Erika Harold

Got to hear the Republican candidate for Attorney General this afternoon at the Chamber of Commerce round pies straight talk event. Most of the discussion with Erika Harold focused on combating opiod addiction in Illinois, although there was some discussion of workman's compensation reform and removing some regulations to make the state more business friendly. One topic she is interested in is prison reform, especially stopping using Illinois prisons as holding cells for the mentally ill. She also mentioned the possibility of reinstating work release programs for prisoners, which Gov. Rauner apparently put a halt to and which Chief Grubbs supported reinstating, as he said Carbondale had used them for decades without any problems.

Grubbs' Contract

According to an article in today's Carbondale Times, the city renegotiated Chief Jeff Grubbs' contract with the city as police chief. According to the Times, which you will have to pick up (for free) around town, the new contract eliminates the annual housing allowance Grubbs was to receive to cover expenses of moving into town to comply with Carbondale's ordinances regarding city residence for top level employees.

However, and there had to be a "however", the new contract now increases Grubbs pay to $125,700 from the previous base of 108,000. Under the previous contract, base pay plus housing allowance, by my calculations, came to $123,000, meaning that the renegotiated contract will cost the city an extra $2700 per year.

New Contract

City council will vote on an amended contract for Chief Jeff Grubbs at the next meeting. No indication in the store as to what is in it. Usually, contracts for city officials are worked out between the hire and city manager but enough people raised questions about the contract negotiated between departed city manager Kevin Baity and Chief Grubbs that I imagine the city council wanted imput on it.

Press Conference On Baity Resignation

Just got back from a quickly called press conference featuring Mayor Mike Henry with a little more detail about Kevin Baity's resignation.  From what Henry said, the split is amicable and no negative material will appear in Baity's file, the city council decided it wanted to move in a "different direction", one that was not a good fit for Baity. The mayor mentioned the term "business friendly' several times so apparently that will be a focus of the city for the next year.

Assistant City Manager Gary Williams is now "acting" city manager for the foreseeable future, while the city solicits applications for the position. The city will rely on word of mouth to generate applications it appears, as the mayor said the position will not be posted online. Baity is currently on a paid leave of absence as the city negotiations the terms of separation with him. Under the current agreement, if the city terminated Baity, he would receive 6 months severance pay but, according to the mayor, this is one of the points under negotiation.

Not sure if it means anything but Mayor Henry met with Chief Grubbs just prior to the press conference, but did not see the Chief present at the conference.

City Funding

Found it interesting that the city was able to come up with the extra $20,000 per year for Chief Grubb's salary, covering both his salary increase and the stipend covering the expense of him maintaining a residence in the city as well as his home outside it, given that council, citing lack of funds, has raised sales and property taxes 4 times over the past decade or so, sales taxes 3 times and property taxes once by my count.

Grubbs Gets Stipend

According to this article from the Southern, as part of his contract, Chief Grubbs will receive a $15000 stipend to cover costs of renting or purchasing property within the city limits and will continue to receive the stipend until such time as city council revises the ordinance  to extend the residency requirement.

I hope Chief Grubbs will do a bang up job as a chief, justifying the retroactive payraise and and the stipend. However, 'twould also could be viewed as Carbondale is such an undesirable place to live that you have to pay the police chief to move here.

Chief Grubbs

The city sent out a press release today announcing the appointment of Jeff Grubbs as Police Chief after holding the position open for 13 months.  I see no mention in the release regarding the requirement that the chief, as with other top officials, live within the Carbondale city limits. I did catch part of the press conference though, and when Chief Grubbs was questioned about the residency requirement, he was pretty non-committal, saying only that he met the requirement and that he wanted to move on past it. I hope that doesn't mean that he and the city did something cutesy allowing him to meet the letter of the law but not its spirit as that would be a really lousy image to set. The city has turned a blind eye to other officials living outside the city limits in the past, excusing them due to their being in the process of selling their home and relocating to Carbondale, a process that conveniently took years to complete.

Carbondale City Manager Kevin Baity has announced the selection of Jeff Grubbs as the Police Chief for the City of Carbondale. “Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for the City of Carbondale and more particularly for the Carbondale Police Department. Thirteen months ago I announced Jeff Grubbs as the Interim Police Chief. This was not the first time that Jeff was called upon to serve in this capacity. In 2008 following the retirement of Chief Robert Ledbetter, Jeff served for six months in the same capacity. One might say Jeff has earned his experience as Chief during times of turmoil and uncertainty” said Kevin Baity, City Manager.

