Joliet's Planning Director Retired In November, Is There A Successor?

JOLIET — Five months have passed since Joliet native Jim Torri appeared before the Joliet City Council one last time, during his final week as city planning director. Councilwoman Jan Quillman introduced Torri at the podium, reciting a long list of notable development projects during Torri's tenure with the Joliet planning department.

Now that April is here, Joliet still has not found a replacement for Torri, even though the job is considered one of the key management positions inside City Hall.

This week, Joliet Patch learned that Joliet's Human Resources Department did not have the planning director vacancy listed among the various job openings at City Hall.

However, after reaching out to Dustin Anderson, Joliet's director of community development since last year, Anderson assured Joliet Patch that filling Torri's position remains a priority at City Hall and that the city administration intends to hire someone.

"We have run two recruitments and have not found a suitable replacement," Anderson informed Joliet Patch in an email. "Currently, we are between postings. But rest assured, the City of Joliet has a very talented staff that is able to keep up in the interim."

Joliet Patch found a job posting for the Joliet city planning director from three months ago on the website Teal and the listing sought prospective applicants with "a minimum of seven years progressively responsible experience in municipal planning, realty, economic development, business and public finance, zoning and building code compliance."

The listing indicated a starting salary in the range of $130,000 to $140,000 depending on qualifications and experience and residency in Joliet is not required, either.

Nowadays, many of Joliet's top City Hall officials opt to live in communities other than Joliet.

Torri, on the other hand, grew up in Joliet and spent his entire professional career with one employer: the city of Joliet.

During his farewell meeting to the Joliet City Council last Nov. 4, Torri explained how he came to the city of Joliet in 1990 as a student intern in planning. He became a city planner I in 1993, city planner II in 2005 and planning director in June 2021.

Councilwoman Quillman reminded everyone that Torri provided project oversight on a number of major projects including the Silver Cross Hospital, the Cass Street Tax Increment Finance District, Tower Marketplace Commercial Center, Rock Run Crossings mixed use business center, NorthPoint's Compass Business Park and CenterPoint Intermodal Park.

Quillman then read a proclamation from Mayor Terry D'Arcy "recognizing Jim Torri for his loyal and dedicated service to the city of Joliet."

"I feel lucky and blessed to have this job and what it did for me, what it did for my family, and I want to thank all of those people that helped me to get to here, John Mezera was one of them and I'm sorry to hear of his passing ... thank you very much for allowing me to do this job. I had a college professor that said whatever you do when you guys graduate, don't get a job immediately with your hometown, go find somewhere else. Of course, I didn't do that," Torri remarked, drew a few laughs from the City Council.

"I started here but I don't have any regrets in doing that. There's opportunities galore for a planner to continue to learn, and I continue to learn my whole life here. There's no other place I'd rather work than Joliet and again, thank you very much for allowing me to do that all these years," Torri added.

Last year, Torri made $152,127 in total pay with the city of Joliet.