Familiar face returns as Wauconda police chief

The Wauconda village board Tuesday night appointed Dan Quick as superintendent of police, replacing Police Chief Tony Jacobson.

Officials said Jacobson resigned the post for personal reasons. He will be appointed Wauconda Police Department's deputy chief of administration.

Quick will remain Wauconda's village administrator, a job he took on full-time in December 2002 after turning in his police badge and stepping down as Wauconda's police chief.

"Dan has 20 years' experience as a law enforcement officer," Wauconda Mayor Salvatore Saccomanno said. "He is well-suited to lead the department now."

Quick was sworn in as superintendent Tuesday night. The job carries the same authority as police chief.

"I retired from the department and to make that change in leadership you have to change the title," Quick said. "I can't be chief of police. It's a nonpaid position."

Quick said village officials did not want to hire a police chief from outside because they wanted to save money.

Quick's first task on the job will be restructuring the police department.

Citing declining revenues, the village recently laid off eight employees - two police officers, two communications dispatchers, one employee from the finance department, one from building and zoning and two administrative staff members.

"The village will still be protected without them (the laid-off officers)," Saccomanno said. "We're going to get the same amount of officers on the street as we always have. There's going to be some changing in the structure of the department to allow for that."

The village board Tuesday night authorized Quick to appoint a new police commander to be in charge of five sergeants. Quick also is responsible for appointing two deputy chiefs - Jacobson and Patrick Yost, who will be deputy chief of operations - to oversee day-to-day department operations.

"When I was chief before, we didn't have the administrative staff," Quick said. "It's much more helpful to have those command personnel in place to run the department."

None of the changes will affect police services to the public, Saccomanno said.

"There'll be no visible change to the public," he said. "It will all be internal and the department will carry on as it has in the past."

The board also appointed Linda Krajniak, who is the assistant to the village administrator, to the post of assistant village administrator. In her new capacity, Krajniak will have additional responsibilities and more authority to act in Quick's stead.

Neither Quick's nor Krajniak's appointment comes with a pay raise.

"Dan and Linda are both taking on extra responsibility - they are both taking on extra duty, more hours - and neither one is receiving an increase in pay in their current salaries," Saccomanno said. "They understand the position the village is in right now with our current finances."

The new police commander is a sergeant who also will assume the role without a pay increase, he added.