Carbondale's newest Police Chief has over 25 years of experience including 11 years at the executive command level. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, holds both Bachelors and Masters degrees from Southern Illinois University, has served as a Deputy Chief for over 8 years, has served as a canine handler, a special response team leader, has worked for four other southern Illinois police units, and has received numerous awards of distinction from his peers and other law enforcement agencies. 

Police Chief Jeff Grubbs was selected after the City conducted a national search this summer for the position of Police Chief. Applications where received from candidates from within the United States as well as from two foreign countries.  The candidates were evaluated based on several categories. These included experience working in an ethnically diverse community, working in a town/gown community, managing budgets and grants, having a minimum number of overall years of law enforcement experience as well as a minimum of five years of command staff experience, and having an educational background specifically pertaining to law enforcement.

Four candidates were selected from the applicant pool and offered interviews. A panel was selected consisting of Dr. Deborah McCoy from the City of Carbondale, Harvey Welch representing the Carbondale Board of Police and Fire Commissioners and Ben Newman, Public Safety Director for Southern Illinois University. At the end of the interview session, the panel made a recommendation based on their individual assessment and judgement.  “ I am pleased to say the recommendation was unanimous. The recommendation, together with my personal evaluation has led to today's announcement.”   Police Chief Jeff Grubbs will begin his appointment immediately.

Jeff Grubbs for Police Chief

I see the Carbondale Times came out with an editorial last week supporting Jeff Grubb's appointment, which I agree with.  The city has not bothered to post the opening, as far as I know, for months, likely satisfied with Grubb's performance as Interim Chief, but Carbondale needs a permanent police chief and Grubbs has shown himself able to do the job.


However, I also agree with the Times that, if he wants the job, he needs to meet the requirements and one of those requirements is residing within the Carbondale city limits. If he is not willing to make that move in order to secure the position, then the city needs to quit sitting on its hands and actively start seeking a non-interim chief. The position is too important to remain unfilled.

Residency Requirements

In a letter to her email list, Jane Adams pointed out a change to residency requirements on the agenda for tomorrow night's city council meeting. Currently, executive city employees are required to live within the city limits, all other city employees must live within 9 miles of the city, Under the current ordinance, this means that only 10 out of all the city employees are required to live in Carbondale. From the proposed ordinace: 

Pay Grade 9 City Attorney, Public Works Director, Finance Director, Police Chief, Fire Chief,
Administrative Services Director (Human Resources), Development Services
Director (Building, Planning/Zoning, Code Enforcement)

Pay Grade 8 Accounting Manager, Maintenance & Environmental Services Manager (PW),
Information Systems Manager (IT), Water Operations Manager

Pay Grade 8 Exemptions
Deputy Police Chief (2), Police Lieutenant (4), Assistant Fire Chief (3)

The City Manager position (unclassified pay grade) and the City Clerk (pay grade 6) are also
required to reside within the City limits according to City Code.

The city has not had a Police Chief since last summer, after the firing of then Chief Jody O'Guinn. Jeff Grubbs has filled the position as Interim Police Chief since then and both Mayor Mike Henry and City Manager Kevin Baity have expresses satisfaction with his work and a desire to hire him as Police Chief. However, Grubbs lives outside the city, but within the 9 miles required. For Grubbs to accept the position, he would need to sell or otherwise dispose of his current residence and move within city limits.

Furthermore, Fire Chief John Michalesko plans to retire in the near future, meaning that the city will either need to promote from within or recruit a new chief from outside. Apparently, the requirement to live within city limits is seen as a impediment in either case.

It would appear then, that while the city works to bring in outside businesses, students and new residents, city staff do not see it as a particularly desirable location to live and that requiring higher pay grade officials to live here is an impediment to recruiting them.

Below are the four options city staff has presented and the staff recommendation. You will note that leaving things as they are is not one of the four optioned presented:

A number of options were reviewed that include:
1. Require all new employees to live within the City limits. This is not an option as the police and fire
unions’ contract allow for residency within the 9-mile boundary. This matter was the subject of a legalcase in which the unions wanted to extend the boundary to greater than 9 miles. The result was a rulingin favor of the City to retain the 9-mile boundary.

