BOFPC to meet Monday, March 2

The Woodstock Board of Fire and Police Commissioners will meet on Monday, March 2, 2009, at 5:00PM at the Woodstock Police Department.

A special meeting has been called and placed on the City Calendar on the City's homepage at www.woodstockil.gov, although the Board is incorrectly named there as the "Board of Police and Fire Commission" (sic).

Several errors appear in the announcement. First, it's not a Regular Meeting, as shown on the Agenda for this meeting. This Board is not scheduled to hold any regular meetings in 2009, or they would appear on the required master schedule of meetings of Boards and Commissions, as required by the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

This March 2 meeting is a Special Meeting. It appears that it is called to address a personnel issue, as an Executive Session is scheduled under New Business. Okay, so who is in the crosshairs now?

It can't be Sgt. Gorski, because Judge McIntyre is not scheduled to rule in the chief's court case against the BOFPC until March 24, 2009. The BOFPC will have to meet shortly after she issues her Decision, which is now three months over-due. The City owes Sgt. Gorski for all his back pay to February 14, 2008 and also for his pay from February 14, 2008 to the current date.

Notice of Special Meetings is to be given to the media. Hopefully, Notice has been given to the Northwest Herald, the Daily Herald, The Woodstock Independent, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, radio stations and other media that requested such Notices.

It's my belief that the meetings of this Board should be held at City Hall, not in the personal conference room of the police chief at police headquarters. This is not an "open" meeting, as required by the Open Meetings Act. A person wanting to attend this meeting cannot just walk into the meeting room, as he can at City Hall. He must be admitted into the secure area of the police department AND escorted to the police chief's office.

I also believe that the City Clerk or Deputy City Clerk should be the recording secretary of the Board, as she is for other Boards and Commissions. Currently, the administrative assistant for the police chief is the recording secretary. She does a good job but, by nature of her reporting position to the police chief, she cannot be independent.

In the 1 1/2 years there were Minutes of many Special Meetings that were not prepared, until I squawked at a City Council meeting.

As of today the most recent set of Minutes for the BOFPC is for July 14, 2008, and there is no written record of an important document dated February 14, 2008 - the Decision and Findings of the BOFPC in the Sgt. Gorski matter. There is an Agenda posted online for a September 8, 2008 Meeting, and I recall that meeting was held. It seems to me that Minutes previously were posted online for that meeting. Where are they now?

If you, as a resident of Woodstock, want to know what the 3-man Board of Fire and Police Commissioners is doing, show up at police headquarters by 5:00PM on Monday. You'll be asked to step out of the meeting during the Executive Session, and then you'll be allowed back in for them to state publicly what decision was made during the closed Executive Session.

I would be there, but I'm in South Carolina. Let me know, so that I can publish the details. Otherwise, I'll get them upon my return.