Mudron 5: Personality Tests For 2 City Manager Finalists

JOLIET, IL — The Joliet City Council was expected to select a new permanent city manager after last week's second round of job finalist interviews, but that did not happen. Instead of making a hiring recommendation, the council's Mudron 5 voting bloc opted to delay the hiring process and spend another $1,600.

Now, Mequon, Wis. City Administrator Will Jones and Westerly, Rhode Island, Town Manager Mark Rooney will each be asked to take a written personality test at a computer terminal.

Asking the two finalists, Jones and Rooney, to undergo a series of personality tests was the idea of newly elected council member Sherri Reardon, Mayor Bob O'Dekirk announced Tuesday night.

The council had a special meeting last Wednesday night, Jan. 29, to discuss the three remaining finalists. "I thought we would pick the new city manager at that meeting," O'Dekirk announced Tuesday night. "Some council members said they wanted time to think about it over the weekend."

The council then met in closed session on Monday night. "Unfortunately, we did not pick a city manager," Joliet's mayor explained, adding that one candidate was removed from the list.

"Five members of the City Council have now ordered a personality test for the final two candidates," O'Dekirk said at Tuesday night's meeting.

Each written personality test will cost the city an extra $800 each, which totals $1,600, according to City of Joliet Human Resources Director Kathy Franson.

She said the two finalists will not be obligated to return to Joliet for a third time.

Instead, Franson said, the finalists will be able to take their written personality test at their respective personal computers.

Jones recently finished his fifth year on the job in the affluent Milwaukee suburb of about 25,000. Most of his professional career in local government has been spent in the North Shore suburbs, including Highland Park and Glencoe.

As for Rooney, he just finished his first full year as a town manager in Rhode Island. However, he still has strong family ties here in Illinois, one out of state newspaper reported.

Rooney was a finalist in Panama City Beach, Florida, in December. Before accepting the town manager job in Rhode Island, Rooney worked for eight years as village manager in Carpenterville, Ill. He also spent three years as village manager in Wheeling.

In January, Rooney settled his wrongful termination lawsuit against Carpenterville for $220,000.

The third finalist for Joliet's city manager post, Joliet private attorney Jim Capparelli of Castle Law, has been dropped from consideration, Patch has learned.

Reardon was asked at Tuesday's meeting why she wanted to delay the hiring process even longer. Last June, the Mudron 5 coalition of Mike Turk, Pat Mudron, Reardon, Don Dickinson and Bettye Gavin voted to oust Marty Shanahan after eight months as interim city manager, sending him back to the city's legal department.

Weeks later, the Mudron 5 voted to give city economic director Steve Jones a substantial raise and a six-month contract to serve as interim city manager until a permanent successor was named.

"I wish it had been thought of prior to this," Reardon said Tuesday night. "I find that both of the two candidates left, that were my choices, seem very qualified and had a lot of extensive experience in government and I just wanted to dig a little deeper into their character and work ethic."

She told the council that it is more important to make the right decision as opposed to work on a "tight timeline."

"I still think it's a good thing to do," Reardon remarked.

Those pushing for the personality test had to concede that it's entirely possible Will Jones and Rooney may get someone else to help them take the written personality test, and Joliet would have no way of knowing if they cheated on the test questions.

Turk said he doubts either of the two remaining finalists would attempt to cheat, given that they are serious working professionals, not college students, for instance.

It was also asked what the city of Joliet should do if one of the two city manager finalists is reluctant to take the last-minute personality test.

"They don't have to take it," Mudron responded.

"So what's the point of giving the test if you don't have to take it?" asked councilwoman Jan Quillman.

Franson told the council that she expected to deliver the test to both finalists "within the next week."

"They're not graded," she said. "There's no A, B, C or D or pass or fail. It's a calculated statement of questions that have been asked and answered to give a finding of someone's personality or things they would react to in a certain way."

Councilman Terry Morris wondered if the decision to ask the two finalists to undergo a last-minute personality test in the hiring process opened the city "to any legal issues with the one who doesn't get the job."

Shanahan, who is back at his old job as corporation counsel, responded by saying: "Short answer, it depends," drawing a few laughs from the council.

"You can do a test that's legal and you can do a test that's illegal," Shanahan informed everyone. "For example, an illegal one: what is your race? Of course, you can't ask that question. It all depends what the test is. I'd have to look into it."

At one point in the meeting, Mudron said, "I think because it was not mandated before, if somebody doesn't want to take it, obviously, they don't have to take it, and we'll deal with it accordingly when we find out who does or doesn't take it."

The meeting ended with an expectation Joliet's City Council would make a decision on filling the city manager vacancy in two weeks.

It's possible the council may make a recommendation not to hire either Will Jones or Rooney and reopen the hiring process so a new round of city manager candidates could apply for the job.

RELATED: Will Jones, Joliet's Next City Manager?