John O’Sullivan’s nameplate as village manager remained on the dais Tuesday night when the Carpentersville Village Board voted to hire Village Attorney Brad Stewart as his replacement.
The measure appointing Stewart to job beginning June 1 was approved unanimously without discussion as part of the meeting’s consent agenda. O’Sullivan’s employment contract with the village was terminated by the board last month.
In the weeks between now and June 1, Assistant Village Manager Carrie Cichon, who’s also the village’s human services director, will serve as interim village manager.
Village President John Skillman said the break with O’Sullivan stemmed from his not always being on “the same page as the board.”
“The village is moving in a new direction,” Skillman said. “He wasn’t the right person for the job anymore.”
O’Sullivan was not available for comment.
O’Sullivan was a board trustee when Skillman recommended him for the manager’s job in February 2023, succeeding Eric Johnson, who resigned from the post in 2022. Johnson, in turn, succeeded Mark Rooney, who was fired in 2018. Rooney was later paid $200,000 by the village after he filed a lawsuit against Carpentersville over his termination.
Under his contract with the village, Stewart will be paid a base salary of $199,500 and a $450 monthly car allowance. He will have four weeks’ vacation and receive a quarterly financial incentive of an undisclosed amount.
John O'Sullivan, Carpentersville's village manager since February 2023, was terminated from the job last month. (Village of Carpentersville)
“The salary and benefits contemplated in the agreement are within the average range of total compensation to comparable communities’ managers/administrators,” village documents said. “This compensation is also appropriate in light of Stewart’s municipal background, longstanding familiarity with our village, including the village board, employees and other stakeholders, and his labor/employment law expertise.”
O’Sullivan was paid $182,825.
Skillman said Stewart’s hiring would be a boon to the village.
“I’ve been trying to hire him for many, many years for this position,” Skillman said.
Like O’Sullivan, Stewart is considered an at-will employee but he will receive a severance package should he be terminated without cause, according to the agreement.
Stewart will retain his law license so that he can provide labor and employment legal services to Carpentersville, which would be a cost-savings for the village, board documents said.
The move entails Stewart transition out of his role in his law firm, Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle in Crystal Lake.
Whether the law firm will continue to serve as the village’s general counsel after his departure hasn’t been decided, Stewart said outside of the meeting. It was his belief, he said, that keeping them in that position would not represent a conflict of interest.
O’Sullivan, a two-term village board trustee, left both that position and his job at Otto Engineering to become the Carpentersville village manager. Over the course of his tenure, the village completed a lead water service line replacement program, removed a dilapidated bridge over the Fox River and launched an initiative to improve traffic conditions at Randall Road and Miller Road.
Skillman said O’Sullivan is a good man, but “we have a new direction. We are moving forward.”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
