Hainesville mayor says new police force is the right call

Hainesville Mayor Ted Mueller is confident the village can create a successful police department, and he plans to have it up and running by next month.

"The time to do this is now," Mueller said. "Is it going to run smooth? Hell no. There are going to be a lot of bumps, but we can do it."

His comments came one day after the village board voted 3-2 to approve a controversial ordinance to form the department.

Hainesville's contentious contract relationship with the Round Lake Park Police Department ends Feb. 10 after eight years. By then, Mueller said, Hainesville will have hired a police chief who will put the rest of the pieces into place.

The village held three meetings concerning the issue, all of which drew large crowds of angry residents who questioned Hainesville's ability to quickly pull off such an ambitious plan.

One of the loudest objectors was Trustee Wallace Stilz III, who repeatedly suggested forming a committee to study all options before making a decision.

"They are putting the cart before the horse," Stilz said. "I think it is a legacy issue. They want to be able to say they did something."

Over the last three weeks, the pool of four police chief candidates narrowed to two -- both retired area deputy chiefs, Mueller said.

Once hired, the new chief will hire two or three full-time officers and four to eight part-time officers, Mueller said, all of whom he hopes will be experienced police officers.

"I don't know how to run a police department. It is going to be the job of the guy sitting right there," he said, pointing to the empty office next to his own at village hall.

For at least a year, Mueller plans to run the department out of the village hall.

If suspects are brought in on nonviolent crimes, they'll be questioned at the Hainesville Road building. If they are considered a risk, they'll be taken to a holding cell at the CenCom building in Round Lake Beach, Mueller said.

Hainesville will still contract with CenCom, a 911 dispatch center serving seven communities and eight public safety agencies in Lake County.

Hainesville's new police department budget is $542,000 -- $72,000 more than its current police budget. It is only about $7,500 more than what next year's costs would be if the village stuck with Round Lake Park.

Stilz accused Mueller of copying and pasting Round Lake Heights' police department budget from the village's Web site and using it as Hainesville's, without doing any real research.

"They want to hire a chief but have no budget," he said. "I'm not against a department, but you can't just give me numbers that were cut and pasted."

The $542,000 budget does not include the annual cost to CenCom -- about $90,000.

It also doesn't include the $18,000 to $20,000 the village will need to spend to paint and equip the two stripped squad cars Round Lake Beach is giving Hainesville.

Over the last month, the village considered proposals from the Lake County sheriff's department and the Grayslake Police Department. Those would have cost $717,669 and $594,439, respectively, the first year.

Mueller said despite a few naysayers, many people support the endeavor, including nearby community leaders.

Round Lake, Round Lake Beach and Lindenhurst police chiefs all volunteered to help Mueller interview potential chiefs.

"Do you think they would have done that if they thought we could not succeed?" Mueller said.