Deputy succeeds retired Streamwood police chief

Streamwood is beginning 2012 with a new police chief after former Chief Alan Popp became among the last village workers to take advantage of a Voluntary Reduction in Workforce incentive made available to all employees over the last two years.

Succeeding Popp as chief is former Deputy Chief James Keegan.

Over the course of the past two years, 24 Streamwood employees accepted the voluntary reduction incentive, including every department head except Village Manager Gary O’Rourke and Community Development Director John Peterson.

As was the case with the police chief, the position of every retiring department head was filled through an internal promotion.

Popp could not be reached for comment Thursday, but O’Rourke — who preceded him as police chief — spoke highly of the outgoing chief’s 28 years of service during which he rose through the police department’s ranks.

“I would say he was an exceptional man of integrity and dedication to the community,” O’Rourke said. “There’s nothing more that a community can ask of its officials than what it saw in Al Popp.”

O’Rourke said the Voluntary Reduction in Workforce program was created by the village in late 2009 and implemented in 2010. Its aim was to bring the village’s workforce down to a sustainable level at a time of great uncertainty over revenues.

The program allowed employees to buy five years of age and years of service toward their retirements. Though the incentive was available to all employees, it was most attractive to those within striking distance of retirement, O’Rourke said.

Thirteen employees accepted the offer in 2010, and 11 more did so when it was renewed in 2011.

Only a small percentage of the vacated positions were refilled, but even in those cases it was with employees whose salaries and benefit costs were lower than those they replaced.

“I think the program was well received,” O’Rourke said. “We’ll see the benefits immediately.”

The program will not be renewed in 2012 because the village has reached the staffing level is was aiming for, O’Rourke said.

Streamwood had 199 staff positions in 2008, but begins 2012 with only 176.

The voluntary incentive program allowed the reductions to take place without layoffs, O’Rourke said.