Pension approved for former Carol Stream fire chief

Former Chief Rick Kolomay will begin collecting a disability pension from the Carol Stream Fire Protection District.

The pension board recently approved Kolomay's bid for a non-duty disability pension, roughly six months after he applied on Jan. 28. His disability claim stems from a shoulder injury.

Before granting the request, the pension board reviewed Kolomay's medical records. Three doctors selected by the panel also determined he's disabled and unable to come back to work.

The pension amounts to 50 percent of his $140,636.80 salary as chief, or about $70,318 a year. The payments are retroactive to June 1, when Kolomay went off the district's payroll, said Perry Johnson, the district's chief administrative officer.

Because Kolomay is over 50, he isn't required to undergo an annual medical examination, Johnson said.

Kolomay announced earlier this year he was retiring after a nearly 37-year firefighting career.

Under a retirement agreement with the district's board of trustees, Kolomay could use paid time off he had accrued through Feb. 29. He received his regular salary and benefits from March 1 until June 1.

Kolomay also gets a retirement pension from the village of Schaumburg, where he stepped down after 22 years with that fire department in 2008. Those benefits, totaling $68,448 a year, are paid to Kolomay and his ex-wife, said Lisa Happ, the village's director of finance.

Kolomay returned less than a decade ago to the Carol Stream district, where he began his career in 1979. He was promoted from deputy to interim chief in 2009 and permanently got the job several months later.