Water reclamation chief threatens to quit

Richard Lanyon is planning to quit his job now as executive director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago rather than lose out on 45 days pay if he retires in two years as he planned.

The 47-year veteran of the agency that handles wastewater for the Chicago area announced his resignation plans after the district's board voted recently to end “termination pay” and reduce sick-time payouts.

The agency currently offers employees one day of pay for every year they have worked for the district when they leave, with a cap of 30 days, said board President Terry O'Brien. The current sick-time payout allows departing employees a day of pay for every two sick days accrued. That policy also maxes out at 30 days, O'Brien said.

Starting Jan. 1, district employees will no longer be offered termination pay and sick-time maximum payouts will be reduced to 15 days, O'Brien said.

“This is part of us being in tough economic times right now,” he said.

Lanyon said the board's decision would cost him 45 days of pay he says he's earned over his career with the agency. Neither Lanyon nor O'Brien would immediately provide a dollar amount.

“I'm not the only person affected by this,”Lanyon said. “Others are feeling burned as well.”

Lanyon, 73, said he was planning to retire in 2012. He said the board has three meetings between now and Dec. 16 and he will submit his resignation then if the decision isn't reversed.

Both men said Lanyon's resignation decision had nothing to do with an ongoing legal saga over the firing of Jill Horist, the district's former public affairs director. A state board is holding hearings to determine if her firing was justified. Horist has accused Lanyon of perjuring himself during the hearings.

“Does it make sense that I'd quit to avoid perjury charges?” Lanyon said. “How will that help?”

Lanyon was first hired by the district as an engineer and worked as a waterways engineer for a number of years before moving to flood control engineering. He then moved to research and development where he spent a large chunk of his career before ascending to the top spot at the agency in 2006.

“Dick's been a great public servant and given 47 years of his life to this agency,” O'Brien said. “He's also served on some pretty important groups outside the district.”