Joliet HR Director Who Had Several Huge Pay Raises Announces Her Upcoming Departure

JOLIET, IL — Kathy Franson, who has served as the city of Joliet's human resources director since 2017, has informed her superiors and colleagues that she's leaving the city of Joliet on Halloween.

"I am excited to announce that I will be retiring from the City of Joliet on October 31, 2025," Franson wrote in an email sent to city staff on Saturday afternoon. "I wanted to give the City ample time to find my replacement to ensure a smooth transition with minimal impact. Therefore, you will be seeing the job posting for the next HR Director publicized soon. For HR assistance between now and October 31st, please don’t hesitate to contact me or another member of the HR Department Team.

"It has been an honor to work for the City of Joliet and a pleasure working with each of you and I wish you all much success in the years ahead."

On Tuesday, the city of Joliet issued a Facebook bulletin indicating the human resources director's job opening will only be available for the next four weeks.

The application deadline is Sept. 15.

Applicants need to submit a cover letter, five work-related references and a resume. And if applicants or prospective applicants have questions, they are urged to call deputy city manager Christa Desiderio or Joliet's director of finance Kevin Sing.

"We're looking for an experienced, creative and progressive leader to join our team," the city of Joliet announced on Facebook.

As for Franson, Joliet Patch has published several articles in recent years surrounding her rise in pay and that some of her department's responsibilities have been delegated to Joliet's legal department, prompting a substantial pay raise for one of Joliet's newer assistant corporation counsels.

On April 29, Joliet Patch published the following exclusive story headlined, "Joliet Boosts HR Director Kathy Franson's Salary Another $11,353 In 2024."

Patch informed its more than 88,000 Facebook followers that Franson's salary continued to increase as the city human resources director was the recipient of not one, but two separate pay increases in 2024, totaling $11,353.

Franson's two pay increases covered by the taxpayers of Joliet boosted her salary at the city of Joliet to $171,253. Franson was one of an undisclosed number of Joliet City Hall employees who received a cost-of -living raise in January 2024, which for Franson, amounted to a salary hike of $3,198. Then in May of 2024, 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 raised Franson's annual salary by another $8,155 for 2024.

At the time of Joliet Patch's April article, in seven-and-a-half years on the job at Joliet's City Hall, Franson had been the recipient of $66,253 in salary increases, an average annual pay raise of $8,834.

When Franson took over as Joliet's director of human resources on Oct. 23, 2017, she was making $105,000.

Last December, Patch reported that Tamara Edmondson, a former city of Joliet employee in the finance department, had filed a federal lawsuit against her former employer, naming Joliet's human resources director Kathy Franson, finance director Kevin Sing and ex-city manager Jim Capparelli as defendants.

The lawsuit accuses 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.