Todd Wooten Resigns As Joliet Police, Fire Board Chairman

JOLIET, IL — After being overruled last week by an arbitrator regarding his decision to deny Joliet Officer Rich Olson to promote a sergeant, Todd Wooten said he has designed to resign as chairman of the Joliet police and fire board.

Wooten was appointed the board chairman in January after Herb Lande was appointed to fill a Joliet City Council vacancy created by the nude photo scandal involving Don "Duck" Dickinson.

"I spoke to the mayor (Bob O'Dekirk) on Saturday and officially resigned," Wooten notified Joliet Patch on Monday. "The mayor asked me repeatedly to stay and told me he appreciated the job that myself and the entire board has done, but I felt now was the time to resign for the following reasons."

Wooten said he was planning to resign and move out of state in September once his divorce was finalized.

He also does not have confidence in the ability of O'Dekirk's pick for Joliet city manager, Jim Capparelli, as well as Joliet Police FOP Lodge 58 President Mike Devito.

"I can no longer work with the current city manager and the president of the FOP due to behavior that has damaged the credibility of the board," Wooten wrote Patch. "Due to the nature of their behavior, it is best that (I) resign from the board for it to rebuild some semblance of credibility," Wooten said.

On May 19, Joliet Police Officer Rich Olson's promotion to a sergeant's position was rejected by Todd Wooten and the city's police and fire board because of lingering issues related to Olson's 24-day unpaid work suspension from a November 2018 incident. However, last week's ruling by arbitrator Edward Binn reversed that decision and Olson was sworn in as a Joliet police sergeant on Thursday by city clerk Christa Desiderio.

Wooten's board also rejected the promotion of Sgt. Chris Schott to lieutenant in April, and now Schott is appealing that decision to an arbitrator as well, Wooten said.

At a December holiday party involving alcohol attended by several off-duty members of the Joliet Police Department's investigations unit, Schott slapped a subordinate detective on his buttocks, and Schott tried to kiss the man against his wishes, Joliet Patch has previously reported.

In the case of Schott, Wooten said, Capparelli was supportive of the board's decision to reject his promotion. But given the arbitrator's ruling in the Olson case, Wooten said he now expects the arbitrator will rule in Schott's favor. After all, Schott was given a 10-day suspension for his bad behavior in December while Olson was given a promotion despite getting a 24-day work suspension for his incident involving fleeing the scene of a traffic crash.

"Once they give Schott his promotion, we have no credibility," Wooten said. "Then you have overturned two of our decisions, it makes us to look to the general public like we're the O.J. Simpson jury, like we're denying their promotions out of spite, not out of merit."