Huge Raise For Joliet Housing Authority CEO

JOLIET, IL - Over the past five years, Michael Simelton has brought stability to the Joliet Housing Authority as the organization's chief executive officer. On Wednesday, housing authority commissioners agreed in unanimous fashion that a pay raise, a $30,000 raise, was warranted. Simelton was rewarded with a new five-year employment contract to oversee the Joliet Housing Authority and his salary will increase from $125,000 to $155,000 beginning in January.

According to his new contract, Simelton will continue to draw his current annual salary of $125,000 between now and the year's end. In 2019, however, Simelton will have his annual compensation increase by 24 percent to $155,000, Joliet Patch determined.

"The board of commissioners may consider an additional bonus as part of its performance evaluation of Simelton, but is not obligated to provide any bonus," the contract reads.

The new contract runs through Dec. 31, 2023. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive free daily newsletters and free breaking news alerts.)

Additionally, Simelton also becomes eligible for $15,000 in compensation "for each new affordable housing development or new LIHTC (Low-Income Housing Tax Credit) project financed during the term of this agreement, beginning with Liberty Meadow Estates Phase III," the contract outlines. "Such additional compensation shall be paid upon financial closing of each development and shall be paid from developer fees received at closing and not from HUD funds."

Simelton will also continue to have access to the Joliet Housing Authority's employee fringe benefits plan. "Simelton shall be entitled to vacation, sick leave, travel reimbursement, educational reimbursement and all other benefits of employments not in conflict with the terms of this agreement," the contract states.

Housing Authority attorney Eric Hanson, a partner at the Joliet law firm of Mahoney, Silverman & Cross, told Patch on Wednesday evening that nowadays many housing authority chief executive officers who lead an organization similar in size to Joliet are making annual salaries in the high $150,000s or mid-$160,000s.

Hanson also explained that when Simelton was hired as the Joliet Housing Authority's CEO five years ago, his starting salary was $120,000.

Although Simelton's pay increased to $125,000 after one year on the job, it has stayed the same the past four years, Hanson pointed out.

Housing Authority Commissioner Bob Hernandez told Joliet Patch he was supportive of the new contract including the pay hike for Simelton.

"The Housing Authority Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to give our CEO a five-year contract with a substantial raise," Hernandez informed Patch.

"I voted for this contract because Michael Simelton took our troubled agency and turned it around into a high performer. Our CEO deserved this raise and five-year contract."

In regard to the new $155,000 salary for Simelton, Hernandez also told Joliet Patch, "the contract with a raise and incentives given to Michael Simelton is comparable to other housing authorities our size."

At the moment, one of the biggest projects on Simelton's plate involves the pending demolition of the notorious Fairview Public Housing projects on The Hill. It's regarded as Joliet's most dangerous area. Fairview is the recurring scene of drive-by shootings, and the community's low-income public housing complex has multiple murders every year.

Joliet's most recent murder at Fairview happened last Saturday night when 24-year-old Joliet gang member Eric Ervins was gunned down in a parking lot in the 800 block of Cardinal Lane.

The Joliet Housing Authority announced that earlier this summer that it has received federal approval to move ahead with the demolition of Fairview, which is slated to occur around November.

After Fairview is razed, the land in Joliet's Forest Park area will be left vacant.

RELATED: Dangerous Fairview Homes Get Demolition Approval

RELATED: Murder Victim On The Hill Was Known Gang Member

Image via John Ferak Joliet Patch Editor