Ferak: City Manager's PR Firm Debacle Costs Joliet Taxpayers

JOLIET, IL — You would think that with more than a full year on the job as Joliet's permanent city manager, former Castle Law attorney Jim Capparelli wouldn't be making the kinds of silly and costly mistakes he keeps making.

After all, Capparelli is being paid $198,000 — plus free gasoline for his personal vehicle — all by Joliet's taxpayers. In December, your Joliet City Council gave Capparelli a $6,000 raise after finishing his first full year of running City Hall.

Capparelli started his city employment in January 2021 making $192,000.

Last December, Capparelli proposed creating a public relations director post at a projected salary of $90,000, plus fringe benefits. Capparelli's PR director position had the strong backing of Mayor Bob O'Dekirk, who announced in March that he's running for a third four-year term in office in the April 2023 non-partisan municipal races.

I wrote a column on Dec. 14, suggesting the full-time public relations job at City Hall was unnecessary, especially at a starting salary of $90,000. Down the street, the Will County Executive's Office has had a long-time public relations director who makes about $65,000, according to county salary data.

Even though Joliet's Council wisely removed the public relations director job from the city's 2022 operating budget, Capparelli remained set on hiring a public relations person anyway.

He went around the City Council's authority, which is perfectly legal for him to do, to sign a professional services agreement. Capparelli selected the Mac Strategies Group, a PR firm with offices in Chicago and Springfield. As city manager, Capparelli has the ability to authorize a contract without Council approval up to $25,000.

And that's what put Capparelli in his latest mess with the Council.

On Tuesday night, the Council was asked to approve a $12,000 per month contract with the Mac Strategies Group through the end of this year.

As it turns out, Mac Strategies has already been performing public relations work "since January or February," Capparelli acknowledged during a set of questions from Councilwoman Sherri Reardon.

Matt Butterfield, one of Mac Strategies' partners, was the person working closely with Capparelli as part of Capparelli's effort to enhance Joliet's public relations.

City Council members including Reardon, Jan Quillman, Pat Mudron, Larry Hug and Cesar Guerrero were not impressed with the performance.

A review of Joliet Patch's emails showed that Butterfield sent Joliet Patch a total of four news releases between Feb. 18 and April 1:

April 1: "Joliet Joins the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation April 1 – 30."

March 28: "City of Joliet Announces $3.5 Million in Funding to Improve Aged Water Infrastructure."

March 8: "Joliet Arts Commission receiving $15,950 grant to fund programming and operations."

Feb. 18: "City of Joliet Announcing Scheduled Bridge Work."

Prior to Tuesday night's vote, Mudron said it best: "I feel the information we're getting from them is not worth the $12,000" per month.

It should not be a shock to Capparelli that his quest to bring on a public relations specialist, with no concern about the cost, would end up as a public relations disaster for him.

Last December, Capparelli could not convince the Council to spend $90,000 a year in salary for a full-time PR director. This month, Capparelli proposed a contract seeking to spend $144,000 annually for an out-of-town PR firm to handle City Hall communications.

Going against Capparelli's recommendation, the Council voted 8-0 not to approve the $12,000 per month contract.

Still, it turns out, Joliet taxpayers may be on the hook for another $36,000 in payments to Mac Strategies.

That's right, the original professional services agreement Capparelli worked out with Mac Strategies indicated that either side could break the agreement subject to a 90-day notice.

On Tuesday night, Quillman asked if Joliet is now on the hook "for whatever we owe them plus $36,000?"

Even though he is a lawyer, Capparelli replied, "I'd have to defer to legal on that."

Joliet's Corporation Counsel Sabrina Spano remarked, "Well, that's a discussion we'll have to have with Mac Strategies. Pursuant to the actual contract, that's what the contract is saying. We would have to give them a 90-day notice, and we would still be on the hook for the $12,000 per month for those 90 days.

"However, we could have conversations with Mac Strategies regarding the contract to see if we can mutually agree to terminate the contract without that provision."

Realizing he was the captain of a ship about to sink, Capparelli addressed the Council, making the following remarks Tuesday night:

"From what I'm gathering from the Council comments is that people are just not happy with the way this particular contract for communications looks. I believe that it's critical that we communicate with our citizens, and I have a communication person here.

"If this isn't what the Council likes or looks at, so be it, I work for you. Clearly, we'll put in a different approach here."

Last October, Capparelli shocked many when he announced the firing of Dawn Malec as the Joliet police chief, less than nine months after he promoted her from patrol lieutenant to chief.

On Oct. 6, Capparelli issued a news release, containing a headline declaring, "Joliet Police Chief's Employment Has Ended."

"Joliet City Manager Jim Capparelli announces Police Chief Dawn Malec's employment with the Joliet Police Department has ended effective immediately. The City of Joliet thanks former Chief Malec for her years of dedicated service to the Joliet community and wishes her will well in her future endeavors. The City Manager will name an Acting Police Chief shortly. The Joliet Police Department is committed to providing the highest quality of police service to our community."

Within days of thinking he just fired the police chief, Capparelli learned from others that he did not have the ability to terminate Malec from Joliet, where she has worked since 1994. Based on city ordinance, Malec could return to her previous rank, which is what she chose to do.

On Dec. 30, Joliet Patch broke an exclusive story, headlined, "Ex-Police Chief Dawn Malec Seeks $400K Settlement From Joliet.

Malec is willing to leave and retire if Joliet gives her a lump sum payout of $400,000 "to compensate her for the damage to her reputation," according to a proposed settlement submitted by her attorney, Naomi Frisch of the Chicago law firm of Asher, Gittler & D'Alba.

Even though I was not impressed with Malec's performance as police chief, and I'm glad she's out, Capparelli still got egg on his face over his handling of her dismissal.

He botched one of the biggest personnel shake ups at City Hall in years.

Now it looks like his latest blunder, the termination of a professional services contract for a Chicago PR firm that nobody on Joliet's City Council supported, could cost his taxpayers another $36,000 just to make the Mac Strategies Group go away.