Lake in the Hills to consider anti-nepotism policy

Lake in the Hills soon could explicitly ban village employees from supervising or training relatives.

The proposed anti-nepotism policy, which officials are scheduled to vote on this week, comes as part of a set of changes to the village’s personnel manual.

Currently, nepotism isn’t addressed in village records. No results for the word “nepotism” appear when searched for on the village website or in previous versions of the personnel manual.

According to a draft of the new manual, Lake in the Hills isn’t banning “personal relationships” between employees but is placing restrictions on them to try to avoid conflicts of interest and nepotism.

A personal relationship is defined in the draft as “any relationship arising from marriage, cohabitation, dating or any other intimate relationship beyond mere friendship.” It defines nepotism as “the practice of showing favoritism to relatives over others in appointment, employment, compensation, promotion or advancement by any public official in a position to influence any such personnel decisions.”

If the proposed policy is approved, it would prohibit employees from supervising or being supervised by a relative or significant other. Employees also would be banned from training relatives or significant others. They would not be allowed to participate in personnel decisions involving relatives or significant others and, if they are in a relationship that could cause a conflict of interest, they are supposed to report it to the village administrator or chief of police, according to village documents.

Messages to village officials Monday asking about the policy were not returned.

Neighboring Huntley and Algonquin already have policies on the books designed to try to curb nepotism, according to those villages’ personnel manuals. Huntley’s policy prohibits elected and appointed officials from being hired by the village in addition to their relatives.

The Lake in the Hills Village Board will review the policy Tuesday evening and perhaps make tweaks ahead of a scheduled Thursday evening vote on the change.