City law director investigates holiday pay for Niles police chief

NILES -- The city's law director is going through ordinances to determine if Police Chief Bruce Simeone was being incorrectly paid for holidays.
Mayor Ralph A. Infante said Friday that he has met with Law Director J. Terrence Dull and city Auditor Neil A. Buccino about the payments.
Infante said Dull is compiling a list of ordinances dealing with pay issues to determine if Simeone was incorrectly paid.
Regardless, the mayor noted, the city will ask for an opinion on the payment issue from the state auditor's office.
Buccino withheld Simeone's holiday pay for working Good Friday when someone told him that department heads aren't entitled to overtime pay.
He said the chief has been paid for holidays since 1997. Simeone was appointed to the post in 1996, taking the place of long-time Chief John Ross.
Simeone's attorney, J.P. Morgan of Warren, has said there is a 1988 ordinance that excluded all salaried workers from receiving holiday pay.
However, the police and fire chiefs were excluded from the list in 1992, Morgan said.
Fire Chief Charles Semple said Friday that he isn't entitled to overtime pay and doesn't get it.
"All my guys get it, but I don't," the chief said.
Buccino has said Simeone is the only department head that receives holiday pay.