Waukegan employees protest proposed layoffs

Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran denounced and condemned Waukegan Mayor Robert Sabonjian's proposed layoffs of the city's police, fire and service personnel Monday evening. The city has a soaring budget deficit, which officials have placed as high as $6 million.

"Gangs already greatly outnumber police in this community and these personnel cuts will make a bad problem worse," said Curran. "Before Mayor Sabonjian does something rash he should know that the blood of Waukegan's citizens could potentially be on his hands."

Under the proposed cuts, 19 police officers would lose their jobs, a sizable portion considering that 15 vacancies already exist on a total force of 120 officers, Curran said. He stressed that cuts would have negative "spillover effects" on neighboring communities like Zion and North Chicago.

"Just as no man is an island, no police department is an island," he said. "We urge the mayor and city council to look at all possible areas before cutting police and fire jobs."

Waukegan firefighters union President Brad Buntrock said the department was already struggling to meet demands and that laying off 16 firefighters could be disastrous.

"We know that it is possible to improve the budget without these personnel cuts," he said. "Every resident needs to feel that they can call 911 and have somebody respond in a reasonable period of time. We are talking about people's lives here."

A separate of crowd of nearly 100 union laborers, firefighters, police personnel and concerned residents gathered on the steps of the Waukegan municipal complex to rally against the proposed layoffs before Monday's council meeting. Signs carried messages including "Protect those who protect you" and "Raise revenue, don't raze services."

Representatives of Waukegan's service employees also expressed outrage at the cuts, saying that there was plenty of bureaucratic fat to be cut at the top before city workers should be laid off.

Wayne Lindwall, director of services employees international Union Local 73, called the proposed cuts a "sham."

"We need city hall to lead by example and to take a look in their backyards before cutting into ours," he said. "Nobody is trying to gouge the city of Waukegan - these employees already are underpaid." "They need to go through their budget with a fine-toothed comb before they deprive their residents of vital services," echoed Matthew LaPierre, a representative of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. "This government needs to find another way."