Discipline still an option for Glen Ellyn dept. heads

The jobs of two Glen Ellyn department heads might have been spared this week, but they may still face discipline by the village.

"It's up to the village manager to determine whether he wishes to take lesser disciplinary action," Glen Ellyn's attorney Stewart Diamond said Tuesday. "I think he could suspend; he could put people on probation."

Village Manager Steve Jones declined to comment about the board's decision to retain Police Chief Phil Norton and Planning and Development Director Staci Hulseberg. Jones also didn't say whether Norton or Hulseberg would be disciplined on a smaller scale.

Jones sought their demotion because of a relationship that developed between the two married employees. Village officials said Norton or Hulseberg spent more than $1,000 of taxpayers' money sending text messages to each other during work hours.

On Monday night, the board held a special meeting to vote on the proposed demotion, but two trustees changed their vote at the last minute and rejected the proposal. Diamond said many residents and business owners who spoke at the meeting were against a demotion but spoke in favor of some disciplinary action against the two.

Diamond said Jones has the authority to discipline Norton and Hulseberg, and suspects Jones will discuss his thoughts with the village board.

Trustee Jim Comerford, who initially was in favor of a demotion but changed his mind after residents pleas Monday night, said he's not aware of any additional disciplinary actions.

"There may need to be discussion on it, but I don't know what my opinion on that would be at this point," he said Tuesday.

Diamond said Jones wants to consider his options.

"I know that the village wishes to provide the village manager with substantial support," Diamond said. "The fact that they have rejected this specific recommendation shouldn't be viewed as a lack of support for his administration."

Trustee Pete Ladesic said his confidence in Jones has been shaken, but he'd like to see if Jones has the ability to do a good job - and can show it to the board.

"(Jones) is going to help us to create the case in keeping him," he said.

Ladesic's issue was not only the process the proposed demotions went through, but whether it was defensible and whether the personal relationship between the two employees affected their job performance.

"I assumed the worst from the get-go: they had this mad passionate affair. OK, next. Did it violate any types of law?" Ladesic said. "I didn't have an issue with slapping their hand and changing the employee policy to maybe put some guideline in place for the future. But you can't do that retroactively."

Mark Pfefferman, the Glen Ellyn Civic Betterment Party's slated candidate for village president, says he watched Monday's meeting from home and was surprised with the results.

"I thought it was a good example of how communication can work in the village," Pfefferman said. "I think we should start this communication at the beginning of the process so that we're all working together rather than it being sort of a confrontation at the end of the process."

Trustee Tim Armstrong, who opposed the demotion since Day One, said the punishment simply was overblown.

"No one will ever condone what they did," he said. "But to demote the police chief down to sergeant because of this is wrong."

Norton said he was overwhelmed by the public's support and touched by the reaction of the village board.

"I'm proud to live and work in a community like this," he said.