Orange Alert: City Board MIA

Where, oh where, is the Woodstock Board of Fire and Police Commissioners???

A Special Meeting was scheduled for Monday, April 6, and an Agenda was published. And then, on Friday, April 3, the meeting was canceled! Have you guys been taking lessons from the McHenry County Sheriff's Department Merit Commission?

The Board is an appointed Board of the CITY of Woodstock. One of its purposes is to see that sworn members of the Woodstock Police Department are treated fairly.

Who really controls this Board and gives it its marching orders?

Two matters are in need of urgent attention.

First - Judge McIntyre ruled, finally, on Chief Lowen's appeal of the February 14, 2008, Findings & Decision by the Board. In February 2008 the Board decided that Chief Lowen had not made his case against Sgt. Gorski and directed the City to pay Gorski all his back wages.

When the chief appealed that decision, he failed to ask the Court to stay payment of back wages. Therefore, the City should have paid Gorski. Who in City Government is responsible for the City's failure to do so? The HR Director? The City Manager? The Mayor? The City Council? They all know that the City has not paid Sgt. Gorski.

Gorski is still a sworn member of the Police Department. Yet it is my understanding that the City canceled his health and life insurance in October. Why?

The Board should meet immediately to discuss Judge McIntyre's March 24, 2009, Decision and determine its next step. It's a simple one. It heard all the chief's evidence and made its decision. Apparently, it shouldn't have made a "directed verdict." OK, so fix that step. Hear from Gorski. You've already determined that the chief didn't make his case. You think Gorski is going to help the chief make his case?

What are you waiting for?

Second - you are treating Officer O'Doherty shamefully. You failed to notify him of the March 2 and March 12 meetings. You indicated you "might" give him a hearing on March 23; you didn't. A Special Meeting was scheduled for April 6; now you have canceled it.

If the chief wanted action against O'Doherty on March 2, O'Doherty should have known about the meeting. Further, your action on that date was illegal, because you didn't vote in public. Therefore, your action has no legal standing. This is not my opinion. This is an opinion I got from the office of the Illinois Attorney General.

On March 12, you voted to suspend him without pay. However, since your initial suspension was invalid (voted on in private), it was wrong for you to then suspend him without pay, because you had not first imposed the lesser discipline/punishment. In any event, you should have held a hearing before you imposed any discipline.

Now you are stalling further on giving him a hearing. Where are we? World War II Germany? Guilty and sentenced, without a trial?

Gentlemen, you are a Board of the City of Woodstock and you are to be fair and impartial. You are not appointed - as is the McHenry County Sheriff's Department Merit Commission by - by whom else? - the sheriff. Your responsibility is to the People of Woodstock, and we expect you to have strong backbones. At times you may have to decide against the police chief, the city manager, the mayor, the city council. At those times we expect you to do so.

You showed that strong backbone in February 2008, after you had heard five months of testimony and then decided that "...the Charges against the Respondent (Gorski) are not sustained..."

In a different article a law enforcement officer wrote "MCSD like to exhaust people's money so they can't continue to fight." This looks true for Woodstock, too.

So how about taking care of business???