Joliet eyes city manager consultant, too

Joliet is considering a city manager consulting contract in addition to hiring Rod Tonelli as interim city manager.

The city is negotiating a contract with former Romeoville Village Manager Steve Gulden to provide services on an as-needed basis.

Mayor Terry D’Arcy said the city may end up spending no money under the agreement being discussed if Gulden’s services are not used.

“If we do need him, it’s there,” D’Arcy said Thursday.

The City Council meets at 4 p.m. Friday to vote on an agreement that would bring in Tonelli, a planning consultant and former business owner, to serve as interim city manager. The council also will vote on hiring a search firm to find a permanent city manager.

Gulden also was approached about the interim city manager position but could not leave his government consulting business to take the job, D’Arcy said.

“He said if we needed someone to assist, he could do that,” D’Arcy said. “This gives Rod and myself a go-to person with experience as a city manager.”

City Finance Director Kevin Sing, a former village administrator himself, has filled the interim city manager post since James Capparelli left Tuesday.

Sing was village administrator for the village of Manhattan for nine years before coming to Joliet as assistant finance director in March 2022. He became finance director in November in a department restructuring in which former Finance Director James Ghedotte became assistant finance director.

The City Council meets at 4 p.m. Friday to vote on an agreement that would bring in Tonelli, a planning consultant and former business owner, to serve as interim city manager. The council also will vote on hiring a search firm to find a permanent city manager.

—  Joliet City Council special meeting agenda to held June 9

Capparelli left after he and the City Council could not come to terms on an arrangement for him to continue in the job as the council conducted a search for a city manager. He wanted a six-month extension of his contract, while the council was only willing to keep him on a month-to-month basis.

The city would continue to pay Capparelli until July 12, the end date on his contract, under a separation agreement that also is on the Friday agenda for a vote.

The agreement with Tonelli would make him interim city manager for at least three months at pay based on an annual salary of $174,000. The agreement can be extended monthly after that.

Tonelli is the former president and owner of Reuttiger, Tonelli & Associates, a civil engineering firm in Shorewood that often has worked with developers seeking zoning and other approvals from the city of Joliet.

He has sold the business but continues to provide consulting services to the firm, Tonelli said Thursday. He will stop providing those services to the firm once he becomes interim city manager, he said.