Another one bites the dust

The turnover of senior City of Park Ridge Staff moved closer to completion last Thursday (August 7) when Fire Chief Ed Dubowski announced that he will retire from the Department on Sept. 2 after 30 years of service.

Chief Dubowski worked his way up the ranks of the Department and distinguished himself in every position he held. He has won a number of awards and commendations.

No doubt he has earned his right to retire, but we still find his departure disturbing because it follows on the heels of the early retirements Police Chief Jeff Caudill, City Manager Tim Schuenke, and Community Development Director Randy Derifield, along with the resignations of Public Works Director Joe Saccomanno and Human Resources director Mike Crotty. That's the largest exodus of senior people from the City in memory.

The table was set for these departures by the previous city council's early-retirement incentive (ERI) program, which actually made it attractive for Caudill, Schuenke and Derifield to leave city employment earlier than expected. We don't like ERIs because they tend to strip local governments of their most experienced employees on the promise - usually a false one - of cost reductions resulting by the hiring of less-experienced replacements at lower compensation.

We haven't seen any of those savings yet. In fact, from what we've heard and read on the topic, new City Mgr. Jim Hock will be costing the city a lot more than his predecessor, Schuenke - although we can't imagine Hock not being worth it compared to a guy (Schuenke) who seemed to cause more problems than he solved.

Super Scoopers!

The Pub-dogs completely scooped us yesterday! We hear Alderman Schmidtzkrieg (1st ward) may have been their source for the "confidential" documents they have posted. We hear Schmidtzkrieg also provided copies to the local press.

We give Schmidtzkrieg a big hairy high-five for open and honest government, but we've got to say, "WTF?! Is the PRU Crew chopped liver?!"

All in good friendly competition. By whatever means the people of Park Ridge have access to information about the actions of their government, we're okay with that.

If you haven't had a chance to read the Pub-dog's Adding Insult To Injury post, we strongly encourage PRU readers to pay a visit to PublicWatchdog.org.

Here's a Pavlovian excerpt to get you started:

Adding Insult To Injury

Last week we wrote about how lame-duck City Mgr. Tim Schuenke was aiding and abetting Alderpuppets Robert Ryan and Tom Carey in their proposed giveaway of as much as $2.4 Million of our money to Napleton Cadillac and PRC LLC, even as he was proposing a $600,000 deficit budget for 2008-09 and warning of future financial problems. (“Another Done Deal?”)

But Schuenke apparently isn’t content simply to throw away our money – he and his allies, including Mayor Howard Frimark, also want to keep us in the dark about how it’s being done.

Let’s start with the Napleton/PRC fiasco. Even though the agenda for tonight’s City Council meeting shows that the Sales Tax Rebate Agreement is scheduled for a vote, the City/Schuenke have deprived the public of the ability to read and consider for themselves the terms of that agreement by not posting it on the City’s website (as of 12:01 a.m. today). Although PublicWatchdog published that agreement [pdf] on January 11 (“The Napleton $2 Million Secret”), that’s no substitute or excuse for the City Manager leaving it off the City’s website of materials related to tonight’s meeting – unless, of course, his goal is to keep the public in the dark.

And that’s not the only thing on tonight’s agenda that Schuenke, et al. seems intent on concealing from us...more>
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The PRU Crew had planned for today to provide our readers with a report on last night's city council meeting. But our sources are reporting some bizarre behavior on the part of council members. So we are going to hold off, try to confirm what we've been told, and see what the Wednesday rag has to say.

We can tell you that Mayor Howard cast a tie-breaking vote that gave his generous contributor, Napleton Cadillac, the $2.4 million deal the car dealership was seeking.

FriMack Daddy!

Park Ridge's own Mack Daddy of municipal give-aways, Mayor Howard Frimark, will undoubtedly be providing more of his "escort services" to Napleton Cadillac at tonight's city council meeting, if tonight's city council agenda (.pdf) proceeds as schemed. Usually we would provide a link to the relevant documents, but the city hasn't seen fit to post the deal documents on its web site. --Update 12:50 pm; the city web site now lists the Napleton Documents for review, but those documents still do not contain the document of the deal pending before the city council tonight.

Mayor Howard has been escorting the Napleton deal through municipal channels for quite a long time now. He made sure he had a spot on the city's "negotiating team" that has been meeting with Napleton to create this deal. Of course the PRU Crew feels obligated to point out that it may be just a bit of a conflict of interest to have Mayor Howard, a recipient of a generous campaign contribution from Napleton, on the Napleton "negotiating team" - but hey, we're all friends here!

