Mt. Prospect, manager Mike Janonis to formally part ways Wednesday

Mount Prospect Village Manager Michael Janonis has signed off on a separation agreement that will end his 23-year association with the village, Mayor Arlene Juracek confirmed Friday.

The village board is expected to approve the agreement at a meeting Wednesday, April 8.

The agreement is being made available only in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, Juracek said. In response to a request Friday, Village Clerk Lisa Angell said she expects to be able to release the document sometime before Wednesday's meeting, but she wasn't immediately certain whether that will be on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Under the law, the village has five working days to respond to a request.

Janonis has been on leave since November for unspecified reasons under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Under FMLA, Janonis received his salary for a specified period of time, but that time has expired, and he has been drawing on his accrued personal time.

Juracek had confirmed three weeks ago that the village and Janonis were negotiating terms of an exit agreement.

"There was a little bit of a delay, because, under federal labor laws, because Mike is over the age of 40, he gets a seven-day rescission rule, which means he signed it and he has got seven days to change his mind. So, once he signed it, we had to give him his seven days and then it was a matter of getting it on an agenda," Juracek said.

Because of trustees' schedules, Wednesday was the first day available to approve the agreement once the waiting period was over, she said.

"That seven-day period has expired, his signature is valid, and then we just need to go through the formality of approving it on our end," she said.

Janonis has been village manager since 1992. He makes more than $184,000 a year.

Juracek called Janonis a "wonderful champion for the village."

"He has made a lot of positive changes," she said. "He has really made a very positive mark on the village. We wish him well. We are very happy with what Mike has done."

Assistant Village Manager David Strahl has been serving as acting village manager during Janonis' absence. Juracek said the search for his replacement could be wide.

Because of the challenges posed by Gov. Bruce Rauner's recent proposal to cut in half the income tax funds the state shares with communities, having a new perspective might help the village cope, she said. She added that if there are new board members elected Tuesday, it is only fair to include them in the discussion going forward.

"I think our taxpayers would demand that we look for the best talent, and we certainly encourage Dave (Strahl) to apply, but we'll be looking at a broader search."

For the last six weeks, Strahl has had getting some help from an assistant, Juracek said.

"Part of what Dave does is supervise our HR and IT area and our finance area," she said. "As part of that duty, he does a lot of salary analysis and labor relations analysis. Acting as the village manager, he just didn't have an opportunity to devote (time) to some of that effort."

In addition to hiring an assistant, he also had the help of Administrative Analyst Alex Bertolucci, who was recently hired full time after serving as a part-time intern.

"We're running a $100 million-plus organization with 280 to 300 employees. There is a lot of reporting that needs to go on, a lot of benchmarking, labor relations," Juracek said. "There is just a whole lot going on, so Dave needed the assistance."

• Daily Herald staff writer Eric Peterson contributed to this report.