Joliet Police Pension Fiasco: Capparelli, Gavin Ripped

Joliet IL

05 March, 2021

1:01 AM

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JOLIET, IL — Al Roechner was a lousy chief at the Joliet Police Department and Darrell Gavin was equally inept as Roechner's deputy chief of criminal investigations and then as deputy chief of administration, according to Black Joliet community activist Jerry Hervey. Because Roechner and Gavin were both underachievers, according to Hervey, the Joliet City Council must not allow Roechner to retire with a $31,000 pay raise on his second to last day at work. Days later, Gavin negotiated an $18,000 raise for himself to retire, rather than accept a demotion back to sergeant and a substantial pay cut. Joliet Patch broke the news of both of these Joliet police pension spiking stories. No other Joliet area or Will County news organization has reported on the story. Darrell Gavin was regarded as a good detective but a lousy deputy chief of police. His career ended with a demotion. Image via city of Joliet And at Tuesday night's meeting, Hervey blasted Joliet City Councilwoman Bettye Gavin during the citizens comment process. Hervey also ripped Joliet's new city manager Jim Capparelli for giving the councilwoman's nephew an 11.5 percent raise. Doing so allowed Darrell Gavin to spike his annual retirement pension by an extra $10,000 annually. With just 22 years of service at Joliet police, Darrell Gavin's starting Joliet police pension will be about $95,000 annually, thanks to Capparelli's actions. Roechner's $31,000 raise in January was negotiated between Roechner and outgoing city manager Jim Hock. That deal was put in place during Hock's last week on the job with Joliet. Capparelli took over the following Monday, Jan. 11. Here's an edited version of Hervey's comments during Tuesday night's Council meeting: "I'm wondering like how did the chief of police get out of this door with a bump in pay and the City Council and the Mayor knew nothing about it? Again, he spent all of his time here putting you all through all of this nonsense. He never attended a single City Council meeting to where nobody could ask him questions, and he just goes around you with the other city manager and does what he feels like he wants to do." Al Roechner's short tenure running the Joliet Police Department was not regarded as a success. Image via city of Joliet At that point, Hervey directed his comments to the nine members of the Council, before turning his attention to Capparelli. "So, do you all feel like that is appropriate for taxpayers to be on the hook for this guy's bump in pay for the rest of his retirement even though he's cost you millions of dollars in lawsuits and God knows how much grief? Then, you know, Capparelli, I was really high on you. You had a chance to draw a line in the sand with Darrell Gavin and you didn't do it. It was no reason he should have gotten money. They should have been given nothing more than a ticket out this door for all the problems that they caused in their positions. You didn't promise them anything, so you were not obligated to give him anything." Jim Capparelli's start as new city manager for Joliet is not getting off to a smooth start. Image via Jim Capparelli Regarding Darrell Gavin, Hervey said, "He could have simply went back to being a sergeant, or he could leave under them terms. So I went back to the City Council meeting when you were approved, right? And Miss Gavin stood up and said she had reservations, but as long as you would do what you agreed, she would vote in your favor, right? "So when this comes up about Darrell Gavin, what am I thinking?" Hervey paused for a moment, then declared, "That this is what she was talking about. Because no matter what happened, her sole intent was to make sure that her nephew was taken care of. And the taxpayers, they should not be on the hook for that. So, what are you going to do with (Joe) Rosado and Marc Reid? Because sure enough as the other two got it, they're coming." Reid and Rosado were the two other deputy chiefs for Roechner who were immediately demoted in rank upon Capparelli's naming of Dawn Malec as the new chief. Malec made the demotions of Rosado, Reid and Darrell Gavin. She replaced them with Sherri Blackburn, Carlos Matlock and Robert Brown. Finally, Hervey gave the Joliet City Council some advice. "So, what is the Council gonna go," he asked. "What I'd like you all to do is write a letter to the police and pension board telling them to deny the raise. Because, he shouldn't have got it to begin with. If you think about all the grief that you all got for the stuff that they done, who in the hell wants to put up with that?" At that point, Hervey appeared to be referring to Roechner. "And he goes out the door and gets a bump in pay? ... If you're not going to do it for the entire police department, then don't do it for none of them. That's all I got for you." Bettye Gavin was accused of voting to make Jim Capparelli Joliet city manager in exchange for a pension spike for her nephew. Image via city of Joliet