2. Create more exemptions for more classes of executive employees, similar to the 1999 and 2005 Councilactions. This only serves to further alienate the few remaining employees who are bound by the Citylimits requirement. This could also lead to a discrimination law suit brought by those remaining nonexempted employees.

3. Eliminate the City limits requirement for executive employees. In other words, all employees have thesame rights and must live within the 9-mile boundary. The argument against this is “there will be a largenumber of employees leave the City limits.” As indicated above, currently only 10 employees (3.7%) arebound by this requirement therefore there cannot be a large number of employees leave the City.

4. Eliminate all residency requirements. Due to the previous legal decision in favor of the City and the 9-mile residency boundary, this is not a viable option. Each time the police and fire union contracts are upfor renegotiation, they try to argue extending the boundary; this year the argument was from 9 miles to20 miles.

RECOMMENDATION:
After conducting a review of the history presented above and the significantly small number of employees affected by the current City limit residency requirement, it is recommended the City Council choose Option 3above and adopt an Ordinance eliminating the City limits requirement for executive employees in pay grades 8 and 9, the City Manager and the City Clerk.

City Residence Requirement

All employees of the city of Carbondale must live within 9 miles of the city center. Employees of grade 8 or 9 must live within the city limits, which includes city employees such as the city manager, department heads, and chiefs of the fire and police departments. Renting an apartment while maintaining residence elsewhere would probably not work, especially given the challenge to Mayor Henry's candidacy accusing him of doing just such a thing, though at least one city department director does just that, though said department head is close enough to retirement that no one currently wants to pursue it.

No Police Chief

Following up on the multiple choice from yesterday, nearly a year has passed since City Manager Baity fired Police Chief Jody O'Guinn for unspecified reasons. As far as I  know, the city has made no attempt to search for a replacement or even post the opening, leaving Interim Chief Jeff Grubbs in place. Since Grubbs lives outside the city limits, assuming the position officially would require a move by him to Carbondale proper.

From statements he made during the mayoral election, Mayor Mike Henry favors keeping Grubbs on as chief. I would bet sometime before the end of the year, there is a low keyed search for a replacement chief, Grubbs moves his official residence within the city limits and gets the job.

Multiple Choice Quiz

Apparently there are several of these floating around the interwebs:

Please check the multiple choice answer that seems most accurate. There may be more than one correct answer.

 

1. What ever happened to the police officer who was filmed allegedly snoozing in a church parking lot? He told the student who was filming him that it was against the law in a video that went viral. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCLqV-Z4cyQ Recently a police officer in Chicago who was caught napping was suspended for five days.

 

            a. Interim chief Jeff Grubbs made sure that a speedy inquiry and disciplinary actions were carried out with full public disclosure

 

            b. Interim Chief Jeff Grubbs said that it was a “personnel matter” and that the Fraternal Order of Police (who endorsed him for Chief) would have to look over the matter

 

            c. nothing

 

2. Marion and Carbondale received a grant to build pool and other facilities on the same day- October 4, 2011. http://thesouthern.com/news/local/carbondale-marion-will-build-pools-with-grants/article_4ea6c9d6-ee44-11e0-be3c-001cc4c03286.html

 

In the meantime Marion has completed the “Hub”, a year round facility,  but Carbondale’s Park District is saddled with a hole in the ground that may no longer be funded. Marion’s facility had had some issues with the floors costing maybe $46K, but the center has practically sold out its membership. Carbondale planned to open its pool this May for its 4 month yearly run - a critical part of the financing will be ticket receipts. Now it will go another year without ticket sales. What happened?

 

            a. Marion’s Mayor for Life Bob Butler bulldozed the project forward undemocratically taking money from highway funds and other sources. Meanwhile Carbondale carefully raised money through bake sales and puppet shows that took longer but more deeply engaged the community.

 

            b. Marion quickly put together a plan and raised the funds. While Carbondale barely raised money from the public relying instead on other taxing units like the City of Carbondale to make their “match” with state funds. Carbondale park District has actually lost even some of those funds such as the tourism grants, raising the question if the Splash Park will ever be built.

 

            c. Nothing of importance. Nothing to see here. Kathy Renfro of the Carbondale Park District one of the Southern’s Leaders of the Year.

