former alderman Dan Brink was the first person to declare his candidacy for Quincy mayor when he filed in October a Statement of Organization for a political committee with the Illinois State Board of Elections office in Springfield.

Quincy Mayor Mike Troup said in July he planned to announce his decision about running for a second term “sometime in August.” However, on Sept. 1, he said he hadn’t made a final decision.

The consolidated primary election will be Feb. 25, 2025. Primary winners will advance to the election on April 1, 2025.

Whether Moore will be a part of the process is to be determined.

“When Mom and I are done traveling, I’ll come back home and figure out what my next career move is,” she said. “Later this summer, I’ll make a decision.”