Gurnee mayor stresses adding minorities

Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik said while the village has made strides in adding minorities to its work force, she wants continued growth.

Kovarik made her comments at a village board meeting this week after a report was presented with the latest breakdown on the racial makeup of municipal employees.

Many other suburban towns have been trying to add minority employees. At the very least, Kovarik said, she wants Gurnee's municipal employees to resemble the village's demographics.

As of last month, there was one black and 13 Hispanics among Gurnee' 211 full-time employees. That means the full-time work force is 0.5 percent black and 6.2 percent Hispanic, according to a report by human resources director Christine Palmieri.

Data from a 2006 special census shows Gurnee's population was 6.3 percent black and 9.3 percent Hispanic.

In 2006, the village had no black full-time workers and two Hispanics.

"We really have made good strides in a couple of categories," Kovarik said, "but we still are deficient."

Gurnee has 194 white employees, or 92 percent of the work force, the report states. The most recent census showed the village's white population at 76 percent.

Palmieri said Gurnee's individual departments have been making a concerted effort to attract minority employees at job fairs, inner-city schools and other locations.

Trustee Hank Schwarz said he knows the police department has been actively recruiting minorities.

"We can't make people apply," Schwarz said. "They're just not applying."