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She said it did not take her long to realize she made the right decision, leaving Chicago to become Joliet’s first-ever female city manager.

“I spent 23 years here and change is difficult,” she said. “But it took me about a day to make me realize this was the right decision for me. It didn’t take long to know I made absolutely the right decision. The city staff, they have been great. They are very hard-working, and they have been very, very welcoming to me and very helpful.”

Beatty said she is nearing her 46th birthday. She said she has a “husband to be” and he is also excited about the opportunity to purchase a house in Joliet, having his own yard and being able to operate a lawnmower, something that was not practical living in Chicago.

Beatty said one of her biggest strengths in taking on the city manager’s role is that she has a strong network of political contacts at the Illinois General Assembly, plus U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and others throughout the state because of her 18 years of employment working under four different Chicago mayors and administrations.

She wants to be known for having “a collaborative approach with the community, at City Hall and other levels of government,” she said.

Beatty views her role as Joliet city manager as “more of a bridge on how we can help our residents and businesses and be accessible. I have an open door policy. I want to be accessible.”

Unrelated, around the same time Beatty arrived in Joliet, the Will County government finally began with its long-awaited demolition of the old Will County Courthouse two blocks away from Joliet City Hall. The old courthouse has been closed since the end of 2020.

Last summer, Joliet Patch broke the news that Mayor D’Arcy and Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant were moving forward with plans to build a new Will County government campus on the old courthouse site; that could include a new shared government office building for Will County and Joliet City Hall.

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Beatty said the idea of a shared government campus is worth exploring, but she emphasized that the city has not fully committed to the project at this stage in time.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” Beatty remarked. “It makes sense because we work closely with the county already.”

One of the biggest pains about Joliet, as most residents know, is the traffic, particularly the semi-trailer traffic.

There are several federal and state highways that divert thousands of semi-trailers through Joliet, including downtown Joliet’s Route 53 every day.

Beatty said she intends to work with the Illinois General Assembly and the Illinois Department of Transportation to explore whether certain roads around Joliet can be redesigned to move the truck traffic in a way that impacts Joliet businesses and residents “as least as possible.”

Growing up in Moline, Beatty said she found the character and charm of Joliet one of the main selling points on why she chose to take the city manager’s job.

Back in 2020, when La Grange Park resident Steve Jones left Joliet after serving as interim city manager, he told Joliet Patch that Joliet was the only place he remembered working where so many Joliet residents had such a negative image of their hometown.

As for her first impression of Joliet during her tour for her job interview, Beatty had this to say:

“I was pleasantly surprised. Nobody knows the wonderful things that Joliet has to offer,” Beatty remarked. “I look forward to brining my friends and family here.

“I think Joliet gets a bad rap because of the prisons and people say there is high crime, but it is not that high … it’s a hidden gem that nobody knows about.”

One of Joliet’s biggest draws, according to Beatty, is the wide variety of restaurants across Joliet.

“Restaurants are number one,” she said.

Beatty said she is also impressed with the architectural character of Joliet’s buildings, particularly in the downtown, plus the abundance of beautiful older homes in the Cathedral Area of the city.

“I’m just impressed by the generations of families that have stayed here,” she said of Joliet.

Around City Hall, Beatty said she wants to be known as an extremely hard worker. During her 18 years with Chicago, she worked for three different Aldermen, all from different Wards, and much of her work involved pedestrian safety and transportation issues.

One of Beatty’s major accomplishments, she said, involved the Red Line commuter rail system extension further south. She was also involved in former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plans to open Chicago’s first casino, Bally’s which opened in September at the former Medinah Temple in River North.

“I was making a difference in Chicago,” she said.

Overall, Chicago and Joliet have major differences.

Chicago has 50 aldermen; Joliet has eight city council members plus the mayor, equaling nine.

Chicago has a population of around 3.2 million and 35,000 employees.

Joliet is a growing city, the third largest in Illinois, now topping 150,000 residents and less than 1,000 full-time staff.

Growing up in Rock Island County, Beatty said both of her parents were civil servants in Moline, her father was a circuit court judge for 30 years and her mother was a paralegal.

Beatty said that after living in Chicago more than 20 years, she and her husband-to-be were ready for a change. She lived on the North Side, near Wrigley Field.

“It is a grind,” Beatty said of working and living in Chicago. “My husband to be, he grew up in Ohio, in a smaller town, and after working for Chicago for 18 years … I thought it would be a real good forward-looking new challenge for me. Joliet is the third-largest city. I grew up in Moline, and it’s very similar to Joliet.”

She also plans to become active in the city, including with the Joliet Rotary Club.

One of Joliet’s most positive developments in recent months was the news that famous Hollywood actor Bill Murray along with Mike Veeck and Veeck’s son, Night Train, have purchased the Joliet Slammers independent league baseball team of the Frontier League.

Beatty believes the new ownership team could be a tremendous spark for downtown Joliet’s revitalization, particularly this summer. Last fall, Mike Veeck was the focus of a new sports movie on Netflix called The Saint of Second Chances.

As it turns out, Beatty is a big baseball fan, and living in Chicago for more than 20 years, she attended her share of baseball games at Wrigley Field.

But when asked if she roots for the Chicago Cubs or the Chicago White Sox, the answer is neither.

Growing up in Moline, Beatty said she was always a St. Louis Cardinals fan.

Contract Deals: Back in November, Joliet Patch reported that the Joliet City Council approved a contract for Beatty, with a salary of $230,000, plus $12,500 in relocation expenses to leave Chicago and move to Joliet.

Beatty is also in line to receive $250 per month, which $3,000 per year, as a vehicle allowance as part of her duties of overseeing all of Joliet’s full-time employees at City Hall.

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