Labor strife comes to Fox Lake as cops, village trade barbs

Fox Lake village and police union officials are taking their complaints public after four full-time officers were laid off to meet budget needs.

The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police and Fox Lake officials traded news releases and statements Monday, each blaming the other for not keeping an open mind during negotiations to avoid the cuts.

Richard Stomper, spokesman for the IFOP Labor Council, said the cuts have weakened the ability of police to protect Fox Lake residents.

"Patrol activities are being left with a skeletal staff much of the time and proactive patrolling aimed at crime prevention and controlling drug activity is being largely eliminated," Stomper said in a news release.

However, Village Administrator Nancy Schuerr said the layoffs were necessary after the union insisted on being awarded compensatory time for any reduction in pay, and voted against taking a 5 percent pay cut.

Schuerr said 22 full-time and 5 part-time officers remain on the force after the department was reorganized following the cuts. There are now 19 patrol officers are on the street, the same as before the cuts, she added.

The cuts will affect outreach programs such as DARE and the full-time Grant High School resource officer.

"Officers will respond to any complaints at any of the schools in the village as was the case in the past," she said in a release.

The argument started last week when village leaders cut four police officers after contract talks broke down over the scheduled pay raise.

Village officials asked the union to forgo the scheduled 5 percent pay raise to avoid putting the village budget further in the red. That cut would have staved off the layoffs, officials said.

Stomper said the union pushed to keep the raises but, in turn, offered cuts such as furlough days, suspended holiday pay and a deferral of overtime pay.

Those changes would have reduced overall salary costs by about $100,000, about equal to the 5 percent pay reduction, Stomper said.

Schuerr said all of the union-proposed cuts were linked to awarding officers comp time. That involved giving them paid time off in place of overtime.

"They also wanted to reopen the contract and change items to their overall benefit," she said. "That wouldn't have been financially beneficial for the village."

When talks broke down and the officers were laid off, Mayor Ed Bender said the layoffs would have been spared if the police voted down the pay raise.

"They seemed to blame the police officers," Stomper said. "The officers are not responsible for this shortfall and we wouldn't have gone public if they didn't go public first."