During public comment at the board meeting last Thursday, a resident, Nancy Wendling, stood up and offered her help to the village with finding funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Nancy explained that she has experience in this area and is working with other municipalities as well as the Fortune 100 company she works for in locating funding.
What kind of funding do we need right now?
As we know from the budget and the village newsletter, our road maintenance program was significantly reduced. An already under-funded program is now reduced to road patching. Many of our roads are in poor shape. A presentation to the board by the PW Director last year showed that many roads at that time were in dire need of repair or replacement. Perhaps Ms. Wendling will be able to assist the village in finding the funds we desperately need for road repair and/or replacement.
A new police building is needed. When Island Lake population reaches 10,000, by law, we will be required to update our jail to meet certain criteria that it currently does not have. The most logical answer is to build a new police station. If we don't find the funding, the only answer may be in a tax increase.
The village hall building is crumbling and is sorely outdated. We need to update our village hall to match the growth of our village and allow us to offer more and improved services. Funding for this is also lacking and any grants our resident expert, Ms. Wendling or the Board members/employees can find will be a tremendous help to us all. If you remember, the board spent $20,000 on an architectural firm last year to get the much needed advice and plans for both the police building and village hall projects. Due to the economy, a plan to put a referendum on the ballot for a bond was put on hold. However, eventually, we will have to bring these projects to fruition.
Then there's parks that need to be finished, sidewalks installed, safety programs, and more. Currently, Converse Park is not paved. We need to pave that parking lot to adhere to our own ordinances. We should also look at other uses for the park; perhaps as resident, Joe Ptak suggested, a band shell. This is a viable option for making Island Lake a "destination" for outsiders. If the right option for utilizing this park is chosen and proper planning and roll out, we may have a diamond in the rough. We may not have the rooftops needed to bring big business or restaurants in, but we certainly can bring the people in to visit and leave their money behind in way of sales.
Our Public Works department is understaffed and lacks the funds for new or replacement equipment and tools needed to provide the top notch service we have come accustomed to.
Our police department is understaffed. We need more police, and in my opinion, we need more full-time officers, not more part-time officers. Our police department is overwhelmed and many officers work many hours of overtime. We need to reduce the overtime and ensure our officers are well rested between shifts. We want the best and brightest to wear our uniforms and in order to do that, we need to engage our employees (officers) with full-time jobs and excellent benefits, working conditions, and training.
Our village needs an administrator to help run the day to day business needs of the village which will result in a more efficiently run village and provide the much needed liaison to the board. Much of the existing board has already publicly supported the creation of this position. Many villages smaller in population than Island Lake have managers or administrators. This position would be key to our continued growth and success.
Our village has invested over $250,000 for a water tower and well project that has not moved forward. A lawsuit which has been much publicized has stopped the village from drilling a well near the Pig Farmer, Wauconda Township resident, Bob Wargaski.
41 comments:
>>>A new police building is needed. When Island Lake population reaches 10,000, by law, we will be required to update our jail to meet certain criteria that it currently does not have. The most logical answer is to build a new police station. If we don't find the funding, the only answer may be in a tax increase…LAURIE
What is the current VOIL population, when will it reach 10,000 and who verifies the population numbers?
What does the “law” actually state?
Is this a local, county, state or federal law?
What certain criteria has been determined that we currently don’t meet with our facilities?
Why is it the most logical answer to build a new police station?
Can we have access to this “law” information, or have it posted somewhere?
What are the ramifications if we don’t meet these “law requirements”?
I imagine studies have been made and thoroughly discussed. Were any decisions made?
Can we have this Architects report made available for the residents to review…especially on the VOIL web site?
Where do we stand on this issue?
Before this town hires anyone to pursue funds from the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act", or raise taxes...I suggest this information be put on the Village web site for all residents to review first, so anyone can intelligently discuss this issue with the Mayor and Trustees.
Let's not jump to preordained conclusions.
“We need to update our village hall to match the growth of our village and allow us to offer more and improved services.”…LAURIE
I’ll be very happy if this new administration can just start out by keeping the VOIL web site up to date.
If the VOIL web site is “UNDER CONSTRUCTION” as the Mayor stated at the meeting…it should be noted on the web site. A target date for completion should also be posted so it doesn't become an indefinite period.
