On administrative leave since Jan. 27, John Dolasinski resigned his post as Brookfield’s finance director on Feb. 9. Monday night, members of the Brookfield village board voted unanimously to approve a severance package that will pay Dolasinski a total of just under $36,200, which includes unused vacation, personal and sick time. The village will also pay 90 percent of Dolasinski’s medical insurance premiums through May 31.
According to the agreement, which was made available to the press Monday night, Dolasinski voluntarily resigned effective Feb. 9. For a period of three months until May 9, Dolasinski will serve as a consultant to the village as Brookfield transitions to a new finance director.
The agreement also ensures that Dolasinski won’t sue the village for the voluntary termination of his employment with the village.
Asked if Dolasinski was asked to resign, Village Manager Riccardo Ginex responded that Dolasinski “decided to end it on his own.”
Ginex would not specify the reasons surrounding Dolasinski’s departure, however, saying there were “a number of issues that contributed to it.”
One of the main issues appears to be the current state of the village’s technology systems, which were part of Dolasinski’s responsibility during his tenure in the village. Ginex was also unhappy with the information services consultant Dolasinski used since 2003, and which the village paid over $100,000 in 2005.
Ginex ordered an audit of village hall’s technology systems in December 2005. That report, released last month described an antiquated computer system that served the village poorly. The audit concluded that the village’s computer network was unreliable and obsolete, that phone systems were failing and that simple systems, such as e-mail, weren’t set up properly by the previous technology consultant.
On Jan. 23, Brookfield trustees voted to replace the former consultant, Lord and Murphy Inc. with All Information Services, the firm that completed the technology audit. Dolasinski was placed on paid administrative leave just days after Ginex publicly released the findings of the technology audit.
In the meantime, Ginex has hired a financial consultant to help him, trustees and staff wade through the annual budgeting process, which will begin in late March. Mark Tomassini, a certified public accountant familiar with Brookfield’s village finances, will be paid $125 an hour until the village can find a replacement for Dolasinski. He will not be working onsite at village hall.
Tomassini previously worked as a financial consultant for the Village of Brookfield in 2001, and worked extensively on the police and fire referendum passed by voters in 2002.
“Right now the main focus is getting through the budget process,” Ginex said.
After the budget is completed, Ginex said he’ll begin a formal search for a new finance director.
Dolasinski was hired as finance director in the fall of 2002, after working 10 years as finance director for northwest suburban Lincolnwood.
