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Deer Park to sue Kildeer for breach of contract

Deer Park officials have authorized their attorney to sue the village of Kildeer for breach of contract and fraud over a contract for police service which Deer Park terminated in November.

Kildeer Village Administrator Michael Talbett said his village has not been served and that he couldn’t comment on a lawsuit he hasn’t seen.

The pending lawsuit seeks an accounting of all funds paid by Deer Park to Kildeer, Deer Park Village Attorney James Bateman said.

Eight full-time Kildeer police officers were laid off after Deer Park canceled the contract and switched to the Lake County sheriff’s office for its police service.

A large group of Deer Park residents who’d grown loyal to the Kildeer officers petitioned their own village officials to rethink their pending decision last fall.

But over the course of several meetings, Deer Park village board members told residents that serious breaches of the terms of the contract by Kildeer had left them with no choice. They said an analysis had found that Deer Park was paying for a promised level of service that wasn’t being delivered.

Bateman said one of the most significant gaps in coverage was along the Rand Road commercial corridor, which includes the Deer Park Town Center.

Bateman added that the village has been pleased with the service it’s receiving from the Lake County sheriff’s office, and that there has been an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the public as well.

At a Deer Park meeting in early November, Kildeer special counsel Robert O’Donnell argued that Deer Park’s actions were based largely on its own financial concerns and that the town had based its findings of inadequate service on a faulty analysis.

Deer Park trustees strongly argued against those claims during the meeting.

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