Spat between Lauzen, McMahon may delay Kane County employee raises

Kane County corrections officers and coroner's staff members may have to wait at least another month for raises if county board Chairman Chris Lauzen's latest beef with State's Attorney Joe McMahon takes a turn for the worse.

The county board's executive committee gave tentative approval to three pending union contracts Wednesday for workers in the county clerk's office, health department and workforce development unit. Union contracts for employees at the county jail and coroner's offices also came up for discussion.

However, the “draft” wording on the corrections officers' contract, and notice during the meeting from the state's attorney's office that the coroner's contract wording was not final, triggered another diatribe by Lauzen over what he sees as “jumbled” work by McMahon's office.

“All my experience in private sector management is we rely on the attorneys to make sure all the T's are crossed and the I's dotted,” Lauzen said. “But with the experiences that we've had over the last three to four months, I invite all the board members to read those contracts very closely.”

In an interview, Lauzen said he wants a letter from McMahon promising the contract wording is final and reflects the agreed-upon terms before he'll bring the corrections and coroner contracts up for a final vote. He set 4:30 p.m. Friday as the deadline for that letter.

“They've made so many mistakes,” Lauzen said. “So you go to the boss. Without that, I regret that we're not going to vote on it and people will have to wait at least another month without raises.”

Lauzen also said he has sent guest columns to local publications about his view of McMahon not properly supervising the civil division since taking on the Laquan McDonald case. He is prepared to present his position on that, in front of McMahon, at the next full county board meeting Tuesday.

Last month, Lauzen and McMahon clashed over the union contract negotiations with dueling memos. McMahon pointed to Lauzen's misunderstanding of some of the contract terms as a source of confusion that spread to the county board. But Lauzen pointed to McMahon's office as the reason he had misunderstandings to begin with.

Lauzen also raised the notion of having the ability to hire an outside attorney for a second opinion from when he or the board disagreed with legal advice from the state's attorney's office. McMahon shot down that plan.

If all five union contracts are approved, they will add significant new spending to the county budget. All the union contracts and nonunion raises approved so far, plus those slated for a vote, will add $2.65 million in new salary and benefits to the 2019 budget. All the raises over the three-year life of the deals total about $4.5 million in new spending.