Outrage over immigrant hiring proposal forces mayor to stop meeting

The issue of Mount Prospect allowing noncitizens to be appointed to police positions is dead.

But the outrage of residents at the proposal was still very much alive at Tuesday's village board meeting, which Mayor Arlene Juracek halted temporarily by calling a recess, after audience members at a packed village hall demanded to speak and others decided to speak without asking.

As the murmuring from the audience continued, Juracek said, “I'm going to clear the room. If folks cannot even be polite enough to sit and listen to a speaker, I'm going to ask you to leave.”

Before that, the proposed amendment to the village code to allow permanent residents to be appointed to the position of sworn police officer came up for a second reading, but the measure died for lack of a motion.

What that means is that the measure could only come back by once again going through the process of being raised in a committee of the whole meeting and then being given a first reading by the village board.

Juracek said police requested the proposal be withdrawn “recognizing the need for further engagement with residents on the subject.”

Speaking to the crowd before the vote, Juracek said, “Ironically, in this instance, the village of Mount Prospect is not breaking new ground. Many of our neighboring municipalities, including the city of Chicago, do not restrict police applicants to be only U.S. citizens.”

The village of Mount Prospect has restricted applicants to U.S. citizens since 1991.

Following the lack of action by the board, Juracek declared the matter finished and was ready to move on to further business.

But one of the audience members said, “We're the electorate. We have a right to speak.”

Juracek replied that the matter had already been discussed both by the village board and the board of fire and police commissioners.

Whereupon, another audience member began to harangue Juracek about her previous remark that “most of us never have to take an oath to defend the Constitution.”

Juracek told the citizen, “You are out of order,” and punctuated her statement with raps from her gavel.

As the meeting continued, the tension mounted and residents either stepped up to the public podium to speak without identifying themselves or directed remarks to the village board.

One former village president candidate, Ernie Lasse, stepped up to the podium to say, “I am asking for this board to entertain a motion to ask for the resignation of the police chief.”

Juracek protested.

“We have heard all of the arguments,” she said. “I have gotten letters and emails and phone calls and we have heard speakers at our meetings.

“Obviously it's all repetitive.”

As the chorus from the audience continued, Trustee Paul Hoefert tried to explain the process to the citizens.

“It came to a conclusion,” he said with a raised voice.

Juracek then called up a member of the board of fire and police commissioners, Jackie Hinaber, to address the crowd, one of whom asked, “Are you a citizen?”

Hinaber said, “Normally I am very proud to say I live in Mount Prospect, but here I have to say I'm not so proud of being a member of this community,” adding, “We are acting like a bunch of children.”

She said the board spent a lot of time discussing the issue.

“We do not take our jobs lightly,” she said. “These are life safety issues. We are all about hiring the best candidates for our community that we can find.”

She said communities are having problems getting qualified candidates to attend the academy to become police officers.

After Hinaber, who was frequently and loudly interrupted, spoke, Juracek called for the recess.