Barrington sets pay for police chief turned manager

Retired Barrington police chief Jeff Lawler will earn a starting salary of $125,000 as the village's new acting manager, about $10,000 to $15,000 below his top-of-scale predecessor Denise Pieroni, Village President Karen Darch said.

In addition to Lawler collecting his police pension already, he and the village will begin contributing to a new pension through the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund.

Employees currently contribute 4 percent of their pay to the fund, while the village contributes 9.66 percent, Barrington Human Resources Manager Colleen Nigg said.

Employees must contribute to IMRF for eight years before being eligible for any level of retirement benefits.

Withdrawing from the system early brings a refund of the employees' contributions. While the village's contributions remain held by IMRF, they can be used in place of contributions for future employees, Darch said.

Comings and goings of village employees have been fast and furious over the past six months.

The elimination of 13 positions last November ­- slightly more than 10 percent of village staff - was expected to save Barrington about $1.5 million per year.

As the village of Inverness ended its longtime contract for police service from Barrington on May 1, several veteran officers, including Lawler, accepted incentives to retire that day.

Former deputy police chief Jerry Libit became acting chief of the Barrington department, leaving the position of deputy vacant.

On May 11, Pieroni's contract as village manager expired and was not renewed. A few days later, Lawler was appointed acting manager, with his salary finally established Tuesday.

Though both Lawler and Libit's titles bear the word "acting," Darch said the village isn't looking for anyone else and there's no time limit on how long the term "acting" can be used.

Financial pressures, particularly from personnel costs, are being recognized by Barrington as a strong reality today, and the village has lobbied against a state bill that would retroactively increase its pension costs for eight paramedics by $1.8 million.

But with so many staffing changes having occurred in the past several weeks, officials say it's hard to determine whether Barrington's financial pressures have increased or diminished as a result.

While finances haven't been the primary reason for some of these changes, none have been made with disregard to their financial aspects, Darch said.

"Every time we're making a move, it's on our mind," she said. "The economics of the time have been on all our minds."