West Cook News

City of Countryside Human Resources Committee met Sept. 24

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Committee Members

Chairman – Alderman Thomas Mikolyzk

Member – Alderman Tom Frohlich

Member – Alderman Scott Musillami

1. CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Mikolyzk called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. 

2. ROLL CALL

Present: Chairman Mikolyzk, and Alderman Frohlich

Absent: Alderman Musillami

Also Present: Mayor McDermott, City Clerk Kmet, Treasurer Bolt, Alderman Finn, Alderman Benson, Alderman Von Drasek, City Administrator Paul, Finance Director Schutter, and Police Chief Klimek, and Deputy Clerk Cordova

3. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC

None.

4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – JUNE 11, 2025.

4.a. The minutes of the meeting were previously distributed to the members of the Human Resources Committee.  

Alderman Frohlich moved to approve the minutes from June 11, 2024 seconded by Chairman Mikolyzk and carried unanimously.

5. BUSINESS FROM THE COMMITTEE FOR DISCUSSION, CONSIDERATION, AND IF SO DETERMINED, ACTION UPON:

5.a. Consideration to change the position title of Community Service Officer (CSO) to Police Clerk and revise the wage schedule.  

Chief Klimek stated that he would like to change the title of the CSO to Police Clerk. The CSO position is normally associated with a person who wears a uniform, drives a patrol car, and goes out on other street police duties. These duties do not reflect what our CSO’s in Countryside do, they do more clerical type of work, filing, and data entry.  

Chairman Mikolyzk asked how many employees did the chief have. Chief Klimek said we have one full time supervisor, a full time person that works in the afternoon, and three part time employees with one leaving shortly. We are authorized to have seven part timers. Chairman Mikolyzk asked what would the wage revision be, a lower rate?  

City Administrator Paul said that she and the Chief talked about a couple options. We are having trouble retaining CSO’s especially for the third shift.  We talked about not having the third shift because we have the emergency red phone where residents can talk with a police officer. If the City Council wants to continue to staff it twenty-four hours, I would recommend that the third shift get a wage differential and we look at the wage schedule right now. The wage range is $17 an hour to $22 an hour. Possibly adjusting the wages so it starts at $20 an hour and goes up to $25 an hour.  

Chairman Mikolyzk asked the Chief what he thought of not having someone there for the third shift. Chief Klimek said that would not be his preferred solution. One of the primary job duties is to watch prisoners and if we have a prisoner overnight, that would require somebody to watch them. We’d have to bring in an officer off the street to watch the prisoner. Most of the CSO’s need a higher paying job or a full time job and there are no benefits.  

Chairman Mikolyzk asked the Chief what he prefers to happen. Chief Klimek said that maybe make it start at $20 an hour and that would make us a little more competitive. Alderman Frohlich said that he is in favor of raising the minimum to $20 an hour. Chairman Mikolyzk said then we can try to advertise the job for $20 an hour to $25 an hour. Also give them raises for service time. City Administrator Paul said that she can adjust the wage schedule accordingly.  

Chairman Mikolyzk made a motion to move to executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel under Section 2(C)1 of the Open Meetings Act and review the minutes of the Human Resources Committee Executive session of June 11, 2025 under Section 2(C)21 of the Open Meetings Act. Alderman Frohlich seconded the motion.

6. MOVE TO EXECUTIVE SESSION

For the purpose of discussing personnel under Section 2(c)(1) of the Open Meetings Act and to review the minutes of the Human Resources Committee Executive Session of June 11, 2025 under Section 2(c)(21) of the Open Meetings Act.  

7. RECONVENE TO REGULAR SESSION

The committee reconvened to regular session at 7:27 pm.

8. ADJOURNMENT

Alderman Frohlich made a motion to adjourn and was seconded by Chairman Mikolyzk, and carried unanimously. Chairman Mikolyzk declared the meeting adjourned at 7:28 p.m.

https://www.countryside-il.org/Document/Agenda%20&%20Minutes/2025/Human%20Resource/09-24-25_Human_Resource_Minutes__3_%20(1).docx?t=202510091011200