O'Dekirk's Team Reducing Generous Benefits For Joliet Staff

JOLIET, IL - For years, Joliet city leaders gave their staff and themselves a Cadillac fringe benefits package, which was funded by the taxpayers. Those days are not entirely gone, but they are dwindling under the administration of first-term Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk. In response to this week's watchdog government spending stories by Joliet Patch highlighting the upcoming $104,155 payout to retiring director of inspections Dave Mackley and recent payouts to 13 other city employees totaling almost $600,000, Joliet issued a press release late Friday afternoon to explain the city's current efforts to undue past practices.

"We have a duty to our residents to ensure fiscal responsibility and to fully understand the impacts of past practices," interim city manager Marty Shanahan pointed out in his statement. "We will continue to address policies which date back years and even decades which have a negative effect on our budget."

According to Shanahan, Joliet recognizes "payouts of excess vacation time has created a long-term liability" for the city of Joliet and its residents. "Until recently, payouts for excess/unused vacation were not capped, which contributed to large payouts at retirement," he said. (For more information on this and other Joliet Patch news stories, subscribe to Patch to receive free daily newsletters and free breaking news alerts.)

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Shanahan, a relatively new city of Joliet employee, praised Jim Hock, who retired as Joliet's city manager in May, for identifying an issue "dating back many years before his arrival, which allowed City employees to accumulate unlimited/unused vacation. Mr. Hock first attempted to address the issue in late 2014, but his attempts did not significantly reduce the large banks of unused hours of vacation," Shanahan stated.

According to Shanahan's memo, Hock, in one of his last acts as city manager, issued a memorandum to non-union full-time employees this past May 3 addressing the issue of their unused vacation banks.

Effective July 1, 2017, "any excess amount of vacation over 1.5 times the annual accrual amount will be placed in a separate vacation bank," Shanahan noted. As a result, this group of city of Joliet employees must use up their vacation banks before December 2018, otherwise it will be paid out.

"Beginning in 2019, all employees will be required by the end of each subsequent calendar year to use any time in excess of the 1.5 annual accrual amount of vacation amount of vacation or it will be forfeited," Shanahan's memo plainly stated.

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