Cahokia workers log 96-hour work weeks

Cahokia workers log 96-hour work weeks
BY BETH HUNDSDORFER AND GEORGE PAWLACZYK

Belleville News-Democrat - June 29, 2008

Village payroll records state that employees Charles Robinson and James Allen work an eight-hour shift at their village jobs and then put in another 11 hours providing security at vacant Parks College as the mayor says.

But a current and a former village trustee claim Robinson and Allen are paid the extra money as bodyguards for Mayor Frank Bergman.

Regardless of what, or who, they are guarding, after a work day of that length they would have less than five hours left for eating, washing, running errands and sleeping.

Each was regularly paid an extra $560 per five-day week for 56 hours at $10 per hour, according to payroll invoices.

The former trustee, Ken Spisak, said that Robinson and Allen sometimes slept on the mayor's couch.

But Bergman, who said he was surprised to learn that some village workers were putting in a 96-hour, five-day work week, stated that Robinson and Allen guard only the college property the village has acquired.

"I have never had bodyguards," he said.

The village passed an $8 million bond to finance the purchase of Parks College from St. Louis University in 2005 for $4.73 million. The remaining $3.27 million was set aside for redevelopment. The property, near the intersection of Illinois 3 and Camp Jackson Road, remains vacant.

During three nightly visits and two stops during the day recently, reporters did not spot any security guards or their vehicles. On one nightly check, a reporter drove through the narrow lanes that wind among the former college's 23 buildings, stopping several times to loudly call out, "Hello!"

During another late night trip to the former campus, the only people a reporter encountered was a former Parks alumni from Ballwin, Mo., who roamed the campus in a pickup truck, headlights on, accompanied by a friend in the front seat he said was a Russian fighter jet engineer.

"Everybody in town knows there's no guards out there," said Fred Cornwell, the village's parks director who formerly headed the public works department.

Spisak, who ran unsuccessfully in April 2007 against Bergman for mayor, said Cahokia police officers told him they regularly spotted Robinson and Allen at late hours sitting in vehicles parked outside Bergman's house on Kenneth Avenue. Spisak said officers mentioned that guards sometimes slept on the mayor's couch.

"Apparently, the job is dangerous," Spisak said, "but who can really believe that anybody can keep up a 96-hour work week for any length of time?"

For 18 months before he left the village board after losing the contest for mayor, Spisak said he voted against paying accounts payable because of the security payments to Robinson and Allen.

"The mayor kept telling us they were guards out at Parks College, which is vacant and owned by the village," Spisak said. "That's why I began to write notes about their hours from their time cards, and as soon as I began to do that, the mayor stopped issuing time cards to the Finance Committee."

Current trustee JoAnn Malone also voted against issuing payments for payroll and other accounts in May because she said she was "concerned about those payments to Robinson and Allen."

In a written statement, Malone said, "My reason for voting no on accounts payable is I feel that it is the responsibility of a trustee of the village to curb wasteful and abusive spending. ... The village would benefit greatly if this type of fiscal behavior was brought under control."

When asked how two village employees could safely keep up the rigorous pace of a 96-hour work week, Bergman said he didn't know they worked that many hours. He said he has since reduced their work week to 80 hours maximum -- 40 regular hours and 40 extra at $10 per hour.

"When that was pointed out to me, it was adjusted," he said of Allen's and Robinson's work week. "I never noticed that before."

Robinson, who declined to comment, earns $39,500 as a code enforcement officer for the village. Allen earns a salary of $37,000 as a ranger at the village's recreation park and swimming pool. He could not be reached for comment.

John Frycek, a licensed private investigator who provides personal security services, said he charges $65 an hour to protect musicians, former politicians and executives, but added he underwent months of training in hand-to-hand combat, driving techniques and firearm certification.

"What's the threat?" Frycek said. "Would the mayor of a small town's job really put him in danger? If the answer is no, does it warrant having taxpayer money protecting him in his private life?"

Two years ago, Bergman and Harry Halter, who was the husband of his then appointment secretary, argued just after midnight on Bergman's front lawn. Cahokia police used a Taser on Halter, who was then a part-time Alorton police officer, but did not arrest him.

Security didn't thwart a theft in December 2006 that netted thieves $61,500 worth of windows and brass mailbox doors from the former Parks campus. Village employees John Torry and Robert Holmes moonlighted as the campus security then, but no one was on duty at the time because they were off for the Christmas holiday, Bergman said.

Contact reporter Beth Hundsdorfer at bhundsdorfer@bnd.com or 239-2570 and George Pawlaczyk at gpawlaczyk@bnd.com or 239-2625.