Joliet eyes Korn Ferry for city manager search

Joliet appears ready to hire a search firm to look for a city manager.

The City Council plans to hold a special meeting Thursday to vote on an agreement to hire Korn Ferry, a global executive recruitment firm with an office in Chicago, to conduct the city’s search for a permanent city manager.

The city is likely at least four months away from hiring a permanent city manager.

Korn Ferry would be paid a third of the next city manager’s total compensation package in the first year of employment, which led one council member to question whether the city should let the firm negotiate the contract.

The City Council plans to hold a special meeting Thursday to vote on an agreement to hire Korn Ferry, a global executive recruitment firm with an office in Chicago, to conduct the city’s search for a permanent city manager.

—  Joliet City Council

The council at its workshop meeting on Monday also considered another firm identified as RSI, which also proposed an agreement by which it would be paid a percentage of the next city manager’s pay.

“I would not be comfortable with either one negotiating if they are seeking a percentage of the salary,” council member Larry Hug said.

Human Resource Director Kathy Franson, however, said the City Council would be in control of the compensation package even as the recruitment firm negotiates a contract.

“They wouldn’t create that number,” Franson told the council on Monday. “That’s not their decision. That’s your decision.”

Former City Manager James Capparelli, who resigned this month, was working under a six-month contract that paid him a salary of almost $102,000. His last annual contract paid a salary of $198,000.

Interim City Manager Rod Tonelli is working under a contract that pays him based on an annual salary rate of $174,000.

Franson said after the Monday meeting that Korn Ferry estimated it would take at least 16 weeks to recruit a city manager.

The city is turning to Korn Ferry after being turned down by Northbrook-based GovHR USA, a firm that is frequently used by area municipalities and had been used by Joliet in the past.

GovHr USA informed Joliet that it could not take on the city management search because of previous commitments.

But GovHr USA and Joliet have clashed in the past in the city’s turbulent city manager searches over the past several years.

GovHR USA pulled out of a city manager search in Joliet in 2019 when council member Jan Quillman suggested the firm would recruit friends for the job. The firm appeared willing to take on Joliet as a client for the current search but pulled out after Quillman said the city should have control over who GovHR assigned to the search.

David Hales was the last city manager hired with the help of a recruitment firm, which was GovHR USA. He was hired in 2017 and left after 11 months. The city since then had three interim city managers before hiring Capparelli in 2021.