Bonus Proposed For Clarendon Hills Official

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – Clarendon Hills' village manager is poised to get nearly $9,000 more in pay this year.

On Tuesday, the Village Board is slated to vote on a 3 percent pay increase for Manager Kevin Barr, increasing his pay to $180,137, up from $174,890.

On top of that, the board is set to vote on a $3,500 bonus for Barr.

This comes less than two months before the April 4 election. Only one trustee, Steve Tuttle, is running again. Village President Len Austin decided against seeking another term.

Barr is apparently in far better shape with the board than he was a year ago.

In January 2022, he was placed on leave for two weeks. The village never gave the public a reason, but it was believed to be in connection with comments he made about the fire chief's age in a public meeting.

At the time, Assistant Village Manager Zach Creer said his boss was on "personal leave" and that he was working from home. But Creer's story crumbled once Patch received information through public records requests.

It wasn't personal leave. Austin ordered Barr to go on leave, a decision the manager protested. Barr's access to the village computer network was cut off, making it difficult for him to work from home.

When Barr returned, the Village Board changed his contract to make it easier to fire him if his comments or jokes got the village in hot water.

Throughout the process, Austin did not return Patch's numerous messages, leaving Creer to take questions.

Austin later publicly praised Barr's service.