Did Sleepy Hollow committee have authority to take deer vote?

Concerns have arisen over whether a Sleepy Hollow committee’s endorsement to let the state kill 20 white-tailed deer for research runs counter to the village’s status as a wildlife sanctuary.

On Tuesday night, the village’s environmental committee made the unanimous recommendation to the village board, which is expected to vote on the matter Monday.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources hopes to kill 20 deer in Sleepy Hollow using a sharpshooter. Scientists would test their brains and lymph nodes for chronic wasting disease, which settles in their brains and affects primary functions. One deer tested positive for the disease nearby at Salamander Springs in Carpentersville and the IDNR wants to see whether the disease has infected Sleepy Hollow’s deer.

According to the village’s wildlife sanctuary ordinance, “It shall be the objective of the community as a whole, and each individual citizen of the community, to maintain the wildlife sanctuary and the country style living that exists in the village.”

Scott Finney, chairman of the environmental committee, says that doesn’t preclude the village from letting IDNR kill deer to determine whether the disease exists in Sleepy Hollow or from taking whatever action is necessary to keep it from spreading.

“(The ordinance) really doesn’t speak to what you can or cannot do to ensure the health of the environment which is, in my view, what we’re discussing here,” Finney said.

Committee Member Carol Grom agrees.

“There is not an absolute prohibition of killing wildlife,” Grom said, adding that only one person has called her about her vote. “And obviously, not everyone agrees.”

The village board meeting has been scheduled for 7:30 p.m.