The VOIL WEB SITE should be a convenient source of CURRENT INFORMATION for the people of Island Lake, and outside of Island Lake, in order to search for answers to their questions.
The web site should be a convenient source for the people of Island Lake to view/review MEETING AGENDA items and past MEETING NOTES on what is being discussed and planned at Board and Committee meetings.
The web site should be a convenient location for the people of Island Lake to DISCUSS and EXPRESS their OPINIONS on issues affecting their neighborhoods, taxes and especially their safety.
The web site should be a convenient source of information for the people of Island Lake, especially for the SENIORS and HANDICAPPED who can’t visit the Village Hall to see what is posted on a bulletin board somewhere…ESPECIALLY IN THE WINTER.
OUR COMMUNITY NEEDS IMPROVEMENT not the village hall or police department building.
Growing the size of government with the intention of improving services…IS NOT THE ANSWER. Grant money is not going to replace thinking or leadership.
Get a functioning web site going so people can start participating with their brains first.
I hope everyone sends the Mayor and Board members an email in this regard.
The election is over...relax (you won). Hooray!
In addition to applying for ARRA money, the village should go line by line and assess the current expenses.
For instance ...
Item 1: How much is paid to maintain, publish, and distribute the newsletter? Can some of this cost be absorbed by advertisements? Our village website states that Island Lake is green, yet we mail thousands of newsletters every month to help fill our landfills. If the town wants a newsletter, publish it on the village website and/or have a few issues on hand for those without Internet access.
Item 2: What kind of traffic does the village website receive? Joe et al. feel the site is outdated and useless. Is it worth paying for a site that adds little value? As a village we need to make an investment or walk away from the concept all together.
Item 3: Based off of discussions on this blog, the board and mayor are at a stalemate on many issues. According to Joe, the meeting ran long this week and the agenda was cut short - I did not attend so this is 'readsay.' Why should the village pay appearance fees for these meetings if nothing is getting resolved?
Joe-
It seems you are trying to justify or QUANTIFY the need for a new police station. I like it!!
"In addition to applying for ARRA money, the village should go line by line and assess the current expenses".
Exactly. Trustee Saville has been saying this for 2 years.Maybe with more residents demanding action, it'll get done.
One good thing about the Village web site ... one click and you can send an e-mail to any of the Trustees or Mayor.
"Currently, the village website is maintained by Baxter & Woodman. I cannot give you accurate information pertaining to the agreement or expectations of the website as I have asked for a copy of the contract between the village and B&W TWO weeks ago and have not received it."...LAURE
Isn't Baxter & Woodman the same firm addressing the water tower project(s), along with other funding and grant issues.
Is this firm the only source the VOIL utilizes, for apparently many of our needs?
Laurie, I will visit with Mr. John Little and discuss whether in fact this Village has a contractual agreement to maintain the VOIL web site and what does that entail and at what cost.
I know some 8th graders who might be able to accomplish as much, with little or no overhead costs.
I believe the VOIL web site can also have a "LOCAL" BUSINESS SECTION for:
• Full / Part time job opportunities.
• Items for sale.
• Items wanted.
• Services available.
• Rides needed.
• Office space for rent.
• Commercial advertising space.
• etc., etc., etc.
Fees can be charged for certain services that would add revenue to the VOIL.
As stated by Karen12359:
"One good thing about the Village web site ... one click and you can send an e-mail to any of the Trustees or Mayor."
Please DON'T BE AFRAID TO USE YOUR OWN NAME, your parents gave it to you for a reason. Finally and most of all...be polite.
Joe,
The contract in question expired April 30 according to the Finance director; he is in negotiations right now, again according to the Finance director. Our village should be putting that work out for bid, it's worth a lot of money. It's not just for website maintenance but for PC consulting in general; I just don't know how general without a copy of the contract. With the absence of information to Trustees, it is difficult to say what this village spends on anything and how we could cut costs.
And Joe, you are correct, B&W does a lot of engineering work for the village, much of it with no bid! They indeed are involved heavily on the water tower project.
let me add, the "no bid" is a decision made by the previous administration and a previous board or two ago (some of the same players are up there now but not all);
No disrespect to B&W; I would take a no bid contract too, if I were them.
>>>"Our police department is understaffed. We need more police, and in my opinion, we need more full-time officers, not more part-time officers. Our police department is overwhelmed and many officers work many hours of overtime."...LAURIE
Until I see my first report from the Police Department on how they are being overwhelmed...I'm a bit skeptical and leery of this statement.
