Demoted As Joliet Deputy Police Chief, Marc Reid Taking Over Elwood's Police Department As New Chief

ELWOOD, IL — Two of the highest public pension recipients in the history of the Joliet Police Department, Marc Reid and Fred Hayes, are now taking over the top two leadership roles at the village of Elwood. In February, the village board promoted Fred Hayes from long-time police chief to the position of village administrator.

At Wednesday's 7 p.m. meeting, the Elwood village board will vote on an employment contract to allow Reid to take over the police department. According to the meeting agenda, there is a resolution appointing Reid as chief of police for the village of Elwood and authorizing the village president to execute an employment agreement with Reid.

Last year, prior to their promotions, Hayes made around $154,100 as chief of police, and Reid, as police department commander, made nearly $110,180, according to the annual public compensation report posted on Elwood's website.

After retiring from the Joliet Police Department in the spring of 2021, Reid started working that June as one of Hayes' two sergeants. Reid and Hayes worked together years ago at the Joliet Police Department; Hayes served as Joliet police chief from 2006 to 2011.

"We're absolutely thrilled to be able to get Marc Reid, who's as qualified a person as you can get," Hayes told Joliet Patch five years ago. "He has a wealth of experience. I did reach out to Marc and other supervisors from the Joliet Police Department, and I did interview a few people. I'm thrilled to have Marc here.

"It's a poaching game, right?" Hayes said. "You have conversations with people in other departments and people who are retired."

Hayes later promoted Reid to Elwood police commander, and now Reid is becoming the permanent chief of police as a result of the Elwood Village Board's appointment and decision.

For several years, Reid served as a lieutenant overseeing the internal affairs unit at the Joliet Police Department. In late 2018, Joliet's then-new chief of police, Al Roechner, promoted Reid to become one of his four deputy chiefs of police.

Then, in January 2021, Roechner negotiated a $31,000 raise for himself in exchange for submitting his immediate notice of retirement. Days later, Roechner's replacement, Police Chief Dawn Malec, announced that Reid was one of three deputy chiefs being replaced and demoted in rank.

Ordinarily, a demotion carries a substantial drop in pay, but Reid received a salary increase of nearly $18,000 during the week of his demotion. Reid's salary raise to $171,505 was approved by then-Joliet City Manager Jim Capparelli. Then for the next 10 weeks, as the highest-paid salaried member of the Joliet police force, Reid did not show up for a single day of work in his new assignment as night watch lieutenant.

Instead, Reid obtained a doctor's note that allowed him to remain on indefinite sick leave from the Joliet Police Department. After collecting 10 weeks of sick leave pay, Reid retired from Joliet police on April 4, 2021, after 26 years of service. Reid officially retired one day after he turned 50 years old. He then went to work for Hayes at the Elwood Police Department that summer.

As for Hayes, he spent 31 years with the Joliet Police Department and served as Elwood's police chief for more than 15 years until his promotion to village administrator last month.