Clarendon Hills Fire Officials Put On Paid Leave

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – Clarendon Hills Fire Chief Brian Leahy and administrative Lt. Jim Weil were placed on paid leave Tuesday afternoon.

Village Manager Zach Creer announced the decision in an email to firefighters shortly after noon. Patch obtained the message.

In the email, Creer said Lt. Dave Godek was named the acting chief and that the village's finance department would help with payroll.

He also said Police Chief Paul Dalen would help the police department.

"We expect to maintain daily operations as usual," Creer said.

In early 2022, then-Village Manager Kevin Barr clashed with Leahy. Barr was suspended for about two weeks after he made comments about Leahy's age during a meeting. Leahy has been with the department since the 1970s.

Barr retired in June after eight years at the helm. Creer, the assistant manager, was promoted.

In a memo Tuesday, Creer and Godek announced a major change in policy, ending most callbacks as of Wednesday. This is when officers return to duty when an incident happens.

Department members can only return when requested by the highest-ranking on-duty member and paged out by DuPage County dispatchers using the callback tone.

On-duty personnel can only request a callback for major incidents such as structure fires or Route 83 crashes when they expect to be committed to the call for 15 or more minutes and when they determine more manpower is needed.

Leahy and village officials could not be reached for immediate comment.