Overwhelmed with crime? If so, why aren't the residents being made aware of this? Is your comment opinion, hearsay or based on fact?
Community safety is priority #1, again, a VOIL WEB SITE with a special POLICE DEPARTMENT section would be most helpful...especially with postings of critical alert watches we should be concerned about.
>>>"The contract in question expired April 30 according to the Finance director; he is in negotiations right now, again according to the Finance director."...LAURIE
Is the Finance Director, responsible for the DESIGN, CONTENT, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE of the VOIL WEB SITE?
If not...what is he negotiating?
If this web site is under construction...who or what organization is working on it?
Will the resident be surveyed as to what they would like to see included in the updated and revised web site?
I still think this expired contract should be made public. If we received good value it should be noted, and if not, it should be DEFINITELY competitively BID OUT.
Someone needs to do research on some innovative and effective municipal Village web sites for comparison purposes. We can all research this ourselves...before a contract for an unsatisfactory web site is signed.
No bid contracts for professional services rendered are generally awarded to companies or individuals who provide exceptional quality work and service, at a fair price.
This is essentially a design/build approach, requested by the customer AFTER the supplier has established and maintains this quality/reliability factor with the customer.
Joe,
The police department has overtime issues and has discussed many times during committee meetings and budget meetings. A lengthy discussion took place a few months ago during a discussion to hire a new police officer. The reason to hire was based on the overtime that the officers were putting in at time and a half pay. (here's the link to the blog posting http://villageofislandlake.blogspot.com/2008/11/board-to-vote-on-hiring-new-full-time.html and the meeting was November 13) At that particular meeting, it was discussed that the police were working a lot of overtime; It was also discussed that the dispatchers are generally working alone and do not get breaks because they must be there to answer the phone; another discussion at a different time took place regarding police officers losing their vacation time because they could not use it; I blogged about this issue siding once again with the the police that they earned their vacation time and should be paid out for their vacation or given an extension if they were not able to use vacation time because they were required to be on the job. This loss of vacation is a tell tale sign that a department is understaffed and overwhelmed. So, in a sense, part of my statement that they are "overwhelmed" is my opinion of their "state of mind" based on FACTS presented at board meetings in the past.
Crime reports? With the loss of the local paper, Pioneer Press, many crimes in this village have gone unpublicized. Here's a link to a blog posting about vandalism crimes in Island Lake: http://villageofislandlake.blogspot.com/2008/08/vandals-thieves-on-our-streets.html
I highly recommend that you review some meetings that took place last year; many times you can sync a blog topic to meeting discussions to decipher which meeting is worthy of watching (although, I feel they are all worthy and chock full of information).
Also, in regards to the need of a new police station and village hall upgrades, here's a link to a special committee meeting on those topics
http://www.cbgil.com/sound/120208.wma
This is audio only.
In response to your earlier question about the village police building:
The fact that the village will have to upgrade the jail to meet state law criteria is not in dispute. The firm hired to advise the village advised based on costs and needs, to build a new station. The decision to build a new police station was decided and agreed upon by the board but not acted upon due to the economy. It is suspected that Island Lake population is creeping towards 10,000 or more in the near future. Our population based on the 2000 Census is at 8,153; the next census is planned for 2010 according to the US Census Bureau website.
I do not know the consequences of not having a jail that meets the state requirements. What I do know is that other villages and cities "borrow" jail space from other municipalities when the need arrives; I suspect that would be our alternative, but that is my assumption, not based on any village discussion that took place.
>>> on August 25, 2008 12:27:00 AM CDT Anonymous said...
THE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS ALREADY HANDLED APPROX. 15,000 CALLS OF SERVICE SINCE JANUARY 1ST. N0W DIVIDE THAT BY 10 PATROLMEN. NOW YOU SEE WHY THEY CANT BE EVERYWHERE AT ONCE AND WHY PEOPLE ARE BEING BURGLARIZED. NEED TO HIRE MORE FULL TIME COPPERS.
I read this comment and it was not questioned or challenged by anyone?
From January 1st to August 25, 2008 is approximately 240 days.
