Hoffman Estates police officers notified Dec. 31 will be their last day

The four Hoffman Estates police officers who have been threatened with losing their jobs have been informed their last day will be Dec. 31.

Union head Flo Williams sent the four junior patrol officers e-mails earlier this week. She said she was passing along information sent to her in a memo on Saturday by Village Manager James Norris.

"I felt it was my responsibility to notify the guys," Williams said.

There appears to be little movement on the bargaining front. The union did not accept the village's latest offer, which included deferring a 4 percent raise until 2011. Williams said the union wanted a guarantee of no layoffs in 2010, but the village didn't comply. Village officials had asked the union for $400,000 in cuts.

Williams said a fund that helped generate development at Prairie Stone Business Park and Sears Holding Corp.'s offices also helps pay for fire and police staffing. It's set to bring in about $750,000 next year for police and $1.6 million overall in net revenue, then expire in 2011.

"What happens to the officers afterward?" Williams said.

The police department did cut an expense after the board approved deferring the purchase of a $128,222 automated ticket writing system for police squad cars. Police Chief Clinton Herdegen said budget problems made the purchase untimely.

Some officers complained the ticket system wasn't needed, especially if it meant a personnel cut.

Monday's board meeting featured another batch of attacks by union officials on the village board and Norris. Norris also found himself a focal point for criticism as the village board formally voted to give him a one-year contract extension through 2010 at his current $173,500 salary plus benefits. The deal was first approved in April, but needed a final vote.

Trustee Cary Collins, who cast the only no vote, said the board should have withheld some benefits, including a village car. Collins said the benefits would bump Norris' contract to about $250,000, which he called "unconscionable." He compared Hoffman Estates and Norris to the University of Notre Dame's football team and former head coach Charlie Weis, and his 6-win, 5-loss record, which led to his recent firing.

"Mr. Weis lost his job because of a 6 and 5 year," Collins said. "This year in my estimation, we haven't even done as well as 6 and 5."

Norris didn't comment.

Collins has been a vocal dissenter lately at board meetings, but Flo Williams questioned how genuine his comments have been. Collins, an attorney, sits on police and fire pension boards, including one at the village of Streamwood, she said.

"He can't get up and vote against police," Williams said. "It would mean he would lose some of those contracts."