When appointed Commissions of the City of Woodstock convene, Minutes are to be prepared as documentation of action taken or considered by the Commissioners at the meeting. These important Minutes are the permanent record of what happened in the moment. Days, weeks, months or years later it may be important to review what decision was made by the Commission and what action was taken.
Why is this important right now? There are several reasons.
On February 4, 2008, the Board of the Police and Fire Commission (or is it the Fire and Police Commission?) met to consider a request by Police Chief Robert Lowen to terminate Sgt. Steve Gorski. After listening to the Chief and the City's side of the matter, the Commission was asked to issue a directed verdict in favor of Sgt. Gorski. This was before Sgt. Gorski spoke at the meeting.
The three-man Commission [Ron Giordano, Chmn., Tom Schroeder and Larry Howell [a resident of Woodstock and Chief of Police in Lakewood, Illinois)] agreed with Sgt. Gorski's attorney and ordered that Sgt. Gorski should be reinstated with full pay.
This decision by the Commission is apparently nowhere documented (except by the Northwest Herald on February 6 in both an article by Jenn Wiant and an editorial by Kevin Beese), as no Minutes of the February 4 meeting are posted on the City's website under Minutes of the Police and Fire Commission.
If this important Special Meeting is not documented, what official record of the decision of the Commission exists?
The police chief does not like the decision of the Commissioners, and he filed for an administrative hearing in McHenry County Court, and Judge Maureen McIntyre will hear arguments on July 18. The Chief's position is, according to a Northwest Herald article on March 11, 2008, by reporter Brandon Coutre, that the Commission's "...hearing was legally flawed and wrongfully cleared (Sgt. Gorski). "
In the meantime, Sgt. Gorski has been on leave without pay since August 29, 2007. Going six months without pay has got to be hard enough; now the City has added four more months by refusing to follow the decision of its own three-man Commission.
And what we must facing is taxpayer-funded legal fees on both sides of the issue before Judge McIntyre, because the police chief blames the Commission for wrongfully clearing Sgt. Gorski. The Commissioners will have to have legal counsel. Will the three be represented by only one lawyer, or will each of the three decide that he must have his own attorney - meaning three attorneys? What will this cost Woodstock taxpayers? Are we paying lawyers to argue against lawyers we are paying? What are we - the Lawyers Relief & Retirement Fund?
But - back to the issue. Isn't it appropriate, when a City Commission is named in a wrongful action and summoned into court, for the members of that Commission (remember Messrs. Giordano, Schroeder and Howell?) to convene a meeting to discuss the charges and begin preparing their defense?
I cannot find any Agenda on the City's website for such a meeting. Will they just walk into court on July 18, throw themselves prostrate on the floor before Judge McIntyre, and beg "Puh-leez, Your Honor, we didn't do anything wrong." Not hardly.
Where are the Minutes of a special meeting of the Commission to authorize retention of legal defense and to fund that defense? Will the Commission have to hire outside, independent counsel, if the City/Police Department will be using the City Attorney? Or did the Chief get outside counsel and will the Commission use the City Attorney? Not likely, since the City Attorney's office was the one "prosecuting" Sgt. Gorski on behalf of the Police Department.
Did the Police and Fire Commission violate any Open Meetings Act requirements by discussing their plans for defense out of the public hearing? (Email, phone, fax, handwritten or typewritten messages?)
Every meeting of the Commission must be announced, albeit only 24 hours in advance - which gives the public virtually no opportunity to be present. See the City Code, Title 2, Chapter 12:
"2.12.3: MEETINGS:
The Board of Fire and Police Commissioners shall meet upon the call of the chairman or upon the motion of the remaining two (2) members of the Commission. Notice of such meeting shall be given in writing to each member of the Board at least twenty four (24) hours prior to the time set for the meeting. In addition, a notice of the meeting shall be posted in a conspicuous place in the Police Department not less than twenty four (24) hours prior to any such meeting. (1986 Code) "
Does this mean that an interested person must go to the Woodstock Police Department EVERY DAY to check the "conspicuous place" (assuming this is the bulletin board in the lobby, which is open to the public), in order to learn if the Commission is meeting?
© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT
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4 comments:
AMEN!!!!!!
What do you mean "we"? You are not a taxpayer.
How would you know whether or not I am a taxpayer? And why would it make any difference whether or not I am?
"The" taxpayers of Woodstock, which includes owners of owner-occupied properties and owners of rental and leased properties, whether houses, apartments or commercial space, foot the bills of the City. Renters pay a rent that most certainly includes an amount equivalent to the property taxes on the rental property. Plus all customers pay sales tax on retail purchases in the City. So that makes me a taxpayer. So what?
Besides the sales taxes on purchases in Woodstock I ran a business and was a partial owner in a building from the 70s until 1998 in Woodstock. So believe me when I say I have paid and continue to pay my share in taxes in one form or another. In any event this in not entirely about taxes it more about pricipal and doing a job to the best of your ability. I trust that some of these records are still forthcoming in the near future.
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