Joliet Boosts HR Director Kathy Franson's Salary Another $11,353 In 2024

JOLIET, IL — The salary of Joliet's human resources director continues to increase as Kathy Franson was the recipient of not one, but two separate pay increases in 2024, totaling $11,353, Joliet Patch found. In seven-and-a-half years on the job at Joliet City Hall, Franson has been the recipient of $66,253 in salary increases, an average annual pay raise of $8,834.

Through a recent Freedom of Information Act request, Patch learned that Franson was one of an undisclosed number of Joliet City Hall employees who received a cost-of -living raise last January, which for Franson, amounted to a salary hike of $3,198.

Then in May, Joliet's new city manager Beth Beatty — after working in Joliet about six months —determined Franson would receive a second salary increase and made it retroactive to the start of the year. The retroactive merit adjustment increase raised Franson's annual salary by another $8,155 for 2024.

Franson's two pay increases covered by the taxpayers of Joliet boosted her salary at the city of Joliet to $171,253.

This year's Joliet operating budget, recommended by Beatty, included a property tax increase and a fuel tax increase at Joliet's gas stations for unleaded and diesel fuels to generate more revenue for the city of Joliet. The overwhelming majority of Joliet's budget funds personnel costs, including employee salaries, fringe benefits and pensions for retired police and firefighters.

As for Franson, the City Hall department head was also the focus of a Joliet Patch public salary watchdog story in September 2023 headlined, "$54,900 In Salary Hikes For Joliet's HR Director Since October 2017." Patch reported that when Franson took over as Joliet's director of human resources on Oct. 23, 2017, she was making $105,000. Six years later, she was making $159,900.

In the 2023 article, Joliet Patch revealed that Franson received a salary increase of $19,519 — a raise of 14.3 percent funded by the Joliet taxpayers — on Sept. 30, 2022, and that was followed by another pay increase of $3,900 in January 2023, Joliet Patch discovered.

Franson's two pay raises within roughly 90 days increased her salary by $23,419. Those pay raises were allocated by former city manager Jim Capparelli, not Beatty, who first took over as Joliet city manager in December 2023.

In regard to Franson's two separate pay raises she received last year, Joliet Patch reached out for comment to Rosemaria DiBenedetto, Joliet's director of media engagement and communications.

Here were the key questions submitted by Joliet Patch and the responses that DiBenedetto provided on behalf of Beatty and the city administration:

Patch: "Kathy Franson received a merit adjustment of $8,155 one month after Beth Beatty became the new city manager of Joliet. Did Beatty herself authorize this boost in pay after being on the job at Joliet for only one month?"

DiBenedetto: "No, City Manager Beatty authorized the adjustment in May, retroactive to January 1. Even after this increase, Franson’s salary remains below other HR directors in the region."

Patch: "What other city of Joliet department heads received merit pay adjustments for 2024 and how much were their pay increases?"

DiBenedetto: "Salary adjustments fall within the authority of the City Manager. These adjustments were made to professionalize the leadership team, retain key personnel, and attract new talent. All department heads received increases based on market comparisons for similar positions in northeastern Illinois."

Patch: "In addition to getting a merit increase of $8,155 in January 2024, Franson received a COLA cost of living adjustment increase of $3,198. Was the COLA increase given to all department heads and not just to Franson?"

DiBenedetto: "Yes, Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increases were provided to all non-union employees."

Meanwhile, as a result of a separate Freedom of Information Act request, Patch learned that seven months after Beatty gave Franson her retroactive merit pay adjustment of $8,155, Beatty gave one of Joliet's new assistant corporation counsels, Gina LoGalbo, a salary increase of $16,520, bringing LoGalbo's pay to $134,520.

LoGalbo received her $16,520 pay increase six months after she began her employment last June as one of Beatty's new assistant corporation counsels in the legal department. The reason cited by Beatty on city records was "work adjustment/increase assign to HR Department." Another payroll document provided by the city to Patch listed LoGalbo's new job title as assistant corporation counsel and human resources consultant.

Patch: "Given that Joliet corporation counsel Gina LoGalbo was given a pay increase for taking on additional duties in human resources as a consultant, does Beth Beatty or her administration have the ability to lower Franson's pay given that LoGalbo is performing duties that Franson traditionally carried out?"

DiBenedetto: "Gina LoGalbo is not performing duties that were traditionally carried out by Kathy Franson. She has taken on additional responsibilities separate from Franson’s role."

Incidentally, LoGaldo's $16,520 pay raise and reassignment to the city of Joliet's human resources department came one month after Franson and two other high-ranking city officials were named as defendants in a federal lawsuit filed last November by one of their former City Hall employees.

In December, Patch reported that Tamara Edmondson, a former city of Joliet employee in the finance department, filed a federal lawsuit against her former employer, naming Joliet's human resources director, finance director Kevin Sing and ex-city manager Jim Capparelli as defendants. The lawsuit accused the city of Joliet officials of Family Medical Act Leave interference, Family Medical Act Leave retaliation and violating the Americans With Disabilities Act. Attorney Annemarie Kill of Chicago law firm of Avery Kill is representing Edmondson.

"On information and belief, Defendants Capparelli, Franson, and Sing were all involved in the decision to terminate Plaintiff," the lawsuit reads. "Defendants failed to accommodate Plaintiff’s work restrictions. In fact, they engaged in no interactive process at all regarding her request."

Edmondson's lawsuit remains pending in Chicago's U.S. District Court. A video settlement conference involving the plaintiffs and defendants has been scheduled for May 13.

On another matter of high importance in human resources at City Hall, Joliet has now gone six months without a planning director.

Retiring planning director Jim Torri was honored at a Joliet City Council meeting on Nov. 4 after spending his entire career in local government with the city of Joliet, working for his hometown. As April draws to a close, Joliet has remained unable to fill Torri's vacancy.

Joliet's planning director vacancy was just re-posted on Franson's city job openings website on April 10 and Franson's department is accepting applications at this stage, with a salary range of $111,000 to $183,341.

"The City of Joliet is excited to share the opportunity to be our next Planning Director within the Community Development Department. As a Planning Director, you will be responsible for administrative, managerial, and planning of all operations of the Planning Division. Joliet is an engaged and dynamic community looking for the right person to help us grow in an intelligent and resilient manner."