Des Plaines development director wonders why he had to resign

Four weeks after quietly submitting his own termination letter, Des Plaines Community and Economic Development Director Michael Conlan said this week that he was fired from the job without once receiving a performance evaluation.

Conlan said he was told by Acting City Manager Jason Slowinski on July 8 to submit his resignation, which he did. Per the letter, Conlan's employment with the city will end Aug. 31.

"I do not know what prompted this decision," Conlan said. "That's the frustration, not having been given any rationale for it. I'm sore to leave. I moved my family here and believed it was important for me to live in this community."

Conlan has served more than three years with the city. He was hired in April 2007 by then-City Manager David Niemeyer, who himself departed abruptly in May 2007.

Since then, "I have never had an evaluation," Conlan said adding, it was his understanding that none of the other department heads received performance evaluations either.

Conlan said the job often puts him in the middle of a lot of contentious issues.

Conlan said the last input he received before being asked to resign came from Mayor Marty Moylan after a five-hour city council meeting on July 5 ending at midnight. Conlan said Moylan came up to him after the meeting and commended him for doing a good job presenting the issues.

The city manager's office has the authority to hire and fire department heads.

Slowinski also declined to comment on Conlan's firing, and will only say that he resigned.

Speaking to the issue of performance reviews, Slowinski said those would have been done by former City Manager Jason Bajor, who was fired in January with 6 months severance pay and health benefits.

Slowinski said he has not done any staff evaluations himself.

Moylan said he doesn't know what Bajor's timetable was for doing reviews, but acknowledged staff evaluations fell through the cracks after his departure.

"We have a system for that but because of the transition from the previous city manager to this one, it hasn't been done recently," Moylan said. "I think that every day you are evaluated by the public on how you perform."

Moylan said there were several complaints about the attitudes of Conlan and his department's inspectors. "We would pass them on to the city manager for evaluation," he added.

Several city aldermen were surprised to learn that Conlan was fired when they had been told it was a resignation, and that a department head making $118,000 yearly was not evaluated on his job performance.

"This is really the first that I've heard of that," 6th Ward Alderman Mark Walsten said. "It's disturbing. I think there should be performance reviews for everybody."

Ward 1 Alderwoman Patricia Haugeberg said she too was under the impression that city department heads were being evaluated yearly.

"I guess you should never assume anything," she said. "The day-to-day activities of city hall we leave to staff. Maybe some additional direction is required to make sure and verify that there are annual reviews."

Haugeberg said Conlan's situation is reminiscent of Bajor, who also did not have a performance review before being ousted, which was the city council's responsibility.

Haugeberg said she didn't have any problems with Conlan. "I think Mike did a good job with the city," she said.

Yet, Haugeberg acknowledged other aldermen were dissatisfied with Conlan for not returning phone calls to either themselves or city residents in a timely manner.

Ward 3 Alderman Matt Bogusz said he has periodically given feedback about Conlan and other department heads to Bajor and Slowinski.

"Whenever there was a performance issue with Community and Economic Development or any other department, I have made a concerted effort to document any performance-related issues and relay it to their boss," he said. "It's regrettable when senior staff don't meet expectations."

Bogusz would not say what kind of performance issues he had with Conlan.

"I'm not going to comment on personnel-related issues," he said. "I have documented instances where improvement should be made."

As for employee performance evaluations, Bogusz said it's the city manager's job to provide feedback to staff.

"It does bother me that there has not been regular evaluations," Bogusz said. "I think that Acting City Manager Slowinski is doing the best he can in the position he is in."

The city council will soon be reviewing Slowinski's own performance.

"I believe when Slowinski's performance review comes up, that is just one of the things that will be looked at," Walsten said. "We need to look at whether we're going to retain him or seek someone else."

Meanwhile, since Conlan does not have an employment agreement with the city, he will not be receiving any severance pay.

Slowinski said city officials are doing a nationwide search for his replacement and applications are due Aug. 20.

In the meantime, the position will be filled with an interim director, he said.