Joliet officials left with 3-months pay and benefits in hand

Two top officials in Joliet city government who officially resigned more than two weeks ago did so with three months worth of severance pay and benefits.

The city as of Tuesday afternoon had not yet posted the jobs for community development director and economic development director, although City Manager Beth Beatty said that is likely to happen this week.

Beatty would not comment on the severance packages provided for former Director of Community Development Eva-Marie Tropper and former Economic Development Director Cesar Suarez. Beatty said it is her policy not to comment on personnel matters.

She did comment on why the city has not yet posted the jobs to seek new candidates for the key positions.

“Our job descriptions have not been updated for years,” Beatty said last week. “We’re looking at restructuring. We’re looking at what might be most efficient.” The restructuring, however, is not likely to separate economic development into its own department, she said.

After Tropper and Suarez left March 7, Mayor Terry D’Arcy said economic development could become a separate department of city government. It is a division of the Department of Community Development, which Beatty said is likely to continue.

D’Arcy sat in on the exit meetings with Tropper and Suarez, but referred to their departures as the city manager’s decision.

Their departure came just days after City Council members at a public meeting criticized economic development activity in Joliet and the pace of a comprehensive plan being developed by the Department of Community Development. Tropper headed the department and was Suarez’s boss.

Severance agreements for Tropper and Suarez define their separation from city employment as resignations.

But they also provide assurances that the city will continue to pay their salary and provide health insurance for three months in exchange for Tropper and Suarez not bringing any legal claims against the city.

Their departures now mark three top city officials who have left, officially resigning, but doing so with severance agreements that continued to pay their salaries and benefits, since D’Arcy became mayor in May.

Former City Manager James Capparelli, who hired both Tropper and Suarez, resigned in June, a month before his contract expired but at a time that the City Council under D’Arcy’s direction was beginning a search for a new city manager.

Capparelli resigned on June 6 with an agreement that continued to pay him until the end of this contract on July 12. Interim City Manager Rod Tonelli was hired the same week that Capparelli left.

Beatty came on board in December.