Was Joliet Department Head's Firing Warranted?

JOLIET, IL — For the second time during his tenure as Joliet city manager, Jim Capparelli has fired one of his department heads. Joliet's information and technology director over the past six-plus years, David Braner, is no longer working at City Hall anymore.

Last October, Capparelli announced he had fired his January 2021 choice for Joliet police chief, Dawn Malec, only to realize that city rules allowed Malec to return to her previous position at the Joliet Police Department. After returning to the police force, Malec retired as a patrol lieutenant from the agency after 28 years on the force this July.

In the case of Braner, Joliet Patch used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain a copy of the termination letter given to Braner on July 20. A copy of the letter is posted at the bottom of this article.

As part of the FOIA, however, Joliet's human resources director Kathy Franson blacked out a few of the words in the memo advising Braner of his firing. She also blacked out the name of the person who wrote the termination letter even though it had to be Capparelli, since he is the only person at City Hall with the authority to get rid of department heads, including Braner.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Braner worked for Joliet as its chief information officer for six years and one month.

"The Joliet leadership has committed to technology. We have embraced cloud technology and now are moving to use tech to excel at our jobs," Braner's LinkedIn profile states. " We are committed to working smarter and utilize the tools that are available to us. Driving change in government is difficult. Joliet has been in constant change as it has now leapfrogged other like cities and is a leader in many areas of IT. Joliet is now the place people visit for best practices."

Since being fired, Braner is now working in Arlington Heights as an executive information technology strategist with StraightArrow Advisory Services. He started the job in July, the same month Capparelli fired him from Joliet.

Braner's LinkedIn profile states that StraightArrow Advisory "assists CEO's and Senior IT Leaders navigate the ever-changing technology landscape by providing industry knowledge at a strategic level."

Even though he was fired about three weeks ago, the city of Joliet website still Braner as its director of information technology.