Mayor Howard even showed up at the Finance & Budget committee meeting (.pdf) where the Napleton deal was discussed and voted on; providing his very visible, public support for the deal. Two of Mayor Howard's favorite alderpuppets, Carey the Unfriendly Ghost (6th ward) and Benedict Alderman Ryan (5th ward), made sure FriMack Daddy got what he wanted. By some miracle, the Finance & Budget committee chairman and Lord of the Manor, Rich DiPietro (2nd ward), voted against the deal. We expect the Lord of the Manor to come through with another of his ass-covering compromises, but we would sure be happy to be wrong about that.

And while we're paying attention to the scheming taking place at Friends of Frimark" headquarters...

Some PRU readers may be interested in noting another meeting set to take place this evening; tonight's city council workshop agenda (.pdf) The topic will be the police station. The PRU Crew notes that there is no place on the workshop agenda for comments from Park Ridge serfizens and that the issue is not scheduled for discussion on the regular agenda of the city council.

The PRU Crew strongly believes that the current police facility is unacceptable. We hope the city council gets off its yacking ass and finally begins actually doing something to address the gross conditions of the current facility. We aren't convinced that a new police station needs to be super-sized, but we are convinced that our police department has wrung every ounce of functionality it can get from the current facility.

But we will never condone the hiding of information, nor the circumventing of public review and input on any matter of the public's business. That is exactly what the city council will be undertaking this evening in the closed sessions on the agenda.

And finally on tonight's agenda, we noticed that there's a big F-U to the Public Safety rank and file (.pdf) in the form of a city council resolution. We bet City Manager, Tim Schuenke, would never ask the council to pass that kind of resolution about the funding of his generous pension. We sure hope the city council doesn't pimp our Public Safety personnel by passing that thing.

Serving It Up!

As the old saying goes, there's never a cop around when you need one. If you are very lucky, you never need one. But most of us at some time in our lives usually need one. And having the assurance that when you need a cop you can call for one costs money.

In today's Park Ridge Herald-Advocate we read that the soon-to-retire City Manager, Tim Schuenke, is blaming a projected city budget deficit on an increase in police and fire pension funding. While the former City Treasurer, Carl Brauweiler, took a break from napping to call a spade a spade: "He said budget deficits are due to an excess of city expenditures, and that police and fire pensions should not be singled out as the primary cause."

One of the Crew's favorite blogs, BurbCopsChicago, has something to say about the matter of pensions, and we agree with them.

Think carefully now, of all the things your government provides to you through use of your tax dollars, what are the things you would be happy to eliminate? Police? Firefighters? Paved streets? Sewers? Give-aways to car dealerships?

Another One Bites the Dust!

In February of this year, the last city council passed the Early Retirement Incentive plan (ERI). We've been watching the dominoes fall ever since.

First out the door was Joe Saccomanno, Director of Public Works.

Second out the door was Brian Emanuel, Assistant Director of Community Development who was also the top Environmental Health Officer for the City.

Third to announce his exit was Randal Coo coo cachoo Derifield, Director of Community Development.

Yesterday, City Manager Timothy Schuenke announced he's leaving to return to the land of milk and cheese, a.k.a. the State of Wisconsin.


Click on photo above for larger view

In this weeks edition of the Journal & Topics, the last paragraph of an article about the city council's Law Firm Decision? reads as much like a want-ad as it does a reporting of facts. As we told you before, Chief of Police Jeff Caudill's head seems to be next on Mayor Frimark's butcher block.

Did we say falling like dominoes? We meant that they are dropping like flies over there at 505 Butler Place!

With the exit of 4 top-tier city employees, Frimark is in the position of populating the upper echelon of city government with people he hand-picks for like-minded loyalty to himself.

We can hardly wait for the tall tales to begin spinning about "Mayor Howard Frimark; Government Reformer!"

Welcome to Howardwood!

Look! There Goes Elvis!

There's nothing better for a politician than a good distraction to keep the public from focusing on what the politician is and isn't doing. And a good distraction with a good cover story is even better.

Consequently, it was with great amusement that the PRU Crew read the local rags last week and found several shining cover story gems that should provide the public with plenty of distractions away from Mayor Frimark's continuing power grabs.

