The city of Calumet could see five-figure pay raises for elected officials if a proposed plan presented at a special meeting Monday is adopted by the city council, according to a city email obtained by the Daily Southtown.
Mayor Thaddeus Jones said Tuesday he had nothing to do with the proposal, which would more than double the mayor’s salary from $24,000 a year to $54,000 and increase councilors’ salaries from $14,000 to $25,000. Elected officials also receive one-twentieth of their annual salary for each special meeting they attend, with the city’s website listing 17 special meetings called so far this year.
“There are no changes being proposed,” Jones said Tuesday. “We have until Oct. 26 for councilors to decide whether they want to increase their salaries.”
Any potential salary increases for elected officials would not take effect until after the next elections for their positions, with some aldermen and the mayor’s office set to take effect in April 2025.
While the agenda for Monday’s meeting indicated that the salary changes would be discussed and approved, Councilors James Patton and Michael Navarrete said they had not received any information about the proposal. In response, Jones assured them he would send them copies of the text and asked them to simply send the changes to a committee before putting them to another vote, prompting a protest from Patton.
“I would like to see the document first,” Patton said at the meeting. “Whatever is the appropriate way to proceed, as long as we don’t take action before anybody has had a chance to see it, it needs to be discussed.”
Jones again agreed to send the proposed changes to the aldermen and no action was taken.
After the meeting, Patton said he would not support the proposal if it came to a vote, saying the compensation was reasonable. He added that it was “dishonest” to put the proposal to amend an issue as important as elected officials’ salaries on the agenda without preparation.
Patton, who is challenging Jones for mayor in the February Democratic primary, shared an email Jones allegedly sent to all aldermen and other city officials Tuesday night that not only increases the salaries of the mayor and all aldermen, but also increases the allowable monthly expenses for the mayor, aldermen, city clerk and city treasurer from $700 to $1,500.
The salary ordinance would also give the mayor an additional role as local alcoholic beverage commissioner, providing him with an additional $500 per month. The email says the proposal would increase “alcoholic beverage compensation to $5,500.”
When asked to explain the proposed changes, Jones called the information Patton sent “privileged” and later said he had sent the current salary ordinance but did not include any proposed changes in his email to aldermen.
“You have to understand who you’re dealing with,” Jones said of Patton. “You’re dealing with a pathological liar who’s sending you stuff to write a story about him.”
Navarrete said he did not see Jones’ email before it disappeared from his inbox. Patton said he believes the mayor, through the city’s email system, deleted the message after Jones was asked about the proposal Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s insane to say something that’s so easily provable,” Patton said. “You know, the only thing I can say is he probably can, he probably feels like he can get away with saying that because he knows he disabled my ability to forward emails.”
Other councilors and city officials who apparently received Jones’ email did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The council will meet again at 6 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, 204 Pulaski Road.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
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