Metra boss got village pay despite ban

He attempted to return the money this month, records show

Metra Chairman Brad O'Halloran received nearly $22,000 for his service as an elected trustee in Orland Park despite a state law banning Metra board members from receiving a paycheck from any other government post, according to records from the southwest suburb. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune / July 16, 2013)

By David Heinzmann and Stacy St. Clair, Chicago Tribune reporters

7:19 a.m. CDT, July 30, 2013

Metra Chairman Brad O'Halloran received nearly $22,000 for his service as an elected trustee in Orland Park despite a state law banning Metra board members from receiving a paycheck from any other government post, according to records from the southwest suburb.

O'Halloran — under fire for his role in a large severance package to ousted Metra CEO Alex Clifford — attempted to return the money this month, according to public records obtained Monday by the Tribune.

He received pay from both government bodies for 16 months until notifying Orland Park in December to stop paying him his village salary, according to the records and a village spokesman.

But O'Halloran did not move to repay the money he had already received until July 12, after the $718,000 Clifford severance deal had unfolded into a political spectacle involving allegations of patronage and back-scratching that have entangled powerbrokers including Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

In a letter dated one day after he endured several hours of withering questioning by state lawmakers about the Clifford situation, O'Halloran told the Orland Park village manager "it was my intent that all compensation to me from Orland Park cease effective July 2011."

But, he said, "it has come to my attention" that he was still receiving his trustee pay into a deferred compensation plan. He enclosed a check for $22,167.36, the amount he believed he had been paid.

In his formal request to stop his pay in December 2012, O'Halloran made no mention of the 16 months of salary and benefits he had already collected, according to a copy of his letter obtained in response to the newspaper's Freedom of Information Act request.

Village spokesman Joseph La Margo confirmed that trustees receive monthly pay statements, even if their pay is going to deferred compensation accounts, as was the case with O'Halloran. La Margo said O'Halloran had a conversation with village staff on or about Dec. 3 to stop his pay, and followed up with an undated letter formalizing the request "sometime around the holidays." The early December conversation was the first notice from O'Halloran about stopping his pay, La Margo said.

The Regional Transportation Authority act, which governs mass transit agencies in the region, prohibits Metra board members from receiving a paycheck for any other elected or appointed government post.

"No director, while serving as such, shall be an officer, a member of the board of directors or trustee ... of any unit of local government or receive any compensation from any elected or appointed office under the Constitution and laws of Illinois," the law states.

O'Halloran declined to answer questions about the timing of his request to stop receiving payment and instead released a statement saying, "I recently was told that the village of Orland Park" paid into his retirement, life insurance and other benefit accounts while he was serving on both government bodies.

"I had no intention to be compensated while I serve on the Metra board," the statement read. "When I was told about these contributions, I asked for an accounting of the amounts involved and immediately wrote a check to the village for the entire amount."

The village has not cashed the check, according to a July 16 letter Village Manager Paul Grimes sent to O'Halloran. In his letter, Grimes explained the check was for the wrong amount because O'Halloran wrote it before village staff could correctly tally up exactly what he had been paid — $21,967.10 — as well as tax implications from the payments. Also, village officials believed it would be more appropriate to get refunds directly from the deferred income funds where they send the money, as well as the Social Security Administration.

Metra spokesman Michael Gillis said O'Halloran notified the agency's ethics officer about the pay issue July 18 and it was forwarded to the state executive inspector general, which is investigating Clifford's allegations. O'Halloran, who became Metra chairman last fall, makes $25,000 a year for the part-time position.

Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, has called on the entire board — including O'Halloran — to resign and criticized the RTA's oversight abilities. On Monday he questioned why neither Metra nor the RTA made sure O'Halloran was following the law.

"The RTA is supposed to be Metra's watchdog," Franks said. "It just shows that there is complete disorganization and incompetence at all levels of our mass transit system."

dheinzmann@tribune.com

sstclair@tribune.com

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