Lakemoor police moving to larger quarters

There is a nice view of Lily Lake from the double-wide trailer, but its practical use as a police headquarters is not as pleasant.

Lakemoor Police Chief William Kushner describes what was supposed to have been a temporary home along Route 120 as “something Barney Fife would be embarrassed to work in.”

At about 1,200 square feet, the trailer for about the past six years also has served as a locker room, conference center and whatever else is needed at the time.

“It’s a gorgeous view, but all your illusions of tranquillity and a pastoral setting vanish” when you walk in, he said.

A pending move to a much larger, permanent facility over the next few weeks is among some big changes that have buoyed morale in the department. Besides Kushner, there are seven full-time and four part-time officers.

“The trailer wasn’t going to make it through another winter,” Mayor Todd Weihofen said. “We actually had a guy go through the floor.”

Village officials about a month ago authorized the purchase of a building with about 10,000 square feet of space on Concrete Drive west of Route 12 as the new police facility.

“The key motivating factor was we needed a safer facility for our police officers,” Village Administrator David Alarcon said. “It (the trailer) was falling apart and it had no security for our employees.”

Internal security cameras have been installed and the cabling and wiring is complete at the new building. As it came furnished, police basically are waiting for the server and computers to be installed.

The move will occur over the next week or so.

“It’s a millennium away from where we are now,” Kushner said.

Weihofen said this might not necessarily be the police department’s permanent home, as the village continues the process of developing a municipal center.

In other changes at the department, for the first time in the village’s 60-year history, police officers will be hired from an eligibility list and will be approved by a recently formed police commission.

“Hiring and firing pretty much was done by whim,” said Kushner, who was named chief in November 2010. “There was no professional oversight.”

Creating the commission was mandated when the village’s population reached 5,000, according to Alarcon. The official population, certified with the state last summer, is 6,017.

Another mandate requires the village to create and contribute to a police pension fund, an initial $160,000 hit. The money has been set aside and the village is working with the Illinois Department of Revenue to officially establish the account, Alarcon added.

Because the mandate was expected, employees have been shouldering more duties and the village has been spending less to make up the difference to avoid levying a tax for the pension contributions. Police officers contribute nearly 10 percent of their pay toward their pensions.

“The village made a few sacrifices the last two years and the village board and village president didn’t want to pass that along to residents,” Alarcon said.

Whether a tax may be levied to cover future payments is undetermined but the move to new quarters is part of a bigger picture in town.

“We’re trying to improve the image (of the community) and provide professional services to the residents,” Weihofen said.

Trailer: Lakemoor population passed 6,000 last year