Rolling Meadows police chief named temporary city manager
Amid the continuing fallout from the firing of Rolling Meadows City Manager Barry Krumstok and resignation of Finance Director Melissa Gallagher, Police Chief John Nowacki is now running day-to-day operations at city hall as temporary city manager.
His appointment by Mayor Joe Gallo was confirmed Tuesday night in a 6-0 vote by the city council.
"In an effort to ensure operational continuity and enable an easier transition for Finance Director and current Temporary City Manager Gallagher into her next professional endeavor, and also keep the city operating smoothly, it has been decided that we go ahead and roll back some of those responsibilities and allow another individual to take up those roles and responsibilities just to keep things in a homeostatic-type level," Gallo said.
Gallagher, who has been overseeing city operations since the council fired Krumstok in July, relinquished her duties as temporary city manager Wednesday, a week and a half before she leaves city hall for a new job as Lake County deputy finance director.
Nowacki has been police chief since 2016, after a long tenure at the Elk Grove Village Police Department that started in 1987. He's expected to remain in the top city administrative role on an interim basis until a new, permanent city manager is appointed by the council.
The mayor and aldermen have held three closed session meetings - last Wednesday, Monday and again Wednesday night this week - to consider candidates for the position. The full council discussion follows seven earlier meetings of a three-person subcommittee that reviewed resumes and narrowed down the pool of applicants to five.
Gallagher's temporary replacement in the finance department is Thomas Glaser. He previously served as senior vice president of administration and treasurer at College of DuPage under then-President Robert Breuder, and chief financial officer at Cook County under then Board President John Stroger.
Glaser and another COD administrator were fired in September 2015 by then-interim college President Joseph Collins for what Collins said was a failure to protect the financial integrity of the Glen Ellyn-based community college. They were put on leave months earlier, after an audit revealed the school lost roughly $2.2 million in the Illinois Metropolitan Investment Fund.
But Glaser filed suit against the college, Collins and former board Chairwoman Kathy Hamilton, saying he was wrongfully terminated as payback for opposing Hamilton's political agenda, and that Hamilton planned to fire him before an internal investigation into his actions was completed.
Glaser dropped the suit after the parties settled out of court in June 2017.
Glaser will be paid $105 per hour to serve as Rolling Meadows' interim finance director, under an employee leasing agreement the city council inked Tuesday with GovTempsUSA, a Northbrook-based temporary staffing agency that caters to local government.
Glaser's hours will vary from week to week, but it's anticipated he will average 30 hours per week, city officials said.
The temporary staffing agreement is retroactive to Sept. 30 and runs until July 29, 2022, but it can be terminated with a two-week notice.
Gallagher, who has overseen the city's finance department for 15 years, will officially hand over the reins to Glaser on Oct. 22.