Des Plaines manager could be in line for smaller raise
Des Plaines City Manager Mike Bartholomew could be in line for another raise, though he says it would be much smaller than the controversial $22,000 pay boost he received last year.
The eight-member city council and mayor have met behind closed doors four times since March to conduct Bartholomew's annual review. Bartholomew, who oversees day-to-day operations of city government, attended three of the hourlong sessions, including the final one Monday night where elected officials set annual goals for him.
Review sessions are often tied to raises, but Bartholomew said if he does receive a raise this year, it won't be large.
"I don't sense it would be like last year, if at all," he said.
The council was split last summer on how much of a raise to award Bartholomew, who was appointed city manager in 2012. Half the city council sought to give him a 4 percent raise, but the other half agreed to Bartholomew's request for 14 percent, arguing his base salary ranked second from the bottom on a list of 34 manager salaries in nearby communities.
In the end, Mayor Matt Bogusz broke a tie of the council to hike Bartholomew's base pay from $157,412 to $179,412. Aldermen later reached a compromise to make the pay retroactive to April 2015, not an entire year before, as first proposed.
If Bartholomew is given a raise this year, it would be up for a vote in the coming weeks at a public meeting of the city council, Bartholomew said.
Bartholomew has a contract without a length of term, and the council can hire or fire a city manager at any time.