Six-Figure Wrongful Termination Settlement For Marty Shanahan?

JOLIET, IL — The Joliet City Council is expected to vote Monday night whether to approve a $122,896 settlement for Marty Shanahan to avoid a costly wrongful termination lawsuit from the city's former legal counsel and two-time interim city manager.

In 2015, Shanahan was hired by now-former Mayor Tom Giarrante as Joliet's corporation counsel. In 2017, Shanahan served as interim city manager from May through November of that year and again from October 2018 through June 2019. At that time, the Joliet City Council's Pat Mudron 5 coalition agreed to oust him as city manager and send him back to the city's legal department.

Back in May, the Mudron 5's replacement interim city manager, Steve Jones, fired Shanahan from City Hall. Actually, Jones was not even a city employee when he fired Shanahan. Jones had retired from Joliet in late February, but was allowed to stay on the job as an independent consultant. In doing so, Jones got to collect his state of Illinois municipal pension and stay on the job as interim city manager at City Hall, a controversial practice known as double dipping.

As of Aug. 7, Jones no longer works for Joliet. Jim Hock, Joliet's permanent city manager from 2014 until 2017, has returned from Michigan in an interim capacity.

Joliet Patch asked O'Dekirk Thursday whether he agreed with Jones' decision to fire Shanahan from the city of Joliet.

"Absolutely not," O'Dekirk said. "The reasons we were given in executive session did not make a lot of sense. I challenged Mr. Jones at the time and he didn't like that."

O'Dekirk also told Patch that Jones "had the ear" of the Mudron 5 back in May, and "the Mudron 5 didn't object."

Besides long-time Joliet insurance agent, Pat Mudron, his voting bloc on the City Council includes Bettye Gavin, Don "Duck" Dickinson, Mike Turk and Sherri Reardon.

Because Tuesday, Nov. 3 is election night, the Joliet City Council will hold its regular meeting on Monday night.

The meeting agenda indicates the Shanahan settlement is up for a vote before the full council. The settlement, drafted by Hock, includes the following language: "Mr. Shanahan is waiving and releasing all known or unknown claims and causes of action he has or may have, as of the day he signs this Agreement, against the City arising out of his City employment, including his separation from employment. This general release includes, but is not limited to, any claim arising under the Illinois Municipal Code; the Illinois Human Rights Act."

The proposal also indicates that within eight days of the agreement, "Mr. Shanahan will request that the Illinois Department of Employment Security terminate the payment of his unemployment benefits."

And as far as Shanahan's termination from Joliet is concerned, "The City agrees that in the event it receives inquiries about Mr. Shanahan from prospective employers, the City will limit the information provided to his: dates of employment, last position held, and last rate of pay, unless otherwise required by law and as long as such inquiries are directed to the City Mayor or Human Resources Director," the proposal reads.

Despite all the turmoil at City Hill these past two years, O'Dekirk praised the performance of Hock since his return to Joliet in August. "Jim Hock has been a nice addition and he's working to get rid of the nonsense and getting the city back on track."

In an interesting twist, Shanahan has also taken out candidate petition papers to run for one of the three at-large seats on the Joliet City Council in the April 6 election.

Related coverage:

Marty Shanahan Among 7 Candidates For City Council

Marty Shanahan Out As Joliet Corporation Counsel

Mudron 5 Removes Marty Shanahan As Interim City Manager

Big City Hall Crowd Supports Marty Shanahan As City Manager

Mudron 5 Sent Identical Emails To Oust Shanahan As Manager