 

3. Why is it taking so long for City Manager Kevin Baity to advertise for the Police Chief’s job?

 

            a. Baity is extra careful with this decision since the last chief worked out so poorly.

 

            b. The choice of Mayor Henry is interim Chief Jeff Grubbs. Grubbs lives outside the city limits while city residency is required. Grubbs will get an apartment in the city of Carbondale and claim it as his home address. At that point Baity will announce that he is the Chief.

 

            c. It’s extremely hard to fill Chief of Police jobs in the wake of Ferguson, Staten island and Baltimore, especially if the goal is someone who will represent undeserved minorities.

 

4. The Downtown Advisory Committee was essentially put out of business by City Manager Kevin Baity. This in spite of 9 extremely well attended meetings with citizens and 19 people on the panel who each made presentations on various issues facing the city. Also, the all volunteer DAC cost almost no money. From the DAC has come an America’s Best Cities award, an RFP for downtown high speed free wifi, and a renewed sense that Carbondale was on the move. Why did Baity decide to ditch it without any consultation with the committee or Council?

 

            1. “Staff” knows better than citizens how to get Carbondale moving. The evidence is everywhere. 

 

            2. The DAC was getting out of hand as it came to the actual charge to the development consultants. This is the point where the real estate interests in the city come to bear and average citizens are a real hindrance.

 

            3. The DAC was a clown show that didn’t really get to the bottom of the issues plaguing the “Strip”.

Arbor District Letter

The Arbor District plans on presenting presenting the letter below at tomorrow night's city council meeting regarding the uptick in unsolved crimes in the Arbor District area. A number of residents have signed the letter already and members of the Arbor District board are seeking more. Among the concerns are the recent shooting incidents on West Cherry, the rolled car during Unofficial Halloween and, according to a post on Facebook, vandalism this weekend at the First Christian Church.

Dear Mayor Monty and Mr. Baity,

We write as residents of the Arbor District concerned about the recent upsurge of dangerous and
criminal activity that has occurred particularly on and around West Cherry Street, between Ash
and Forest Avenues in the past two months. Two separate shootings last week, along with the
overturned car incident in October, a Rottweiler that has attacked walkers, cars driving at
dangerously high speeds, and a noticeable upswing in large house parties have created a sense of
lawlessness in this neighborhood.

While we have been told that policing in the neighborhood has been stepped up, we don’t see it.
A resident reports being openly dismissed by police when complaints have been called in; and
police responses to those complaints have become perfunctory and yield no results. The
explanation frequently given by city officials that ticketing nuisance offenses doesn’t work
because the recipients simply ignore them seems to say more about the impotence of city
enforcement than it does about the intractability of the problem.

In the recent past, complaints about obnoxious parties would be responded to with officers
entering the house and assessing the situation. We gather that this is no longer standard
procedure. While the violence that we are witnessing may not have a direct relationship to
nuisance issues such as large and loud parties, trash in yards and on the street, underage
drinking, and off-leash dogs, it is all creating an environment of intimidation and chaos. Please be
clear that what we are describing is not a matter of “college kids having a good time.”

Aggression, disrespect, and a sense of impunity are the overriding characteristics.
Right now, a lot of folks – students, children, and long-time residents alike – feel increasingly
unsafe in their own neighborhood. We urge more regular police patrols of this street and the
Arbor District as a whole, and a more serious response to nuisance complaints. In the long-term
we implore the City to enact and enforce policies that meaningfully hold individuals (and where
applicable, landlords) responsible for criminal and nuisance behaviors that occur on their
property.

More on Chief O'Guinn's Firing

The Carbondale Times has a long look at the current situation surrounding the firing of Jody O'Guinn, while the Southern looks at the situation from O'Guinn's viewpoint. Meanwhile, Interim chief Jeff Grubbs, who held the position once before 2008-2009 says the department will take things one step at a time.

I did speak briefly with Grubbs Tuesday evening and he repeated that the department will take things slowly in the wake of O'Guinn's firing. When I asked him if he planed to seek the position permanently, he smiled and said it was way too early to even think about such a thing.

Here's an audio interview by Monica Zukas with the  parents of Molly Young and Pravin Varughese after the announcement of O'Guinn's firing. In case you don't want to sit through it, both families are quite happy O'Guinn is gone but feel the police department needs further investigation.