FOP's Devito Has Huge Nest Egg Of Unused Vacation, Comp Time

JOLIET, IL — About 20 members of the Joliet Police Department's Fraternal Order of Police are carrying significant overages of both unused vacation and comp time and one of the highest overages belongs to Joliet Police Officer Mike Devito, president of the FOP Patrolmen's Union, a Joliet Patch analysis found.

Devito has also been a key political supporter of Mayor Bob O'Dekirk.

As of this month, Devito has accrued a total of 1,172 hours of unused vacation, which is 29.3 weeks of unused vacation. Additionally, Devito has amassed 739 hours of comp time, which is 18.5 weeks of comp time pay. In 2018, Devito made $145,135, city payroll data shows. Devito has 25 years as a Joliet Police officer, serving as a neighborhood policing officer and the FOP's president.

Joliet Patch obtained the most recent unused vacation banks and comp time accruals for the roughly 200 members of Joliet's FOP as part of a Freedom of Information Act request to City Hall. Many of the Joliet Police officers have normal amounts of unused vacation and comp time, Patch found. However, the city has also hired several new police officers during the past few years, so it would take several years for many of the new officers to build up massive nest eggs of used vacation and comp time, if they chose to do so.

In July, Patch reported the Joliet Police Department's Supervisors Association, led by Sgt. Patrick Cardwell, had a key role in influencing the Joliet City Council's Pat Mudron 5 to remove Marty Shanahan as city manager. Shanahan intended to make Cardwell and his supervisors union adhere to their written contract concerning overages for excessive amounts of vacation banks and comp time. Weeks later, in June, Cardwell and four fellow Joliet Police sergeants showed up at the council meeting and watched as the Mudron 5 voted to remove Shanahan as city manager, which, for the moment, ensures that the supervisors' overages are safe.

The ongoing turmoil at City Hall, and last week's appointment of city economic development director Steve Jones as interim city manager until next March, could also mean that any huge overages for Devito's FOP, including himself, are safe from being forfeited for the near future.

On Aug. 2, Joliet Patch reported that Joliet Police Officer Jeff Kneller retired in early July and received a payout for his unused vacation, comp time and sick leave banks in excess of $104,000. For the past several years, Kneller was assigned to Plainfield South High School as the high school's resource officer. He made $134,722 in 2018, his last full year of service.

Last month, Joliet also paid Kneller for 892 hours of unused vacation time - which is more than 22 work weeks. Kneller also built up more than 691 hours of comp time, which was more than 17 weeks of extra pay. Third, Kneller got paid another $21,243 for his sick leave, which is 40 percent of 1,012 hours, as allowed per the FOP contract.

However, it appears Kneller's six-figure payout is just the tip of the iceberg, Joliet Patch's latest public spending analysis found.

That may be good news for Joliet's FOP, but it may leave Joliet's taxpayers singing the blues.

It also appears Devito is on pace to surpass, perhaps even shatter, the recent $104,346 retirement payout that Kneller got, in addition to collecting his retirement pension.

In any event, Joliet Patch has identified the following Joliet Police officers in Devito's bargaining unit who have huge vacation overages and significant comp time balances as of this month:

• Robert Casares, 1,194 unused vacation hours, 486 comp time hours.
• Cristopher Gombosi, 1,160 unused vacation hours, 1,094 comp time hours.
• Michael Devito, 1,172 unused vacation hours, 739 comp time hours.
• Michael Fosen, 840 unused vacation hours, 500 comp time hours.
• Lisa Giovingo, 766 unused vacation hours, 753 comp time hours.
• Terry Higgins, 706 unused vacation hours, 480 comp time hours.
• Jeffrey Fornoff, 683 unused vacation hours, 798 comp time hours.
• Dennis Carroll, 676 unused vacation hours, 568 comp time hours.
• Arthur Arellano, 675 unused vacation hours, 518 comp time hours.
• Peter Van Gessel, 665 unused vacation hours, 604 comp time hours.
• Christopher D'Arcy, 643 unused vacation hours, 513 comp time hours.
• David Jackson, 627 unused vacation hours, 601 comp time hours.
• Phil Martin, 612 unused vacation hours, 599 comp time hours.
• Carlos Matlock, 611 unused vacation hours, 613 comp time hours.
• Guy Jones, 609 unused vacation hours, 569 comp time hours.
• Bruce Trevillian, 605 unused vacation hours, 679 comp time hours.
• Eric Bernhard, 572 unused vacation hours, 748 comp time hours.
• Michael Steuer, 535 unused vacation hours, 586 comp time hours.
• Alan Vertin, 509 unused vacation hours, 634 comp time hours.
• Brian Prochaska, 506 unused vacation hours, 627 comp time hours.

The following documents are from the FOP's current four-year collective bargaining agreement with the city of Joliet.