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Settlement imminent in case to rehire fired deputy auditors

By Billy Thompson Jun 4, 2020 | 9:38 PM

The lawyers didn’t go into details Thursday, but they informed Grundy County Judge Lance Peterson that the LaSalle County Board is about to consider a settlement with two deputy auditors who lost their county jobs after being charged with payroll padding. The board will meet Monday. If the board approves the settlement, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees will drop its case, attorney Melissa Auerbach said. Since Auditor Jody Wilkinson is suing the county for the same thing AFSCME wants, she would likely drop her case too.

Tori Artman and Pamela Wright were charged in 2018 with manipulating the payroll system they were paid to safeguard in the Auditor’s office to give themselves together around $3,000 in overtime pay they didn’t work for. Wilkinson was later charged with helping them do it. A judge found Wilkinson not guilty. A jury acquitted Artman. Then the State’s Attorney’s Office dropped charges against Wright.

Meanwhile, the LaSalle County Board Salary and Labor Committee fired Artman and Wright. They had already been prohibited from working while charges were pending, but they weren’t taken off the payroll until last April. That ironically resulted in them drawing much more pay for not working–by that point around $25,000 each. If they are paid back pay after the settlement, they’ll each get more than $50,000 more.

The attorneys didn’t say in their conference call with the judge what Artman and Wright will be paid in the settlement or whether they’ll return to work. Another settlement option would be paying the women to drop the case and not return to their jobs. In case the board doesn’t approve anything, Judge Peterson will hold another hearing in August.

Near the end of the call Thursday, Peterson expressed his curiosity about how much taxpayer money the case is costing. He said that he would want to know in future hearings.