$54,900 In Salary Hikes For Joliet's HR Director Since October 2017

JOLIET, IL — After joining Joliet in October 2017, city human resources director Kathy Franson has received $54,900 in salary increases, boosting her original City Hall salary of $105,000 to $159,900 this year, a Joliet Patch Freedom of Information Act request found.

Franson received a salary increase of $19,519 — a raise of 14.3 percent funded by the Joliet taxpayers — on Sept. 30, 2022, and that was followed by another pay increase of $3,900 this January, Joliet Patch discovered.

Franson's two pay raises within roughly 90 days increased her salary by $23,419.

According to Joliet's website: "the Human Resources Department within the City of Joliet is composed of five full-time employees. HR is responsible for all things worker related such as hiring and onboarding new employees, benefits of current employees and retirees, developing and enforcing personnel policies, and safety & health. "

"I am not an individual to ask for myself; in fact, I take salary surveys and approach the City Manager when I feel a department head or member of their team should be discussed for a potential increase, in order to hopefully retain the great employees we currently have on staff," Franson wrote Joliet Patch's editor.

"At some point, however, following salary surveys and surrounding city salary inquiries, I took my request to the City Manager for a salary increase (to make only the average of my department head peers on staff here at the City.) I do not feel that is too much to ask considering what the market numbers tell me," Franson explained in her email.

On Monday, Joliet Patch emailed Franson several questions regarding her salary increases.

Joliet Patch's editor: From October 2017 through January 2023, you received $54,900 in total city raises. What do you want to say to justify these salary increases to the taxpayers of Joliet, who are paying your salary?

Franson response: "My salary was not addressed until approximately 5 years after hire. COLA were minimal, and not really paid until January of 2022 outside of an increase in 2018 when the prior Director left the department."

Joliet Patch: After receiving a raise of $9,108 in January 2022, you received a raise of $19,519 at the end of September 2022. Please help me understand what were the reasons for this middle of the year raise of almost $20,000?

Franson response: "January of 2022 was a retroactive increase that all employees received based on salaries – not a separate increase. The increase provided at the end of 2022 recognized 5 years of changes/updates, etc. in the HR department, as well as recognizing salary surveys for the role, and other current department head salaries and structure."

Joliet Patch: Three months and a couple of days after you received the pay raise of $19,519 last September, you received another raise, this past January, of $3,900. What was the justification for that particular raise, given that you just received the raise of nearly $20,000 roughly 90 days earlier?

Franson response: "That was the COLA increase received by all employees, not just me."

Joliet Patch: During your tenure with Joliet, have you taken on any added job responsibilities or projects to justify the salary increases?

Franson response: "HR takes on projects and additional responsibilities whenever needed."

Joliet Patch: What else would you want to say for the purposes of this news article in regard to your salary and history of pay raises with the city of Joliet?

Franson response: "I believe my salary reflects the work that is done within the City. Our department works for all employees here at the City of Joliet, as well as all retirees when they leave the City. That work continues as they move away, their families change, etc. Whatever the employees need, we try to help them, keep them informed, and provide the best outcome to their issues/questions/concerns, etc."

Joliet Patch also interviewed former Joliet City Manager Capparelli on Monday.

He insisted that all the city human resources director's salary increases were justified.

A retired U.S. Army colonel and lawyer in private practice at the Castle Law firm, Capparelli took over as Joliet's permanent city manager in January 2021. In June, Capparelli submitted his resignation, several weeks after the election of new Mayor Terry D'Arcy.

For now, Rod Tonelli is serving as interim city manager as Joliet reviews applicants for a permanent city manager.

During Monday's interview, Capparelli said that at one time, the city of Joliet was known as one of the best-paying municipalities in Illinois, but that slipped over the past several years.

"I had realized that the staff was underpaid," Capparelli explained, referring to the non-union City Hall employees, including department heads.

He said that Franson's current salary of about $160,000 is now in line with what human resources directors make in other similar-sized communities. He said that Franson conducted a salary survey, at his request, and that survey helped him determine several one-time raises he gave last year, not just to Franson, but for other department heads including public utilities' director Allison Swisher, director of public works Greg Ruddy, police chief Bill Evans, the four deputy police chiefs, plus several others, including a deputy city clerk and assistant finance director.

"Were there raises? Yes. She was well underpaid so that ($19,519 raise) brought her up to a city this size," Capparelli said of Franson. "I had her conduct a salary survey, not just for her (own position) but for other department heads."

One of the justifications for the non-union salary increases, according to Capparelli, was that inflation was about 12 percent.

As for Franson's performance, "I think she does a fantastic job for the city of Joliet," Capparelli remarked. "She's no nonsense. She gives it to you straight, and she tells you things you don't want to hear.

"She knows all the state and federal laws as it relates to the Family Medical Leave Act and paying disability."

In addition, Franson oversees a human resources department for one of the largest cities in Illinois, according to Capparelli. Joliet had 889 employees, of which 823 are full-time and 66 are part-time, as of January, according to the city's website.

As for Franson's additional raise of $3,900 this January, Capparelli recalled he gave all the department heads an across the board salary increase for 2023, because the city's union workers were in line for a salary increase of about the same percentage.

The $3,900 pay hike upped Franson's 2023 salary by another 2.5 percent.

Capparelli said that last year's departure of Derek Conley, Joliet's economic development director, prompted Capparelli to realize that many of his department heads, including Franson, deserved a significant bump in their pay.

In February 2022, Joliet Patch reported that Conley was leaving Joliet to make a $135,000 base salary as the new economic development director for St. Charles. In St. Charles, Conley had a car allowance stipend of $5,940, bringing his total compensation package to about $140,940. Conley made about $19,940 more to work for St. Charles compared to what he made with Joliet.

As for Franson's salary, she wrote Joliet Patch on Monday, stating, "I am certainly not earning anywhere near the most highly paid employees at the City of Joliet. As a matter of fact, I remain the 3rd lowest paid Department Head on staff currently.

"I am extremely aware and respectful of who pays my salary as well as the salaries of all other employees within this City that my department (which happens to have the smallest headcount of all other departments) services, as well as all retirees that have left us. I am quite appreciative that I have been able to do what I love for the last few years, and plan to continue to do so for the next few as well."

This Joliet Patch exclusive examining the public salary hikes for Joliet's human resources director is the first of multiple reports examining pay at City Hall.

Check back in the coming days for another Joliet Patch installment.