If the VOIL received 15,000 calls and we divide that number by 240 days, the average is 62.5 calls per day. Now if we take 62.5 calls per day and divide that number by the 24 hours in a day, that answer comes out to 2.6 calls per hour. Now how many policemen do we have working each hour?
Is 15,000 calls received during this period a factual number? Where did the majority of calls come from?
What were the nature of the calls…how many were 911 emergency calls?
These are all just basic questions that should be in the form of reports that the community should be able to view on a Village WEB SITE.
At the last meeting the Mayor stated that she speaks every morning with the police chief. The police sergeant at the meeting said he had nothing to report?
The people are being kept in the dark about the safety of their community.
Stats can check my math, but someone has to explain to me in what manner is our police force overwhelmed and where is all this overtime money being spent?
A Village Administrator/Manager might be a good idea eventually.
For right now the VOIL residents need to be informed about what is going on in their community...especially parents with children.
We need a USEFUL and FUNCTIONING WEB SITE FIRST.
I hope EVERY blogger on this site pushes this vital need for our community...in any way you can...no matter which side of the aisle you're on regarding other issues.
>>>"I do not know the consequences of not having a jail that meets the state requirements. What I do know is that other villages and cities "borrow" jail space from other municipalities when the need arrives; I suspect that would be our alternative, but that is my assumption, not based on any village discussion that took place."...LAURIE
Sounds like a numerous questions need to be addressed about alternatives, options available, along with cost impacts.
I don't like to automatically accept the reports and recommendation(s) from professional sources as "gospel", especially if they stand to profit from their recommendations.
Since I'm a business man, I don't have anything against making a profit for services rendered based on a need...however, as a resident of this town...I suggest we are all provided with documentation which can be reviewed and verified by interested residents with knowledge in these areas.
We absolutely need a professional non-partisan administrator. I have seen other administrators in other villages live through successions of mayors and trustees. It doesn't have to be a handpicked puppet if we properly setup the recruitment process. I would guarantee that they could pay for themself if they could better manage bids, contracts, labor negotiation, grants, bonds, etc. We deserve more.
BTW - I bet a special census would show our population today at over 9000. Why not get one done? Some websites show the pop at over 9100 last year
One last thing for today - the website could be a part time job or project for any good CLC or MCC IT student...
Joe, your math is correct. However, if the numbers used are actual numbers, I am assuming the "overwhelming" feeling stems from the uneven distribution of the calls. For instance, I imagine the dispatchers receive more calls per hour between 8am and 10pm than between 10pm and 8am - most people are or should be sleeping between 10pm and 8am.
It is also worth noting, that any given week has 168 hours. If the time is split evenly, this is 16.8 hours (10 officers). Now one officer an hour is clearly a safety hazard, so lets employ two per hour; this forces each officer to work 33.6 hours. If it is decided we need an average of 2.5 officers an hour, each officer will work an average of 42 hours or 20 hours of overtime a week. The number of overtime hours only increases when an officer goes on vacation.
I feel I understand the need for more officers. However, is there a way to combine forces with a Holiday Hills or Wauconda? I thought I remember reading at one time that we had a combined police force with Tower Lakes, but I think the agreement has expired.
The numbers used to show current populations are estimates; in other words the numbers are highly educated guesses; this is why estimates vary from site to site. The only way to determine the actual number is to take a census - special or decennial. Unfortunately, from my understanding, the municipality is in charge of paying for a special census. Generally, a municipality will pay for a special census if it is certain the 1.) current estimate is understated and 2.) the additional federal aid received from a higher population offsets the cost of the special census. Generally there is a "blackout" period before a decennial census begins.
Special Census facts: http://www.census.gov/field/www/specialcensus/files/faq.htm
Based on my time here in Island Lake, I would guess the 2010 projection (10,383) will be determined to be overstated - I am using the demographic estimates found on the village website. A quick and dirty estimate can be calculated by multiplying the number of housing units by 2.88 (approximate average household size.
On a side note, the ‘Available Island Lake Business’ link from the village website still lists Garling as the village contact. Should this be changed? Also, I would recommend overhauling the entire map when the contact information is updated. The map is poor at best. For instance, Garling is listed with two phone numbers. Traffic counts contradict each other as well contradict the numbers provided by IDOT. If we are trying to sell the village to business owners, I would recommend preparing something similar to the shiner group (Walgreens, Mc Ds, Auto Zone) - http://www.shinergrp.com/portfolio/detail.asp?PROPERTY_ID=27&. Their presentation is clean, informative, and consistent.
