Mundelein's Rose gets reprieve as village board eliminates retirement mandate

Just five months from his 65th birthday and the mandatory retirement that had awaited him, Mundelein Police Chief Raymond J. Rose will be able to stay on the job a little longer.

The village board has eliminated the town's mandatory retirement age for the police and fire chiefs. For both positions, the mandatory retirement age was 65.

Rose, 64, has been Mundelein's police chief since 1992, making him the longest-serving active police chief in Lake County.

“It's been a good run,” Rose said of his 19 years in Mundelein. “I think we have made a difference in what we do.”

State law sets 65 as mandatory retirement age for police officers and firefighters, who typically are hired by municipal police and fire commissions. The rules can be different for chiefs, who typically are hired by village boards.

Mandatory retirement ages for police chiefs are rare in Lake County, a Daily Herald survey of area communities showed. Buffalo Grove, Grayslake, Gurnee, Kildeer, Lake Zurich, Lincolnshire and Wauconda are among the towns without age restrictions for police chiefs.

Conversely, Vernon Hills' rules say the village's police chief must retire at 65.

Mandatory-retirement rules are more common for fire chiefs. The Grayslake and Lincolnshire-Riverwoods fire protection districts are among the departments that force chiefs to retire due to age. The Vernon Hills-based Countryside Fire Protection District, the Wauconda Fire Protection District and the Waukegan Fire Department are among the departments without such stipulations.

All six Mundelein trustees voted June 13 to eliminate the mandatory-retirement ages for the two posts.

The changes were proposed, Rose said, because he and Fire Chief Tim Sashko were the only village department heads whose positions included mandatory retirement rules.

“You can't treat two department heads different from the rest of them,” Rose said.

Sashko, 52, said he wasn't concerned about the mandatory retirement stipulation because it was years away. He's been Mundelein's fire chief since 2007.

Trustee Ed Sullivan said he was OK with eliminating the age stipulation because Rose has told village officials he plans to retire by the end of 2012.

“He's not going to hang around forever,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan also said it would be difficult to search for Rose's replacement now because village leaders already are looking to replace recently retired Public Works Director Ken Miller, and they'll soon be hunting to replace Finance Director Mary Kay Hatton when she retires.

“It would be good if they didn't all leave at once,” Sullivan said.

Trustee Terri Voss praised the work Rose has done in his tenure as chief. She hopes Rose and the board use his remaining time as the town's top cop to do “some succession planning.”

Rose said he isn't sure exactly when he'll step down. The extra time will give him latitude to plan a transition, he said.