Oct. 03--As soon as Chicago Heights police Chief Charles Guiliani Jr. hit 30 years of service this spring, he retired.
About a month later, Guiliani was rehired by the south suburb as its "civilian" police chief, and Guiliani gave up his police powers. He began collecting a $114,000 annual police pension and a $75,000 salary from the city, records show.
Then, in July, an attorney for Chicago Heights sent a letter to IMRF -- the pension fund for most of Illinois' municipal employees -- arguing that Guiliani was now eligible to participate in IMRF. On September 16, IMRF formally rejected Chicago Heights' argument and ruled Guiliani can't participate in IMRF because he's performing police duties in a town with a police pension fund.
Despite the legal correspondence with IMRF, Chicago Heights officials and Guiliani have said the city wasn't attempting to double dip into the pension system. Mayor David Gonzalez, who did not return messages seeking comment for this story, has said Guiliani's appointment as civilian chief was meant to be temporary.
In an interview, Guiliani said he does not have a problem with IMRF's ruling and never intended to serve 10 years as Chicago Heights' civilian police chief, which is the amount of time he would have needed in order to collect a pension under IMRF.
Guiliani, 56, acknowledged he could have accumulated the 10 years of experience needed for a second pension under IMRF by serving more than one town. But Guiliani said that was not his "intention" when he took the job in Chicago Heights.
"The answer to your question is the possibility exists, it's not something I thought about, and something I knew wouldn't exist in (Chicago Heights)," Guiliani said. "I didn't even care to be in IMRF."
That didn't preclude Chicago Heights from making an effort at getting Guiliani into IMRF.
When Guiliani retired, his annual base pay was more than $114,000. Additional credits for things such as longevity and other training brought his total pay for purposes of calculating his pension to more than $152,000, records show. His current annual pension, which is 75 percent of his pensionable salary, is just more than $114,000 this year and is scheduled to increase to more than $206,000 by 2035, records show.
Naperville case
Chicago Heights drew on a 2014 DuPage County case in its argument for Guiliani's participation in IMRF as a civilian chief despite the fact he already collecting a police pension, records show.
In Naperville, police Chief Bob Marshall worked as an officer for the city from 1977 until 2005 before he retired and started collecting his police pension. He then took a civilian job with Naperville while participating in IMRF and in 2012 got hired to be the city's police chief. As chief, Marshall was collecting a $154,775 salary and a $104,109 police pension.
The Illinois Department of Insurance and the Naperville pension board got into a dispute over whether he could participate in IMRF while serving as Naperville's police chief. A DuPage County judge ruled that Marshall is not a police officer under the state's pension code and could continue collecting a pension.
Chicago Heights argued this summer that Guiliani "is entitled to participate in the IMRF and collect his ... police pension at the same time while working as the city's civilian police chief," according to the letter, which cited Marshall's case.
In its September ruling, IMRF said the court "did not determine whether or not Chief Marshall was performing police protectio(n) duties," and denied Guiliani admittance into IMRF.
Looking for work
Whether Guiliani is eligible for an IMRF pension could be determined at a later date. IMRF gave him 63 days to appeal its ruling with IMRF's board of trustees.
In an interview, Guiliani said he has no problem with IMRF's ruling that he's ineligible for IMRF.
"I was not interested in being in IMRF," Guiliani said. "If I was still there, I'd have no intentions of fighting with that."
In August, Chicago Heights ended Guiliani's employment as civilian chief. Guiliani said he was only planning on doing the job for one year to help train his replacement.
"Ultimately, I was sticking around because the mayor asked me," Guiliani said.
Gonzalez, Chicago Heights' mayor, previously told the Daily Southtown he exercised the "no cause" clause in Guiliani's contract after determining a replacement was ready to take over the top job. Guiliani said he "left on excellent terms" with the city, "like we always had."
Even though he's retired from Chicago Heights, Guiliani said he's still interested in working and is actively looking for jobs, including potential chief positions.
"There are many private entities out there: hospitals, schools, businesses," Guiliani said. "And of course, there are other municipalities looking for chiefs."
gpratt@tribpub.com