Speaking of Garling ...
If he wasn't living in the Village since last November, shouldn't this be investigated? After all, if he shouldn't have been a Trustee (per ordinance) he (and others) should be held accountable for at the very least voter fraud.
The map does not show any of the newly annexed land over the past three years. Everything north of town is not shown.
This is a notice posted on the Village Web Site:
"This site last updated: October 2008"
Amazing.
Who posted the current 2009 Summer Village Newsletter?
Who is responsible for working on the current VOIL web site?
I have a "dumb" question (I know, I know, no dumb questions - only dumb answers!):
What is the actual job of the Village Clerk? Now, I am in full agreement on this need for a village administrator, but how does the clerk's position differ from administrator? And if the clerk is a functional job which requires years of service to be any good at it, why is it an electable position? Seems a lot of time is wasted waiting for the clerk to get up to speed. And then the hiring of the Deputy Clerk?!?! A non-partisaned manager seems a much more effective route. Not saying we don't need a clerk (like I asked, what's the job description?), just seems there's a better way...
I realized that sounded a bit like I had an axe to grind with Ms. Miller. Not what I meant. It would take anyone a good bit of time to get their feet under them in a position such as this, especially if the files are in complete disorder as it's been described by the mayor. Just seems to make more sense to have someone that can learn the office, town goals, etc and be able to stay for more than two years until the next election ousts them.
be able to stay for more than two years until the next election ousts them.
clerks term is for four years
Ok, 4. Thank you, Jim (Got a job description?). Still hardly enough time to be effective.
On another note, I hope that the Village moves quickly on applying for ARRA funds. It would be great if we could get funding for a new police HQ, energy-efficient lighting for our parks, Village Haul overhaul, etc. without having to raise local taxes. (Why the feds are promising billions to the states that they do not have to give is another argument altogether, but we should take advantage while the billfold is open - we'll have to pay for it regardless of whether our community uses it or it goes to another.)
Idea for a Park -
There's a property at the end of Eastport Court that people have investigated a number of times for building a home on, and apparently the lot is not buildable without a major expense since the lot in question is adjacent to a pond and wetlands.
So perhaps the owner of the lot should be contacted and be asked if they would be willing to donate the land to the village and get a tax break since it appears after 3 attempts to build - we're talking taking soil samples here - have resulted in not going forward to build a home on the lot.
Therefore, a good use if the land would be for a small park - we are of course on a cul-de-sac, and there's no through traffic, so it would be safer for children than a through street.
Jim Shoe said...
"The (Village) map does not show any of the newly annexed land over the past three years. Everything north of town is not shown."
Good point - Is not the Village of Island Lake paying Baxter & Woodman, the consulting engineers, to keep our data and information current - including the Village map???
Joe Ptak said...
"A new police building is needed. When Island Lake population reaches 10,000, by law, we will be required to update our jail to meet certain criteria that it currently does not have."
Aside from the funding that the VOIL definitely needs to obtain in order to help keep our taxes low and reasonable, are we as a Village considering a way of building the Police station and the Village Hall in phases, rather than all at once - that would take away some of the financial pressure of doing this all at once. What did I read a while back, $10 million for both the Police Station and Village Hall, that's really ambitious for a town the size of Island Lake, especially when we have more basic needs, like making sure our water system and streets/roads infrastructure are in decent shape - not just getting by.
I have a bit of a problem with this "need" to have a shiny new City Hall (I can understand the Police station part about the State law) - is this a monument to the politicians who seem to be not doing much...
sheesh, what has the new mayor and board done in the 2 months since they got elected? I say squat - show me what the new mayor and board have done in the last 2 months? Cancelled the fireworks show? That's OK, I'm all for saving money. That's all I can remember seeing in the last 2 months!
“IL” wants to know what the new Mayor and board have done for the village in the last two months.
LOL answer is simple my honest opinion is nada; Mayor Herrmann is too concerned with creating rules and ordinances to control board members whom don’t go along with “her” agenda. Nothing on this week’s agenda, I guess there are no problems to solve or discuss in Island Lake! Another week of no progress how sad for our village!
Hey IL,
I try never to misquote anyone...just so you know...I have never endorsed or suggested that we need to build a new building for the police department.
