Island Lake slams acting chief

Well, now you can find out (a little) more about the furor in Island Lake over its police chief, who was suspended unilaterally by Mayor Debbie Herrmann in January. Herrmann refused to tell anyone her reasons (except a Village contract lawyer). The other trustees (at least three of them) were unable to learn the mayor's reasoning; was there any? Or did she just not like Chief Anthony Sciarrone?

Last night I went to the movie at MCC (more about that elsewhere) and skipped the Island Lake Village Board meeting.

Read the mayor's reasons: according to the article in the Northwest Herald, Herrmann says Sciarrone -

"- was a poor administrator and record keeper
- failed to revise outdated policies and regulations
- failed to make himself available for communications from subordinate officers outside of business hours
- failed to control his temper.”

From what I've heard around Island Lake, a "bad temper" probably develops after trying to put up with the nonsense that goes on over there.

But not one of those reasons rises to the level of suddenly suspending your police chief, even with pay, for well over a month, and then failing to inform fellow Village Board members or calling a meeting of the Village's Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.

Is there a procedure for formally raking the mayor over the coals? Censure, maybe? The Grafton Township Trustees are playing that tune in Huntley.

But the Island Lake crew might not be able to muster enough votes against Herrmann to censure her. The vote would probably be 3-3; let's see, could Herrmann break a tie vote about herself?

Don't miss this sentence in the Northwest Herald article: "About 45 minutes into the discussion, police officers were asked to stand outside the board room with the 10-person crowd who waited for the decision."

Now, what was that all about? Were they afraid that one of the Board members might try to escape? Or that one of many lawyers might try to over-bill? Or that an emergency run might be necessary to pick up batteries for the tape-recorder being used to record the Executive Session?

Or were the cops there to intimidate the huge "crowd" of Island Lake residents waiting for the Board to re-convene in open session? I think the paper said that there were TEN residents waiting.

Acting Chief Anthony Sciarrone was removed as acting chief and returns to his status as sergeant in the Island Lake Police Department. He has always (recently) been a sergeant and had never been appointed as Chief.

William McCorkle has been appointed Chief. McCorkle is (was?) a lieutenant at the Wauconda P.D.