Bensenville Leader's 'Exorbitant' Raise Denounced

BENSENVILLE, IL – A Bensenville police chaplain criticized the village president and trustees at a meeting this week.

Meanwhile, another resident said she was running as a write-in candidate for village president, expressing her outrage over the village's recent actions.

In December, the Village Board fired Manager Evan Summers after eight years without giving the public an explanation.

Then trustees set in motion a far higher salary for the village president to $157,000, up from $38,000 now, plus health insurance for the first time. The raise is conditioned on the voters doing away with the managerial form of government in the April 1 election.

These actions occurred after the candidate filing period ended in November. President Frank DeSimone and trustee candidates are running unopposed.

Before the pay raise happened, the Rev. James Nylander of Bensenville's Grace Lutheran Church said he read a Patch story previewing the proposal.

"Troubled about what I read, I reached out to a village trustee to ask if the information was accurate," Nylander, a police chaplain, said at Monday's Village Board meeting. "I never got a response from the trustee. But 21 minutes later, I received a text message from Village President DeSimone, who informed me he got a phone call from the trustee, and so DeSimone offered to answer my questions."

Nylander said he later got a private meeting with DeSimone, but he contended the village president gave no real answers.

Nylander suggested the trustees were under the president's control.

After the meeting in which the board approved the pay raise, he said, the trustees walked in a straight line out of the room to a locked room across the hall.

"Village President DeSimone was behind the line with his hand on the last (trustee's) shoulder, ensuring that no one stopped to talk to us. I now know why the Board of Trustees didn't contact me or talk to me," Nylander said.

Under the state's open meetings law, the board cannot hold an unannounced meeting about public business.

On Thursday, Patch left emailed messages for comment with DeSimone and trustees Rose Carmona, Ann Franz, Marie Frey, McLane Lomax, Armando Perez and Nicholas Panicola. No one responded.

Also at this week's meeting, Bensenville resident Susan Foster asked why the trustees approved such a big pay increase and a referendum to change the form of government without any public debate.

She also called into question the board's timing after the candidate filing deadline.

Foster noted DeSimone said at the Dec. 4 meeting that the village would present a plan on the proposed change to a mayor-trustee form of government from the existing form.

"In two short months, we're looking at a potential change in the form of government, which could result in an exorbitant pay raise for the president," Foster said. "Yet no debate, no plans have been presented. The idea was presented after the deadline for candidate filing. Bensenville needs a change, and it must start with the leadership of Bensenville."

Foster is running as a write-in candidate for village president; she filed with the DuPage County clerk.

If voters change the form of government, DeSimone's pay of $157,000, which includes $22,000 as liquor control commissioner, would be far higher than his counterparts in other towns.

Neighboring Elmhurst's mayor makes $8,400 a year, plus $300 for being the liquor commissioner. Elmhurst's population is 2½ times larger than Bensenville's.

Bensenville officials say that with the higher pay, DeSimone would become a full-time president. Most mayors and presidents are part time.

Last summer, DeSimone retired as a Schiller Park detective.

His Schiller Park pension amounts to $72,192 a year, according to public records. That is 40 percent less than his final salary of $115,523.