Nygren continues to pay Pyle - WHY?

The McHenry County Sheriff's Department Merit Commission met this morning. What a joke. This morning's meeting almost earned an exception to use of certain adjectives by me.

All five commissioners attended. Two visitors from the sheriff's department showed up and were granted unspoken dispensation to sit at the table with the commissioners. Lt. John Miller arrived and took a seat at the table. Now, he might not have known not to sit there. He's not a corporate type. No doubt, had I taken a seat at "the" table, I would have been told that only Commissioners were to sit at the table. NO doubt about that one.

Then the sheriff's EEO officer, attorney Don Leist, arrived. In March he had sat in a side chair away from the table, although he kibbitzed with commissioners during the meeting. When he saw Miller at the table, he sat down at the table, too.

And did Janelle Crowley say anything to them about that? No way. She could have. And she should have!

At the public comment portion of the meeting I was told that I would have three minutes. Now, it wasn't like the room was full of people waiting to speak or that the Agenda for the meeting was pages long. Since she wasn't at the March meeting, when I asked if the Commission would learn from the Commission's contract attorney whether they could initiate disciplinary action without its being brought to them by the sheriff, I re-stated my inquiry.

Big mistake, because I probably used up 30 seconds of my three minutes.

I was right in the middle to re-stating my shock during the March meeting for the Commission's failure to discipline Greg Pyle and commenting that they probably weren't going to be able to go into Executive Session today (because the Agenda did not state the Exception), when Janelle interrupted me at the 2 1/2-minute mark to tell me I had 30 seconds left.

She cut me off at the 3-minute mark. I mean, AT the three-minute mark! Perhaps I should have thrown a snide remark such as "I yield the floor to the other speakers from the public who must be hiding invisibly in the room."

What is the Purpose of the Merit Commission? "To ensure the citizens of McHenry County that there is a fair and equal opportunity system for the employment, promotion, discipline and discharge of full-time Deputy Sheriffs."

Are the citizens so ensured? When the Commission fails to discipline a Deputy Sheriff who has committed gross misconduct of General Orders by bringing discredit to the Sheriff's Department, by virtue of being charged with ten counts of predatory criminal sexual assault on a child under age 13 over a four-year period of time, I'd say the Commission is not doing its job.

Has each Commissioner approached Sheriff Keith Nygren to ask why he is not bringing this matter to the Merit Commission? Nygren changed Pyle's duty status with a discipline exceeding 30 days (although he is paying Pyle for not working). Are they just "good old boys" on the Commission? Or do they have a responsibility to the Public that supersedes their responsibility to the Sheriff? Do they?

Janelle's answer to my March inquiry was that, indeed, they had checked with the attorney and the attorney's advice was not to comment on a pending legal matter. I told her my question was a general one - can the Commission inquire about or address discipline of any employee, if the sheriff doesn't bring it to them.

Janelle told me that I can call the Commission attorney, and I'll do just that.