Gurnee trustee says village should commit to diversity

Gurnee Trustee Greg Garner engaged in a verbal fracas with Mayor Kristina Kovarik this week, saying village government isn't committed to diversifying its workforce.

As chair of the advisory diversity committee Kovarik launched in November 2005, Garner spoke out at a meeting Monday night. He claimed Kovarik helped to remove "the heart" of some recommendations his committee recently made for a new diversity plan.

Specifically, Garner said he was upset the board was asked to approve the plan without the committee's suggestion that fair and reasonable goals and timeliness be established to increase minority hiring. He said the number of employees should better match the village's minority population.

After the arguing ceased, the village board approved the diversity plan by a 5-0 vote with the original committee recommendations for goals and timelines.

"We really have to ask ourselves, do we really want diversity in this community?" Garner said.

Kovarik said it's not easy to hire more minorities for village jobs. She said the civil service commission controls hiring for police officers, firefighters, mechanics and maintenance workers.

In addition, Kovarik said, turnover in Gurnee's appointed and civil service jobs is low.

"Do you think we should let 25 percent of the staff go to hire someone of a particular ethnic background?" Kovarik asked Garner.

One black and 13 Hispanics were among Gurnee's 211 full-time employees, according to a report issued in June 2007. Data from a 2006 special census shows Gurnee's population was 6.3 percent black and 9.3 percent Hispanic.

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