Island Lake trustee calls for investigation of top cop

An Island Lake trustee on Thursday called for a background check to be conducted on Police Chief William McCorkle.

The proposal from Trustee Don Saville came a little more than a year after McCorkle was promoted from part-time officer to chief.

He replaced interim Chief Anthony Sciarrone, who had been demoted by Mayor Debbie Herrmann in a controversial decision, in March 2010.

During the board’s discussion, Saville said he requested a background check last year after McCorkle was promoted. He said he was told at the time that a check wasn’t needed because one had been completed when McCorkle was hired as a part-time officer.

Herrmann confirmed that recollection Thursday night.

The matter wasn’t included on the agenda for Thursday’s meeting and no vote was taken. Instead, Saville asked for consensus from the other trustees. No one objected to the check.

Trustee John Ponio, who also is set to leave the board in May, said the investigation should be done immediately.

Outside the boardroom after the discussion, McCorkle called Saville’s request “political showboating.”

“I have no idea where they’re going with it,” McCorkle told the Daily Herald after the discussion.

The chief noted Saville floated the proposal less than a month before the trustee’s tenure on the board is expected to end. Saville opted not to seek re-election this year and will step down in May.

“The only thing I can say is that he waits until the witching hour, before he’s off the board, to call for a background check,” McCorkle said.