Elected officials remain mum on why Oak Park’s village manager, Tom Barwin, is leaving in the middle of a performance evaluation. But the five-year administrator shed some light on his resignation, during an extended interview last week.
Barwin said he’s had his antennae up over the past month or so and was picking up signals from elected officials that it was probably time to part ways with Oak Park.
“As a result of instincts and certain reads from the elected officials here, yeah, I concluded it was time to move on,” he said.
Barwin, 57, announced his departure at a village board meeting, Feb. 21, after informing the village board a week earlier of his intention to leave.
The manager read a lengthy statement at the end of last week’s scheduled meeting. In it, he touted his accomplishments since joining the village in August 2006, including a crime rate at a 39-year low, making village hall a more environmentally friendly organization, and battling through a tough economy while reducing staffing by 20 percent and trimming a huge budget deficit.
“I am leaving knowing we have not slipped during my watch and in fact made significant gains during tough times,” he said. “I am comforted as I leave, knowing the community is in very good hands to take advantage of the many significant opportunities which have been created over the past few years and are now in play.”
Afterward, Barwin said he is not leaving to accept a new position elsewhere, and he plans to stay in Oak Park after recently signing a two-year lease to rent a Frank Lloyd Wright coach house. He declined to say whether the village board forced him to resign, and said he has no plans to stop working. Top on his list would be joining the private sector, followed by a nonprofit, with returning to government third on the list.
“I’m definitely not retiring,” he said. “My wife and I are going to evaluate our options. I’d like to do something to keep making the world a better place, maybe figure out a way to create jobs in America.”
The village board was in the middle of its routine annual evaluation of the village manager’s performance this month. Trustees met in closed session, Feb. 13, to decide whether Barwin should get a raise in 2012, but declined to comment following that get-together.
Last year, Barwin did not receive a raise to his base pay of $165,411, though he did get a one-time $4,135 performance bonus. At the time, trustees declined to say whether the manager received a favorable evaluation though one board member singled out the Building and Property Standards Department as an area needing improvement.
Village President David Pope said Barwin informed the board two weeks ago that he felt it was appropriate for him to resign. The president, along with four other board members interviewed, declined to say whether the resignation was tied to the annual performance evaluation and would not say if elected officials forced Barwin to resign. Trustees Adam Salzman and Glenn Brewer were out of town earlier this week and could not be reached for comment.
Barwin, who was unanimously hired by a contentious board in 2006, was unsure exactly what went wrong. He said he hadn’t met with the full village board over the performance evaluation and hasn’t been told what the behavior or issue might be.
“You don’t go into this field, if you’re good at it or if you believe in democracy, unless you respect democracy,” he said. “You get an instinct, you get a feeling, and when you’ve got that feeling, out of respect to the community and elected officials, you reflect on it. There’s never a good or easy time to leave, but sometimes change is good.”
Trustees refused to criticize Barwin following his resignation, and praised his tenure here, especially with respect to the advances that Oak Park has made in becoming more environmentally friendly.
“Clearly what he laid out was what he believes he’s achieved, and what that opens up for him personally or professionally, he didn’t get into, but this was his statement,” said Trustee Ray Johnson. “All employees’ performance evaluations remain confidential matters, so I can’t say anything about that one way or another.”
Trustee John Hedges, himself a former Park District of Oak Park chief and interim Oak Park village manager for a short while, acknowledged Barwin’s long list of accomplishments, and said he thinks the village will find a new manager who continues in the same tradition.
“It’ll take us a while to recoup, but I think we will,” Hedges said. “We’ve always had a tradition of good managers, some strong in some areas, and some strong in other areas. I’ve seen a lot of them, and I’m sure we’ll find somebody who will provide that leadership.”
