Glen Ellyn officials used village phones to text each other

Two Glen Ellyn department heads who faced possible demotion for "excessive workplace interaction" used their village-issued cellular phones to send thousands of text messages to each other during an eight-month period, records show.

Still, several village leaders say they want no disciplinary action taken against Police Chief Phil Norton and Planning and Development Director Staci Hulseberg.

"If the information was dug up sooner, my reaction would have been the same," said Trustee Pete Ladesic, one of four trustees who voted this week not to demote Norton and Hulseberg for alleged personal misconduct.

According to records obtained by the Daily Herald through a Freedom of Information Act request, Norton and Hulseberg communicated via text message 9,637 times between January and August. They exchanged two text messages in January and more than 3,000 in June. In one instance that month, they exchanged more than 200 messages in a single day.

"I think that the phones were given to them, and they were allowed to use them for personal use," Village Attorney Stewart Diamond said Friday. "But as you can see, many of their calls and text messages were during work hours."

The village was looking into cell phone records about the same time a Freedom of Information request came in asking for similar information, he said.

Despite the cell phone records, Trustee Tim Armstrong stands by the board decision not to take action against Norton and Hulseberg.

"Part of the problem with this is there's no set policy to begin with," Armstrong said. "Nothing specifically prohibits relationships between department heads. You can't say they broke the rules if you don't know what the rules are."

Trustee Jim Comerford said he thinks Village Manager Steve Jones can handle the situation from here.

"This is a management issue, not a board issue," Comerford said. "And the only reason it was an issue before was because of the state statute on police."

Diamond said Jones can take a lesser disciplinary action against Norton and Hulseberg - such as a suspension or probation - without the board's approval.

Comerford said he has full confidence Jones will do whatever he believes is the right decision.

"We really have to understand the difference between what boards do and what management does," he said. "The next steps are management issues."

Armstrong said he wouldn't support anything other than some kind of written warning explaining expectations of Norton and Hulseberg.

He said it's time to move on.

"They've been put through a personal hell through the last five months," Armstrong said.

Ethics and personnel policies were briefly discussed this week during a workshop meeting.

"I think we will have to look at updating several different policies," Village President Vicky Hase said. "That will be up to management to identify those policies and bring those to the board."

Village staff will work on the documents, which may be ready as early as January.

Still, Jones places the responsibility on employees.

"As good as your ethics policies and personnel policies are," Jones said, "good judgment is still a necessary component."

Texting detailsMonth-by-month breakdown of text messages sent between Glen Ellyn Police Chief Phil Norton and Planning Director Staci Hulseberg Jan Feb March April May June July Aug Total 2 22 223 1,606 2,123 3,008 2,496 158 8 a.m.-6 p.m.: 1 1 19 750 897 1,282 677 104 6 p.m.-8 a.m.: 1 21 204 856 1,226 1,726 1,819 54 Busiest day: On June 5, Norton and Hulseberg traded 211 text messages.

Source: Village of Glen Ellyn response to Freedom of Information request