Lake in the Hills to consider anti-nepotism policy

Lake in the Hills could soon explicitly ban village employees from supervising or training relatives.

The proposed anti-nepotism policy, which officials are scheduled to vote on this week, comes as part of a set of changes to the village’s personnel manual.

Currently, nepotism isn’t addressed in village records. No results for the word “nepotism” appear when searched for on the village website or in previous versions of the personnel manual.

According to a draft of the new manual, Lake in the Hills isn’t banning “personal relationships” between employees but placing restrictions on them to avoid conflicts of interest and nepotism.

A personal relationship is defined in the draft as “any relationship arising from marriage, cohabitation, dating, or any other intimate relationship beyond mere friendship.” It defines nepotism as “the practice of showing favoritism to relatives over others in appointment, employment, compensation, promotion, or advancement by any public official in a position to influence any such personnel decisions.”

If the proposed policy is approved, it would prohibit employees from supervising or being supervised by a relative or significant other. Employees also would be banned from training relatives or significant others. In addition, they would also not be allowed to participate in personnel decisions involving relatives or significant others. If they are in a relationship that could cause a conflict of interest, they are supposed to report it to the village administrator or chief of police, according to village documents.

Village officials did not return messages seeking comment about the policy on Monday.

Neighboring Huntley and Algonquin already have policies on the books designed to try to curb nepotism. Huntley’s policy prohibits elected and appointed officials from being hired by the village in addition to their relatives.

The Lake in the Hills Village Board is scheduled to vote Thursday night on the change.