Wayne Lulay, who has been acting village manager for the last 2 1/2 years, will not be offered a contract for his services, according to sources in the village.
Trustees repeatedly have delayed acting on Lulay’s appointment as manager and turned their backs on the career village employee after disagreeing with him over labor practices and financial decisions.
The decision was reached in a private session Monday night and is expected to be formally announced later this week.
Lulay has acted as manager for nearly three years and his ouster is seen by village employees as a consolidation of influence by two trustees, Roberta Trotter and James Gleich.
Lulay, as chief negotiator, had defended the village’s practice of hiring contract firefighters, a position strongly opposed by Trotter, who is married to a village firefighter.
“It was get-even time,” a village employee said Tuesday.
The move to dismiss Lulay is also attributed to a recent flap over cost-cutting measures pushed by Gleich, who demanded that department budgets be cut by as much as 10 percent to generate $1.3 million annually to pay for a five-year infrastructure repair plan. Lulay pointed out that the village’s greatest expenditures involved employees and that such a cut would require laying off as many as 20 of the village’s 150 employees.
Gleich relented under pressure from village employees and residents and suggested that cuts be made wherever possible. Attempts to reach Gleich and Trotter were unsuccessful.
Lulay is a Chicago resident but recently purchased a home in Villa Park. He also is the director of the village’s Parks and Recreation Department. He was appointed acting manager without losing his position with Parks and Recreation, where he could return under the terms of his appointment.
