Interim Joliet city attorney latest official to exit City Hall

Interim City Attorney Chris Regis on Thursday became the latest Joliet city official to lose his job in a City Hall shakeup that has been going on for more than a year.

Assistant City Attorney Todd Lenzie was named the city’s third interim city attorney to temporarily fill a key position that has been open since July 2023.

Regis, a familiar figure at City Hall since 2016 and at one time the city’s inspector general, is among five key figures in city government to leave since Mayor Terry D’Arcy took office in May 2023.

“The voters of Joliet voted for change at City Hall,” D’Arcy said in an emailed response to a Herald-News request for an interview. “Voters are getting what they asked for.”

The departure of Regis, who apparently was fired, came one day after Joliet announced it has hired Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry as its new city clerk. Staley Ferry fills a position that was open after City Clerk Christa Desiderio was promoted to deputy city manager.

Other changes have involved key staff exiting City Hall.

• New city manager Beth Beatty arrived in December to replace James Capparelli, who resigned in June 2023 as the City Council conducted a candidate search to find someone to replace him.

• City Attorney Sabrina Spano left in July 2023 to take an assistant city attorney position in Naperville.

• Inspector General Sean Connolly was removed from the office in February and has not been replaced.

• Economic Development Director Cesar Suarez officially resigned in March in what appeared to be a forced departure. Suarez took a separation payout and left just a few days after City Council members criticized economic development efforts at a public meeting. He was replaced by Paulina Martinez in May.

• Suarez’s boss, Community Development Director Eva-Marie Tropper, left on the same day as Suarez in what also was officially termed a resignation and also included a separation payout. The city has contracted with Dustin Anderson to serve as interim community development director.

When reached by phone, Regis would not comment on his departure and whether he had been fired.

“He has separated from the city,” city spokeswoman Rosemaria DiBenedetto said.

DiBenedetto said Beatty would not comment on Regis.

“Beth is not going to comment about personnel,” she said.

Like D’Arcy, Beatty declined to be interviewed regarding the changes in city staff. She also commented in an email provided by DiBenedetto.

“I was hired to run the city and the council made their expectations very clear on how they want our city government to run,” Beatty said in the email. “I am looking to build the best, most qualified team to run the day-to-day operations for the 150,000 residents we serve. This is not about personalities, it is about performance.”

Regis was brought into the city by former Mayor Bob O’Dekirk in 2016 as the city’s first inspector general.

He served a dual role, also working as an assistant city attorney until becoming deputy city attorney in 2022 when the city contracted with Connolly to serve as inspector general.

Regis in November became the interim city attorney to temporarily fill the position that has been vacant since Spano left. He replaced Todd Greenburg, an outside lawyer who had been contracted to serve as interim city attorney.

Regis worked as assistant state’s attorney in Will County before joining the city of Joliet. Before that, he was a Joliet police officer.

Council member Joe Clement, also a former Joliet police officer who worked with Regis, said “he does phenomenal work. He has a great work ethic.”

Clement declined to discuss Regis’s departure other than to comment in general on the changes at City Hall.

“I think it’s a new administration – their vision,” he said. “I think we’re going to keep moving in the right direction.”