Council Approves Appointment of Joliet's New City Manager

Less than 60 seconds after Jim Hock’s appointment as Joliet’s new city manager was approved unanimously by the Joliet City Council, he already was receiving some friendly advice.

“You have about a month,” Dist. 1 councilman Larry Hug said. “Get some rest.”

Hock, 58, who is leaving behind his current job as community development director in Carpentersville, officially was named to replace outgoing Joliet city manager Tom Thanas during a meeting of the city council in chambers on Tuesday night. And Thanas painted a picture of what Hock can expect when he takes the reins on Nov. 12.

“Jim’s walking into a wonderful community that has a rich history and I think Jim’s up to the task of helping us through some of the challenges that we have,” Thanas said. “The primary challenges are financial. Even though we’ve survived the Great Recession of 2008, we’re still not done with the residue of that recession.

“So, I think Jim’s going to be spending a lot of time on finance issues over the next few years.”

Hock said he will draw on all of his work experiences—including those as the former city manager in Park Ridge and assistant city manager in Sterling Heights, Mich., a town of about 120,000 people located on the outskirts of Detroit—to help him make the transition to working in a new setting with a new team at his side. His annual salary will be $185,000, according to a Sun-Times News Group report.

What is Job 1?

“Well, I’ll be doing a lot of additional homework from what I’ve done already,” Hock said. “But I know that the (city) manager’s going to be presenting the proposed budget at the end of the month here.

“And, so, I’m going to become acquainted with that. I’ll probably attend some of those hearings as well—even before I start—because I know I’m going to be finishing up the process. Adoption (of a new budget) would tentatively be scheduled for the first (council) meeting in December.”

What attracted Hock to the job in Joliet?

“It’s a combination of factors,” he said. “You’ve got an existing downtown area that is significant. You’ve got early development, and you’ve got new development. You’ve got growth. You’ve got a lot of potential economic development to the south here in our industrial area.

“I think there is a lot of opportunity to attract new business to the area and create some jobs for residents.”

Hock was picked by the Joliet City Council over two other finalists for the job, including Romeoville Village Manager Steve Guiden, according to a Sun-Times News Group report. Thanas announced he was departing in May. He first was hired as Joliet’s city manager in 2008.