Leave continues for Mount Prospect Village Manager Janonis

Mount Prospect Village Manager Michael Janonis' unexplained leave of absence continues, and there is no clear indication of when, or if, the longtime village official will return to work.

Although elected village leaders have refrained from commenting about Janonis' situation or the reasons behind his leave, made public Dec. 2, the village did confirm this week that Trustees Paul Hoefert and Michael Zadel met with Janonis recently.

Hoefert said the three met last week at the Emergency Command Center in the village's public works facility.

“Most of the board, if not all of the board, has had little to no contact with Mike Janonis since he went on FMLA,” Hoefert said, noting that the meeting was the first time he had seen Janonis about 12 weeks. “Part of the meeting was for him to bring us up to date on his situation and then to talk about what direction we're headed, whatever direction that is.”

He said Janonis' situation was discussed by the village board in closed session Tuesday.

“The entire board is hopeful that we could bring this to closure by the end of this month, or at least maybe in the very early part of next month,” Hoefert said. “I think we're looking at another 15 days or something like that.

“Everybody would like to take the mystery out of this, but unfortunately right at this moment, we're not at liberty to do that,” he added.

Although Janonis is still drawing a paycheck, Mayor Arlene Juracek said he is now dipping into personal time.

“He has used up his (Family and Medical Leave Act) leave and he is using his personal time off,” Juracek said.

Juracek has not addressed questions about why Janonis has taken a leave, saying the FMLA prevents her from commenting.

The federal act does not require employees to be paid while on leave. However, village employees are allowed to use accumulated paid time off — vacation, personal, and sick days — in order to receive pay during FMLA leave.

Assistant Village Manager David Strahl has been serving as acting village manager in Janonis' absence. He said there are no plans to discuss Janonis' future at any upcoming village board meetings.

Janonis has been Mount Prospect's village manager for more than 22 years. For 2014, his salary was increased from more than $175,000 to more than $184,000.