Kankakee Times

Village of Herscher Police Committee met Oct. 17.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Village Trustee, Skip Grigas called the meeting to order with the following Trustees present: John Branz, Jacob Wagner (Zoom), Mike Bruner, Skip Grigas, and Bob Voss. Also present was Village President Shannon Sweeney, Village Clerk Heather Meredith, Police Chief Chad Scanlon and Sergeant Gary Henschel. 

The reason for the meeting is to discuss the shift coverage and officer shortage. Chief Scanlon says we currently have 2 full time officers and a few part time officers that work. The times we have coverage are 6am until 4:30pm Monday through Friday. That coverage is provided by Chief and Officer Meister. After reaching out to other local departments we are right in with everyone else with pay. Our focus is coverage for the school and banks. Having a midnight shift is not necessary. We do not have many calls during that time. Chief Scanlon said another full-time officer would solve lots of shift coverage problems. He doesn’t find it necessary to send someone through the academy. He would like to hire a person that has the qualifications already. At the Chiefs meetings they had discussed employee sharing as many departments are in the same boat of having nobody to fill shifts. It was decided that is not an option. It was suggested that we implement a signing bonus and / or merit raises. Chief and Skip will get a plan of that put together before the next meeting. 

We are still waiting on camera quotes for the sewer plant, parks, and Main Street. 

Motion to adjourn by John Branz. Seconded by Bob Voss. Motion carried. 

https://herscher.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Police-Commitee-Meeting-October-172022.pdf