Joliet Police Pension Spiker Becomes Elwood Police Sergeant

JOLIET, IL — Marc Reid, a deputy chief at the Joliet Police Department who never worked a single day on the job after new chief Dawn Malec demoted him to a lieutenant in January, has resumed his police career as a full-time sergeant in the neighboring community of Elwood.

After retiring from the Joliet Police Department in early April, Reid started working in early June for Elwood Police Chief Fred Hayes as one of Hayes' two sergeants. Reid and Hayes worked together years ago at the Joliet Police Department. Hayes served as Joliet Police Chief from 2006 to 2011.

Hayes told Joliet Patch that Elwood Police Sgt. Andrew Anderson left to become a sergeant with the Naperville Police Department, leaving Elwood with the open supervisor position.

Hayes said Elwood's hiring regulations allow him to make the hiring decision to fill sergeant positions at his department. Elwood has eight officers, two sergeants and one chief.

Hayes said he interviewed a handful of people before deciding to hire Reid.

"We're absolutely thrilled to be able to get Marc Reid, who's as qualified a person as you can get," Hayes said. "He has a wealth of experience.

"I did reach out to Marc and other supervisors from the Joliet Police Department, and I did interview a few people. I'm thrilled to have Marc here."

Hayes said he recently lost two of his Elwood officers to the Will County Sheriff's Office and to the Channahon Police Department, respectively.

"It's a poaching game, right?" Hayes said. "You have conversations with people in other departments and people who are retired."

For several years, Reid served as a lieutenant overseeing the internal affairs unit at the Joliet Police Department. In late 2018, Joliet's then-new chief of police Al Roechner promoted Reid to become one of the four deputy chiefs of police.

For the next two years, Roechner's upper administration was marked by constant internal turmoil and upheaval within the police department.

In early January, Roechner negotiated a $31,000 raise for himself in exchange for submitting his immediate notice of retirement. Days later, Roechner's replacement announced that Reid was one of three deputy chiefs being replaced and demoted in rank.

Ordinarily, a demotion carries a substantial drop in pay, but Reid received a salary increase of nearly $18,000 during the same week of his demotion, Joliet Patch has previously reported.

Reid's raise was approved by new City Manager Jim Capparelli, who gave another demoted deputy chief, Darrell Gavin, the identical raise, an increase of 11.5 percent in pay.

Gavin retired in January, and the raise helped Gavin spike his Joliet police pension.

In Reid's case, he was given a pay hike of $17,688 to $171,505.

Then for the next 10 weeks, as the highest-paid salaried member of Joliet police force, Reid did not show up for a single day of work in his new assignment as the night watch lieutenant.

Instead, Reid got a doctor's note that allowed him to remain on indefinite sick leave from the Joliet Police Department. After collecting 10 consecutive weeks of sick leave pay, Reid retired from Joliet police on April 4, after 26 years of service. Reid officially retired one day after he turned 50 years old.

As for Hayes, he spent 31 years with the Joliet Police Department, and this November will mark 10 years since he has been Elwood's police chief. In May, the Elwood Village Board approved a new four-year contract for Hayes to remain as Elwood's chief until May 2025.

Besides collecting his Elwood chief's salary, Hayes also draws a six-figure pension from Joliet police. According to public documents, Hayes was getting $143,791 in 2019 for his Joliet police pension, which began at $114,061 in August 2011.

Joliet Patch previously reported that with 26 years of service, Reid can expect to collect a Joliet police pension at 65 percent of his final salary. That means Reid's starting pension could be least $111,478.

In addition to his $111,000 starting police pension, Reid is also collecting a full-time salary as a sergeant for Elwood.

On June 29, Joliet Patch emailed Elwood Village Administrator Julie Friebele asking for the details of Hayes' new four-year employment contract as well as Reid's starting salary as an Elwood police sergeant, but she did not respond to Patch's questions.