Two veteran Illinois Film Office employees retired Dec. 30, ostensibly leaving vacancies for their jobs. But filling those positions may not be as clear cut as applying for a private sector job as state government hiring seems to be a labyrinth process.
Officially retired are Todd Lizak, who spent the last 12 out of his total 33 years as a state government employee with the IFO, where his title had been assistant managing director of the office, and Joe Amari, senior location scout, whose 18 years with the IFO was his only state job.
Lizak’s retirement was very short-lived, however, as he returns to the IFO Jan. 5 as an approved 75-day contractual employee, at the request of IFO director Betsy Steinberg.
“Betsy has asked me to stay and help select and interview the most qualified candidates and also handle any location assignments that may come up,” says Lizak, whose duties included heading the locations department.
Most likely, he will be back on locations duty until a successor has been named.
Filling the second position in doubt
There is some question, however, about the film office actually filling both positions left vacant by the recent retirees. Obviously a locations scout will be ultimately hired – but how about that second job?
When asked if both positions will be filled, Steinberg said she “didn’t know yet” and referred to the complex posting and hiring procedure that winds its way through the state’s Central Management system.
Clouding the issue of whether a second job opening actually exists is Gov. Quinn’s appointment of Jen Celaya, to the Dept. of Commerce and Economic Development (DCEO), although she had been introduced as a new IFO employee in December. Celaya, who started her new job Jan. 4, told the Reel she had been hired to work in the film office doing marketing and research.
Steinberg says that as a DCEO employee, of which the IFO is a unit, Celaya could be called “on loan” to work as needed for any of those units, including the IFO. Time will tell whether she will transition to the unfilled IFO slot at a later date.
A 2006 Columbia College graduate in musical theatre studies, Celaya had worked for the Governor’s Office and worked there for the past three years as an advance person for the governor’s various public appearances. Expressing her interest in film, the Reel was told, she was appointed to DCEO.
Hiring practices very specific
According to Illinois law, before jobs are posted on the State of Illinois jobs site, any member of AFSCME, the state government employees union, has first bidding rights for that job. Topping that, the Governor’s Office has the prerogative of appointing a person of its choosing to fill a position.
Furthermore, the applicant must be a current, dues-paying member of AFSCME and a veteran of military service.
CPA now heads IFO tax incentive/diversity department
When fully staffed, the IFO operates with six employees, led by Steinberg, a 2008 Blagojevich appointee.
Currently on staff are Julie Morgan, PR and special projects, who was a Gov. George Ryan appointee; Lisa Banks, program manager, which covers online database and locations library, daughter of former alderman William Banks and Michele McGee, tax credit specialist, who came from another state department.
The office’s new tax credit and diversity officer is CPA Caesar Lopez, who moved over Dec. 1 from eight years of managing grants and other financial programs in DCEO. Earlier, he’d been a finance specialist in the Work Force Development Department.
Lopez is also the first CPA to head the important film tax credit program since it was first enacted in 2004. He replaces former tax credit and diversity manager Joyce Kilburg, who had been seriously injured in a freak taxicab accident two years ago.
