Salaries, health benefits for members of Cicero advisory commissions hit - Chicago Tribune
For years, an appointment to a board or commission in Cicero came with financial benefits not found in most other municipalities, including annual salaries as high as $10,000 and family health insurance, all in exchange for working on panels that typically meet once a month.
Though the town scaled back on the benefits for new appointees two years ago, the subject of perks most likely will be an issue when two-term Town President Larry Dominick seeks re-election early next year, as he is expected to do.
The benefits are part of practices that "are mortgaging the future of the town," said Juan Ochoa, a former public official who said he moved into Cicero from Berwyn three months ago with the intention of running for town president.
An ordinance approved in 2010 gave new appointees on most Cicero boards the option of receiving either a salary or individual health insurance. Family coverage was eliminated. But members who at the time had been serving at least a year — some of them relatives of Dominick — were grandfathered in and allowed to keep both the salary and the family health insurance for as long as they serve. About 70 percent of about 120 current members still are eligible for both benefits, a town spokesman said.
Ochoa, the former head of the agency that oversees McCormick Place and Navy Pier, who hasn't officially announced his candidacy in Cicero, said the benefits that all appointed board members receive should be reviewed and possibly eliminated.
"It should be examined to see if it can be done," said Ochoa, 41, a political ally of U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, whose congressional district encompasses 90 percent of Cicero. "In many communities, these board members work as volunteers with the best interest of the community in mind, but in Cicero things are different."
Dominick declined to comment. Cicero spokesman Ray Hanania said Dominick and the Town Board, as evidenced by the 2010 ordinance, have moved forward to reform the practice of giving the salary and health perks, which Dominick's administration inherited when it came into power in 2005. But he said some benefits are justified.
"They were promised the benefits when they initially decided to serve," Hanania said of the veteran board and commission members. "We don't think it's outrageous to give incentives to people who benefit the town. We want good people on those boards."
Excluding elected boards, the town has about 20 commissions and boards that are appointed by the town president. A Tribune investigation in 2009 found that 121 appointed board and commission members were paid salaries — at a cost to taxpayers of about $1 million annually — and were offered health and dental insurance benefits for themselves and their families.
Records indicated that many of those on the boards were Dominick's family members, including his mother, brother, sister, son, nephew and even one of his former wives, among others. Some of the current boards include the Board of Health, Mental Health Board, Housing Board, Zoning Board, Animal Welfare Board, President's Office of Literacy board and even a Graffiti Task Force board.
The Board of Fire and Police Commissioners — made up of appointed members who serve about 20 hours a week — is excluded from the new policy. All its members continue to receive salaries and family health benefits.
"I have a strong belief that the leadership in the town is grossly incompetent and is only concerned about funding the pocketbooks of family and friends," Ochoa said.
Cicero's Library Board is elected and a separate entity from the town. Members who joined the board before 2010 get salaries as long as they serve and family health insurance for life. But board members who came on in 2010 or later will get family health care only as long as they serve, along with a salary.
Hanania said the Library Board was the only elected board to receive health care for life. Members of the elected Cicero Town Board and other elected boards receive salaries and family health benefits for as long as they serve.
Gutierrez said he will encourage Ochoa to eliminate some of the appointed boards. "These boards should be staffed by volunteers; smart businessmen and women who care about the town," he said.
Gutierrez said he supports Ochoa because the town needs a change but noted the campaign could be a tough one.
"I wonder why he wants to do it," said Gutierrez, laughing. "I wrote him a $10,000 check to get him on his way, but he's going to have to raise a lot more money than that. It's not going to be easy."
Ochoa, who headed the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority from 2007 to 2010, runs his own public relations firm and is active in immigration reform.
He once lived just blocks away from Cicero in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood and sees Cicero as part of a larger Latino area that needs better representation and government reform. He also wants to focus on bringing more industry to the suburb.
Hanania said Dominick has a solid record since being elected. He pointed out that there is less crime in the community and cited statistics that indicate there were no gang-related slayings last year, compared with 17 the year before Dominick was elected.
Hanania added that Cicero will have more than 1,000 new jobs at Wirtz Beverage Illinois and Wal-Mart, which are locating at the former Sportsman's Park racetrack site.
"While the rest of the nation is facing an economic downturn, the town of Cicero is attracting new businesses and new jobs," he said. "While other communities are trimming services, Cicero is expanding services.."
15 May, 2012
-
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-cicero-politics-0506-20120515,0,7714750.story
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com
