Island Lake board settles disputes with two former employees
Island Lake officials have approved financial settlements with two of the village's former top employees.
Ex-Water Department Supervisor Neal DeYoung will get a roughly $21,511 check from the village. Additionally, former Finance Director John Little will get an estimated $2,750 payout.
Trustees unanimously approved the deals in separate votes Thursday night.
DeYoung retired in July 2014 after a 38-year career in Island Lake. He later filed a formal complaint against village hall, saying he was owed money for unused sick days.
DeYoung has repeatedly declined to comment about his complaint against the village or the settlement.
Mayor Charles Amrich said the dispute centered on whether unionized employees are entitled to pay for unused sick days.
Amrich called the settlement fair.
Little was fired in February 2014 after the discovery of a $389,000 shortfall in the village's police pension fund. The money had been used to pay legal bills, among other expenses, officials later said.
Little had been finance director for 12 years.
After being fired, Little filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Labor claiming he was owed unpaid wages and money for unused vacation time and “unpaid compensatory time.”
Little couldn't be reached for comment.
Amrich called the settlement a compromise.
“We need to put these things to sleep here,” he said. “It's something that needs to be done and over with.”
Toward the end of his tenure, Little was a regular punching bag for some trustees and residents at public meetings.
In 2011, then-Trustee Laurie Rabattini said the board was preparing to sack Little because of insubordination and other factors, but the move never materialized.