Not that I'm totally opposed to the idea, but someone has got to prove to me that this is the best way to spend taxpayer's money.
It would appear as though Baxter and Woodman are not meeting their requirements, such as updating our village website and our village maps. If we are paying for services and not receiving them maybe the village should consider another firm, one that is willing to meet its obligations.
Let's be fair to Baxter and Woodman...I'm not sure if they have a contract to keep the VOIL website updated?
Laurie is waiting to hear from Mr. John Little.
Joe Ptak said...
>>>"Our police department is understaffed. We need more police, and in my opinion, we need more full-time officers, not more part-time officers. Our police department is overwhelmed and many officers work many hours of overtime."...LAURIE
Until I see my first report from the Police Department on how they are being overwhelmed...I'm a bit skeptical and leery of this statement.
Overwhelmed with crime? If so, why aren't the residents being made aware of this? Is your comment opinion, hearsay or based on fact?
Community safety is priority #1, again, a VOIL WEB SITE with a special POLICE DEPARTMENT section would be most helpful...especially with postings of critical alert watches we should be concerned about."
******************
Joe, it amazes me that you believe that fixing your beloved VOIL website idea is the end all-be all answer to everything.
It is clear that you have not bothered to go back and read ALL of the previous posts and videos that were here before you splashed on the scene to declare how skeptical and leery you are of certain statements!
Have you ever even been to the police department? Taken a tour? It is obvious that you have not, or you would not be making some of your foolish statements. Do you realize that they do not even HAVE a jail cell? Even Maybury had 2 jail cells!! Did you know that state law DEMANDS that police departments house male and female prisoners in separated jail facilities? That juvenile offenders have to be held in yet again separate jail facilities that can not be within eye nor ear shot of the adult facilities?
Well, our police department has NONE of these facilities! When asked how they deal with these lack of MANDATED facilities? They answer that they do the best they can and rely on the kindness of other police departments on lending them the use of THEIR jails to hold Island Lake prisoners! What happens if they decide not to let them use the cells? The prisoners have to be released!
Why don't you take a half hour some day and instead of wasting it typing here for the 20th time how they need to update the VOIL web page, go take a tour of the police department.
Oh, and one more thing. Took a look at YOUR webpage. Do you really think that it helps draw business for you? It looks very amateurish and uninspiring for someone in the artistic business you are in. You may want to consider some close up pics of your actual work so people can SEE it. Then again, maybe not!
Joe Ptak said...
>>> on August 25, 2008 12:27:00 AM CDT Anonymous said...
THE POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS ALREADY HANDLED APPROX. 15,000 CALLS OF SERVICE SINCE JANUARY 1ST. N0W DIVIDE THAT BY 10 PATROLMEN. NOW YOU SEE WHY THEY CANT BE EVERYWHERE AT ONCE AND WHY PEOPLE ARE BEING BURGLARIZED. NEED TO HIRE MORE FULL TIME COPPERS.
I read this comment and it was not questioned or challenged by anyone?
From January 1st to August 25, 2008 is approximately 240 days.
If the VOIL received 15,000 calls and we divide that number by 240 days, the average is 62.5 calls per day. Now if we take 62.5 calls per day and divide that number by the 24 hours in a day, that answer comes out to 2.6 calls per hour. Now how many policemen do we have working each hour?
Is 15,000 calls received during this period a factual number? Where did the majority of calls come from?
What were the nature of the calls…how many were 911 emergency calls?
These are all just basic questions that should be in the form of reports that the community should be able to view on a Village WEB SITE.
At the last meeting the Mayor stated that she speaks every morning with the police chief. The police sergeant at the meeting said he had nothing to report?
The people are being kept in the dark about the safety of their community.
Stats can check my math, but someone has to explain to me in what manner is our police force overwhelmed and where is all this overtime money being spent?
June 29, 2009 10:57:00 AM CDT
Joe Ptak said...
A Village Administrator/Manager might be a good idea eventually.
For right now the VOIL residents need to be informed about what is going on in their community...especially parents with children.
We need a USEFUL and FUNCTIONING WEB SITE FIRST.
I hope EVERY blogger on this site pushes this vital need for our community...in any way you can...no matter which side of the aisle you're on regarding other issues.
