Though the Lincolnwood village manager’s current contract won’t be renewed when it expires next summer, the vote trustees cast at a special Village Board meeting doesn’t quite oust the city leader out of his job.
Trustees were split 3-3 on the decision to not renew Village Manager Tim Wiberg’s contract as it currently reads. Mayor Barry Bass cast the deciding vote, pushing the final tally to 4-3 at the Dec. 9 meeting.
“That does not mean the village is precluded from entering into a new employment agreement with Tim Wiberg,” village attorney Steven Elrod noted.
It was established at the Saturday night meeting that while the board would review Wiberg’s contract, the village would not continue to automatically renew it without further consideration.
“I think it’s only appropriate, so that’s why I made the motion,” said Cope. “It’s not intended as a reflection on Tim. It’s an understanding that the mayor has made a point in regards to wanting to do what’s right in terms of the village and not to suddenly find we’ve got another two-year obligation which may or may not be a good thing.”
According to employment information the Lincolnwood Review obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, Wiberg started as village administrator in 2003 at a base salary of $119,000 plus benefits, including a $400 “car allowance.”
That initial contract also included $30,000 to help Wiberg relocate to the Lincolnwood area and another $6,000 in relocation expenses.
Then in 2007, the village approved a $150,000 loan to Wiberg “for the purpose of improving his current residence” or getting a new one, according to the employment information. The loan is forgivable at a rate of $10,000 each year he continues to work for Lincolnwood.
In the current contract, which was effective June 7, 2016, Wiberg’s base salary increased to 194,157 and the car allowance increased to $500 monthly. Also, the contract indicates, the village each month pumps 6.5 percent of his base salary into his pension.
A provision exists within the employment contract stating that unless the board gives notice that it does not intend to renew the agreement or allow for the termination to occur on the two-year date, which would be June 7, 2018, and unless that notice is provided 180 days prior, the employment agreement is automatically renewed for an additional 24 months, Elrod explained.
The 180-day period was set to expire Dec. 9, which led to the emergency meeting.
Trustees Renan Sugarman – whom Bass appointed, freshman Georjean Hlepas Nickell, Ronald Cope and Bass voted in favor of the measure. But trustees Jennifer Spino, Jesal Patel and Jean Ikezoe-Halevi – who is serving her first term – voted against it.
Barry Bass called the special meeting for Saturday, where the only issue on the agenda was discussion of Wiberg’s employment contract.
The mayor called the meeting Dec. 7, barely within the 48 hours required by law to make public notification of it. And it occurred on the last day the village had to legally act on not automatically renewing the employment contract.
“I think the corporate counsel has made it clear this is a formal procedure so that it gives the board the opportunity to go through the evaluation process,” said Cope.
Elrod explained Saturday that Wiberg’s contract has been amended several times in the past.
In calling the meeting, Bass said he “by chance” realized that the date for the village to act was approaching. The mayor, who formerly served as village trustee, said “to my surprise” he learned that Wiberg’s contract auto-renews.
The village manager said the provision has been longstanding in his employment pact. Wiberg said during the meeting that he did not intentionally “obfuscate the notice provision.”
“I think there’s been an impression that that provision is new, but it’s been in there in the village’s language since 2003,” Wiberg said. “It’s always been carried on from contract to contract. Quite honestly, it’s never come up as an issue in the seven times it’s been renewed, so it’s automatically happened.”
But Bass said that this time around, he wants to “properly be fiscally responsible.”
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“In reviewing bills which I had requested recently from ComEd and Nicor…I started looking more deeply at employment agreements,” the mayor said. “When any employment contract or a vendor contract for anyone who’s doing business has an automatic renewal with some length of time, it’s a matter of concern,”
Bass said he thinks it is important that there be a review when such circumstances occur.
He explained that upon discussing the situation with Elrod, the conclusion was made that a notice should be given to give proper notice to Wiberg and to potentially provide a time period to vet a new contract or renew terms.
Mayor Bass described his intentions as “whatever someone would prudently do when they’re trying to work in the best interest of residents.”
Some residents questioned the motive for what had been considered a last-minute meeting, seeming doubtful and surprised that village leaders did not know the action date had come up and put the village in a position with little time to act.
Trustee Jesal Patel had previously been critical of the special meeting call and the mayor’s explanation of only recently learning of the contract provision.
Patel said he was told phone calls were made to a number of trustees to set up the meeting. He asked publicly Saturday for those who had received a phone call about the nighttime meeting to raise their hands.
None of the trustees raised their hands.
Multiple residents in the audience could be heard uttering “wow” in response.
“It’s my staff. I’m sorry. What can I tell you?” Bass replied.
Resident Susan Ginsburg spoke during the public comment portion of the special meeting and expressed concerns about Wiberg potentially being dismissed after serving the village for several years.
“It is my understanding that at the last meeting that I attended the mayor took a lot of your job away,” Ginsburg said, addressing the village manager. “I have a bad feeling about this whole thing. You’ve been here for a really long time. I never remember anything like this happening, and you said nothing like this has ever happened. It sounds to me that something is being done so that you have to get out.”
Ginsburg said the situation was upsetting because she believes Wiberg has done “a great job” and the village has been operating well.
“It’s kind of like a mirror of our federal government. It really bothers me and I feel really badly that you’re being put in this position,” she said.
Arthur Lovering, a resident who said he has had family living in Lincolnwood for more than 77 years, also expressed disagreement and concern with what he considered unexpected circumstances.
“Put the meeting out on a Saturday night during the holiday season…no one is focusing on government now,” Lovering said. “I really wish you would be more aware as a board to know what we need to do so these crisis special meetings [and] fear-mongering amongst us” wouldn’t occur.
The village is expected to discuss the employment status of Wiberg at an upcoming meeting, though the date and time are not yet known.