Demoted Deputy Police Chief Joe Rosado Accepted Salary Cut

JOLIET, IL — Despite being demoted from their jobs as deputy chief at the Joliet Police Department, Marc Reid and Darrell Gavin both managed to negotiate a salary increase for themselves of nearly $18,000. The third demoted deputy chief, Joe Rosado, did not have the same fortune, Joliet Patch learned.

This week, Joliet Patch obtained payroll records from City Hall showing that Rosado is the only one of the three demoted police chief to see a salary reduction. In January, newly named Police Chief Dawn Malec announced the demotions for Reid, Rosado and Gavin as part of a housecleaning in the command staff at the police station. The only deputy chief who was kept in the new administration was Mike Batis.

The other three men were considered loyalists of the previous chief, Al Roechner, who was disliked by many within the police department, members of City Hall and some members of the community.

In any event, Rosado's last three city of Joliet paychecks confirm that his annual salary has been reduced to $140,947. At the time of his Jan. 8 paycheck, Rosado was making an annual deputy chief's salary of $153,816.

In other words, Rosado's annual salary has been reduced by $12,869. On Thursday afternoon, Joliet Patch visited the Joliet police station in hopes of reaching Rosado for comment on his new assignment, but so far he has not called back.

Rosado is only the only one of the three demoted deputy chiefs who remain on the job and is coming into work every day.

Roechner had named Reid, Gavin and Batis as three of his deputy chiefs in December 2018. Roechner's fourth appointment for deputy chief, John Perona, lasted less than seven months in the job.

In July 2019, Perona agreed to retire rather than accept a demotion back to his previous rank of sergeant. Perona's demotion was recommended by then-city of Joliet interim Manager Marty Shanahan as a part of an internal shakeup at the command level of Roechner's police department.

In mid-March of 2020, Roechner promoted Rosado from a lieutenant to fill the vacancy created when Perona left the previous summer.

Now, after 10 months as a deputy chief, Rosado is back to his previous rank of lieutenant.

On the issue of Joliet police pension spiking controversies involving Roechner, Reid and Gavin, Joliet City Councilman Larry Hug has asked new City Manager Jim Capparelli and city corporation counsel Sabrina Spano to report back to the council at Tuesday's meeting.

Hug asked to know the legalities of the secret pay agreement that outgoing City Manager Jim Hock negotiated as an incentive for Roechner to leave, rather than take the risk of being fired. The City Council was kept out of the loop and was not part of the negotiations.

On Hock's second-to-last day running City Hall at Joliet, Hock gave Roechner a raise of $31,045 — a 19 percent salary increase. It boosted Roechner's base salary to $192,435 and his total pay to more than $201,000.

The enormous pay increase gave the retiring police chief a final salary that is substantially more than the city of Joliet's pay scales allow for a city department head, Joliet Patch has reported.

At the meeting two weeks ago, Hug said he was not aware that Gavin and Reid also negotiated nearly $18,000 raises for themselves during the same week they were being demoted.

In Gavin's case, he chose to retire that same week he negotiated his pay raise. The 49-year-old Reid remains on the city payroll, two months later, Patch reported earlier this week.

In fact, Reid is now the highest salaried employee with the Joliet Police Department even though he, like Rosado, were both sent back to being a lieutenant.

Mayor Bob O'Dekirk told Joliet Patch recently that he supports Hug's actions to seek the city legal department's advice on whether it was proper for Roechner, Reid and Gavin to receive large salary hikes at the end of their careers.

If nothing changes, Reid, Gavin and Roechner — who were already three of Joliet's highest paid employees — will remain able to spike their pensions and keep the several thousand dollars in extra pay for cashing out their nest eggs of unused vacation, sick bank and comp time accruals at the time of their departures.

In January, Roechner walked away with more than $122,000 in his retirement service, while Gavin received more than $66,000 for his retirement payout.

Even though Reid rarely missed work during the past 26 years with Joliet police, Reid obtained a doctor's note in January as soon as Roechner left and Malec became the new chief.

Reid has stayed home from work on indefinite sick leave for the past two months.

Since his demotion to lieutenant, Reid has continued to get a new base salary of nearly $172,000. As multiple sources have told Patch, Reid is not believed to be ill.

Since Feb. 16, Joliet Patch has produced numerous articles about the Joliet police pension spiking controversy:

• Demoted Deputy Chief Gets $18,000 Raise And Isn't Working
• Darrell Gavin Gets $18,000 Raise To Retire
• Joliet Police Pension Fiasco: Jerry Hervey Outraged
• Chief Roechner's Pension Spike Surpassed Joliet's Salary Range
• Chief Roechner Got Huge Raise 1 Day Before Retiring