**************************
It is easy to see that you are looking at this from someone used to dealing with business situations that never need any type of priority response. If your tile crew does not get to a job today, they is always tomorrow, right Joe? You can always reschedule it for next week, right? It is Noon, time to stop work and take a lunch break!
Police and fire departments do not work that way! They have to have enough manpower on duty to deal with the majority of all calls without waiting to call in additional help or ask for additional help from other departments. I believe the police department has a minimum staffing of 3 police officers at all times. Including the chief of police and 2 sgts., the village has 15 full time police officers. I do not think they count command staff as part of the 3 officers per shift, so now you are looking at 12 full time officers filling 3 officers per shift, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That is over 500 man hours per week. Now, maybe you are smarter than me, but haw can 12 people handle this many hours while at the same time having days off, vacations, sick days, not to mention any time taken for training thrown into the works. How about throwing in that 1 officer has been gone for the last year serving his country in the war or the fact that another officer has been off work without pay for almost a year due to an illness? Now you are at 500 man hours worked by how many? 10? How do you do it? Bottom line, it is impossible.
continued below...
What is the solution? Hire more part time officers that do not need the same amount of training that a full time officer needs? slap a badge and a gun on him and throw him on the streets? That might of worked 30 years ago when Gus was a cop, but hopefully we have progressed since then! So hopefully hiring more part time officers is not your solution.
Keep making them work more overtime and not letting them take vacations that they have earned? That works for a while, but it costs a lot of money (paying them time and a half) and burns them out over time. Not fair to the town or the officers.
One other fact that you seem so willing to skip over...what happens when there are more than 2 calls at one time? Call goes out at 6:00 PM that there is a bad accident with injuries at River rd and rt 176. 2 minutes later, another call goes out that there is a domestic in progress on Burnett Rd. What do they do? Tell the people fighting to please stop fighting for an hour while they handle the traffic accident? Send 1 cop to the domestic and the other 2 cops to the accident? How about send 2 cops to the domestic and let 1 cop go take care of the accident?
How about call County for assistance and wait until they have a deputy or 2 available to assist?
It all boils down to what kind of service you want from your police department. 3 policeman patrolling a town of 10,0000 people, trying to keep them safe, trying to respond to all emergencies in a quick and efficient manner? Now, let us use your numbers of 2.6 calls per hour just for giggles. You think that once the accident is over or the fight is broken up, the job is done? Think all the paperwork does itself? Ask any cop and they will tell you they spend more time writing reports than actually doing the job. Think that the people arrested get transported to jail by someone else? No, they get transported to McHenry or Waukeagan by one of the 3 officers on duty. Bam! Now for the hour and a half that officer is transporting the prisoner to Lake County jail, you are down to only 2 officers in town protecting 10,000 people!
How about dispatchers? Island Lake has 6 dispatchers that have to be there 24 hours a day 7 days a week. They also have to file all the paperwork, doing all the clerical work for the whole police department while answering calls for service, calls for directions, calls wanting information, FOIA requests, and all the other things that keep the system running.
Want to keep saying that you do think that the police department is not understaffed and overworked???? Yeah, fixing the village website is SO much more important!
Hey DA,
Your comments are rambling in nature and only prove my point that an effective VOIL Website should be a priority in this town.
I don't know if you attend Village meetings, but if you don't, this Blog is the only other tool to gather information about what is going on in this town.
I attend meetings and on several occasions have publicly asked why the safety and well being of our community is not discussed. I have even had discussions with the Police Chief about this issue and he has never provided me with any information whatsoever regarding crime in our community.
The Mayor has stated at a recent meeting that she meets/talks to the Police Chief every day. However, I have never heard from the Mayor or Police Chief that his men are overextended in their duties, especially in regards to overtime. Furthermore, whenever certain Trustees request information about what is being paid they seemed to be reprimanded.
I have no quarrel with the Police Department and how it is being operated.
I do however believe that it is the right of every resident to know how their tax dollars are being spent.
If a new Police Department Building is needed along with additional staffing...then it is the right of the Public to demand justification for these needs...in the form of information, which can be PUBLISHED ON A VILLAGE WEBSITE FOR ALL TO SEE.
If in your opinion you do not feel that people should not be provided with this information I can only disagree with you.
If you do agree that this type of information should be made available and discussed by the town's residents...you have to ask yourself how?
You know what my suggestion is.
Have a good day (really).
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