Mayor D’Arcy, council member Hug duel over new Joliet communications director

Joliet City Council member Larry Hug on Tuesday called the hiring of the city’s new communications director “cronyism” and “corruption,” which spurred a retort from Mayor Terry D’Arcy.

The city this week announced that Rosemaria DiBenedetto has been hired as communications director.

DiBenedetto served in a similar role for D’Arcy in his 2023 campaign for mayor and has continued in a communications capacity since he became mayor a year ago.

Hug used his time at the end of a City Council meeting Tuesday, when council members can bring up a variety of topics, to condemn the hiring of DiBenedetto.

“It’s wrong,” he said. “It’s cronyism, plain and simple.”

Hug noted that council members who approved the creation of the position of communications director with D’Arcy as mayor had refused to create the position when it was proposed under former Mayor Bob O’Dekirk.

He quoted one unnamed council member as saying such a hire under O’Dekirk was “just going to be a mouthpiece for the mayor.”

DiBenedetto has been a close aide to D’Arcy, attending events with him at times. D’Arcy has not been interviewed by the Herald-News outside of a council meeting without DiBenedetto present and occasionally advising him while he is being questioned.

She also has sat in on interviews with City Manager Beth Beatty since Beatty came on board in December. DiBenedetto said she has been paid solely from D’Arcy until she was hired by the city this week.

D’Arcy on Tuesday used his time at the council meeting to respond to Hug’s comments.

“This is not someone working for the mayor,” D’Arcy said. “This is someone who is going to work for everyone on this dais and the 150,000 people in this city who I work for.”

His reference to “everyone on this dais” concerned the members of the council who share the dais in the council chambers with the mayor at council meetings.

D’Arcy, like O’Dekirk before him, said the city needed a communications director to present a positive image for Joliet in contrast to what both mayors considered negative portrayals in the media.

“We need to rebrand the city of Joliet,” D’Arcy said, repeating a theme from his campaign but noting that a city resident suggested the idea.

D’Arcy said the city “interviewed several people for this position” before hiring DiBenedetto and denied that he used his influence to decide who was hired.

“I certainly wouldn’t compromise my integrity or the integrity of the city,” D’Arcy said.

No other council members commented on DiBenedetto’s hiring.

Hug noted that the council twice rejected adding the position to the budget when the pay range was proposed at between $120,000 and $140,000 during O’Dekirk’s time as mayor.

DiBenedetto will be paid $159,900.

“I oppose this,” Hug said. “It’s wrong. It’s not just a bad look. It’s corruption. I formally request that you reverse your decision.”

His comment on reversing the decision was directed at Beatty, who is not likely to do so.

When asked after the meeting to respond to Hug’s comments, Beatty said DiBenedetto “was the most qualified person we interviewed. She has had a successful career for 35 years in crisis management.”

DiBenedetto has had a long career in public relations and representing local governments.

The city, in announcing DiBenedetto’s hiring, noted that she has a master’s degree in public and social administration with an emphasis in local government from Brunel University of West London in the United Kingdom and a bachelor’s degree in political science from DePaul University in Chicago.