Closing arguments expected in Carol Stream fire hearing

After several months of legal proceedings, the disciplinary hearing for Carol Stream Fire District Battalion Chief Joseph Gilles finally appears to be nearing an end.

Closing oral arguments will begin at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday before the Carol Stream Fire District Board of Commissioners. Written closing arguments already should have been submitted to the commission.

The crux of the hearing rests on Fire Chief Richard Kolomay's allegation that he ordered Gilles to sign a performance improvement plan and Gilles failed to do so.

By not signing the plan, also called a PIP, Gilles violated four rules of conduct, said Meganne Trela, one of Kolomay's attorneys.

In his complaint, Kolomay is asking that Gilles be terminated, Trela said.

Part of the hearing also has centered on a 2012 incident in which a district paramedic responded to a Carol Stream woman who was choking on food. The woman was taken to the hospital and died three days later.

Gilles' attorneys have said he fell out of favor with his superiors when he was asked to investigate possible acts of negligence by that paramedic. They also have denied that Gilles was ever ordered to sign a performance plan and, even if he was, the order would be unlawful.

Trela said Gilles' claims aren't supported by the evidence.

"Battalion Chief Gilles has alleged a variety of different defenses, one of which is that somehow his involvement in investigating the (paramedic) incident was related to the chief's development and presentation of a performance improvement plan, and that somehow it was an act of retaliation against Battalion Chief Gilles," Trela said.

"We feel that that event was completely unrelated," she said. "His performance issues were present long before that 2012 EMS incident."

But John Botti, one of Gilles' attorneys, sees the case differently.

Gilles was presented with the PIP and three reprimands in July 2013, Botti said.

He said the reprimands are "completely bogus."

In the performance improvement plan, it says the main issues with Gilles are that he lacks the proper management and leadership skills, does not garner the necessary respect from his peers and his peers and the personnel do not trust in him as a manager or a leader.

Botti said the performance plan is a "very complicated, confusing, poorly written document."

"There are allegations in here that are completely unsubstantiated, they're very vague," he said, adding that the document's claims are not supported by specific evidence.

The plan also outlines seven goals for Gilles, two of which are to design a personal agenda and to "accomplish improvements in assessed fitness deficits."

"It's all very subjective, there's nothing objective about this, there are no criteria upon which he is to be judged. It's all determined by the fire chief," Botti said. "Why would Gilles agree to be bound to these two goals if he doesn't know how he is going to be judged? I mean, it's setting him up for failure."