Should Hainesville ax police department?

Former Hainesville Mayor Ted Mueller said he can't be silent amid talk about dismantling the village's police department.

Mueller, one of the architects of a plan that reinstated the department two years ago, said opponents including current Mayor Linda Soto, some village board officials and a few residents, are missing the point.

"Having your own police department gives you an identity," he said. "It creates personal relationships. One of our officers saw two kids shooting baskets while on patrol near the park and shot a few baskets with the kids. That won't happen if we outsource somewhere else."

Village officials are considering doing away with the in-house department and contracting with the Lake County Sheriff's Office or the Grayslake Police Department to provide public safety services.

The issue comes to a head Tuesday, Feb. 23 when a town-hall meeting is scheduled on the issue.

While Mueller talks with pride of rebuilding the department after it was dismantled in 1999, Soto said a survey in January shows many residents and businesses favor contracted police services by a 2-to-1 margin.

She said 234 residents who answered the survey preferred outsourcing, while 111 wanted it to remain in house.

"I think it shows a majority of the residents have a concern of the cost to keep the department," Soto said. "And, also, they question whether it's necessary to have a police department when we have under 1,400 households in the village."

Soto said she is waiting until after the town hall meeting to decide how to vote on the department's future.

One key issue in the debate is money.

Continuing the department, Soto said, would require a new facility and a new competitive benefits package for officers, which together could cost as much as $1.39 million annually by 2013.

Currently, the department has eight part-time officers and five full-time officers operating out of 135-square-foot storage space at village hall and a bank of lockers in the town's garage.

The Hainesville Police Department had 133 calls for service in January, down from 160 a year ago. Only four of those calls were for theft crimes involving burglary to motor vehicles. The rest involved traffic issues.

Only full-time officers receive any benefits, which include payment into the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund and a $150 monthly stipend for health insurance.

In comparison, Soto said, the cost to outsource police service to the Lake County Sheriff's Office would be $705,000 annually, and about $757,000 to hire the Grayslake Police Department.

"A vast majority of Hainesville already utilizes Grayslake schools and the Grayslake Park District, so they already have interaction with officers from Grayslake," she said. "But, everything is negotiable at this point. If it's decided to contract out with another police department, we will go to the table with one of the agencies and negotiate."

Other trustees polled said they have not formed a definitive opinion, and await the town hall meeting to hear from residents.

Hainesville operated as a part-time police department until state mandates forced it to merge with Round Lake Park in 1999. That partnership officially dissolved in 2008, following a dispute over the cost of services.

Rather than contracting with a different department, Mueller and former police Chief Ron Roth resurrected the Hainesville department in May 2008 using borrowed, donated or newly-purchased equipment, including two donated squad cars.

Soto, who defeated Mueller in the 2009 election, complained he did not do enough research into the subject. She promised voters during the campaign to review the cost and other factors of keeping the department.

Mueller said her complaint was unfounded as nine months of research - including discussions with police chiefs in Round Lake, Round Lake Beach and Grayslake - were completed before the final decision was made.

"It was not ramrodded through, regardless of what has been said out there. It was not done as blindly as people think," he said. "We said all along this was not going to be a gold-plated police department, and the officers understand that. They want to keep going forward."

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<ul class="links">

<li><a href="/story/?id=360770">Ex-Mayor Mueller on Hainesville police issue <span class="date">[02/21/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=360769">Mayor Soto on Hainesville police issue <span class="date">[02/21/10]</span></a></li>

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