Joliet City Council considers Hales' separation agreement

It was business as usual at the Joliet City Council meeting Monday with the exception that the council would meet afterward to consider parting ways with a city manager who has been on the job for less than 11 months.

City Manager David Hales led the workshop meeting as he usually does and was cheerful beforehand, laughing off questions about his possible exit as soon as Tuesday night.

“Why, I never discuss personnel,” Hales said.

Mayor Bob O’Dekirk commented briefly on the situation at the end of the meeting, paying compliments to Hales before the council went into closed session to discuss what it might have to pay for his early departure.

“I want to thank you for the work that you’ve done here,” O’Dekirk said. “I think you’ve done a good job. ... I think you’re a good man, and I appreciate your service here.”

The mayor also asked Hales if he would come to the Tuesday regular council meeting if the council was willing to sign off on the agreement. Hales said he expected to come to the meeting but would do what the council wanted.

The council is scheduled to vote on the separation agreement at the Tuesday meeting.

Hales did not join the council in the closed session Monday.

Except for Councilman Larry Hug, who only has said it is Hales' decision to leave, no one has talked publicly about the reason the city manager is going. According to a news release put out last week, more would be said after the Tuesday vote.

Whether it is Hales’ decision to go or not may be evident in whatever separation agreement is reached.

His three-year contract provides Hales no severance pay if he resigns. But Hales is entitled to six months of his $215,000 salary if he is terminated.

Hales reportedly was represented by a lawyer when meeting last week to discuss the terms of his separation agreement.

The city on Thursday put out a news release announcing that both the separation agreement and a vote to terminate Hales' contract immediately would be on the agenda Tuesday. O'Dekirk reportedly talked to the council in a closed session Oct. 2 about the need to begin looking at an exit strategy for Hales.

Hales came to Joliet in November 2017 from Bloomington, where he had worked for nine years.