The Journal & Topics contained two items, both written by its chronically clueless editor, Todd Wessel. The first was a "news" item about Cops Accused Of Assault, Cover-Up In Federal Lawsuit that was missing so much relevant information that we wondered if Todd has a phone in his office with which he can act like a real reporter and make a few phone calls, get some information, and then write a story that gives readers something that resembles the whole picture. Of course, that approach only works for a reporter who has built a sufficient reputation for credibility, trustworthiness and good reporting on which sources can rely - and we haven't seen that kind of reporter on the local beat for at least a decade.

The second item was Wessel's editorial asking What's With The Park Ridge Police Department? The PRU Crew saw that and immediately thought that "planting season" (as in planting news stories, not rhododendrons) lasts year 'round in that manure-filled patch between the local press and the local politicians here in Park Ridge. So the question became whether Wessel actually knew something. But maybe the guy really is asking the question because of what he knows, which isn't much. And, maybe he is calling for an "independent investigation" because the picture presented by his own newspaper sure does make things look grim at the PRPD. There have been problems of police conduct within and without the Park Ridge Police department, and we agree, the Mayor and City Council should get to the bottom of what the hell is going on.

But then the next day, we read an article in the Herald-Advocate written by the self-confessed "copper"-philiac (as in "police"), Jennifer Johnson. That article tells the Park Ridge community that City considers special counsel to investigate the PRPD, and that pretty much confirmed for us that the fertilizer was being spread.

Unlike Wessel and Johnson, the PRU Crew owns phones and we use them. We made some calls to our favorite sources and here is what we learned...

• Yes, a federal lawsuit has been filed. Yes, things within the PRPD are bad - morale may be at an all time low. And yes, the City will be looking to hire an expensive law firm to "independently investigate" the Park Ridge Police Department.



• Mayor Frimark wants the authority for hiring and firing City personnel, particularly in the Police Dept. That authority currently belongs to the City Manager, Tim Schuenke. We sure aren't fans of Schuenke, but we don't feel giving hiring and firing authority to any politician is a very good idea. Doing that would be pretty much like sending out an engraved invitation for patronage.



• Mayor Frimark may want to sack Chief of Police Jeff Caudill and replace him with a ranking officer who's a favorite of Frimark's but not of many of the rank-and-file officers serving under him - who sometimes refer to him as "the shirtless man."

In other words, the Park Ridge Police Department may be headed out of the frying pan and into the fire. And if you know anything about the City staff grapevine, this may very well have the decidedly unpleasant affect of bleeding into other City departments like the Public Works Department.

Why would Frimark view Hoopty Lou as such an asset? Well, as we told you before, "there aren't too many coppers with the ability to speak and write impressive sounding bullshit" - and the Mayor and the City administration will certainly need someone with that ability to serve as their pitchman for the next new cop shop dog and pony show, which was foreshadowed in another Johnson offering: Police station site search resumes.

Why is the Herald-Advocate's self-confessed copper-philiac walking on proverbial egg shells when it comes to the PRPD and City departments like Public Works? Could it have something to do with the fact that not only is she a neighbor of Hoopty Lou's, but that her daddy is employed by Public Works? That also might explain the slant on her reporting about the PRPD rank and file who dared to complain about Hoopty Lou's cell phone indiscretions.

Meanwhile, if you are Mayor Frimark, you go about your usual public relations practice of sharing questionable "scoops" with the local press while telling the public that their concerns about police conduct will be given the most serious attention the City can afford.

And while everyone is distracted by the cover story, you go about the task of wresting hiring and firing authority from the City Manager.

Hey, everybody! Look! There goes Elvis!

Hocus Focus on the Vision!

Back in August, we wrote about complaints involving the Park Ridge Police Department . Since that time, a team from the Park Ridge police department, "facilitated by the City Manager", Tim Schuenke, put together a plan they have titled: "Focus on the Vision". Here we will only discuss what they began with because everything else follows from there.

The all-police team identified "four key issues"-

• "Trust and Respect. The department needs to fully regain the trust and respect of the Citizens, the Elected Officials, and within the department and its management team."


• "There needs to be better understanding and clarity as to what the community's, the elected officials, and the department's goals and objectives are."


• "Departmental morale."


• "A need to improve the management and leadership within all levels of the department."

Here are the key issues we believe the city manager's "team" missed:

1. Park Ridge police officers need better training in policing practices. The entire issue of police conduct came to light in large part due to a poorly-conducted investigation that a courageous citizen reported and made public.


2. The police administration needs to identify policy weaknesses in police practices. If the department's policies are not up-to-date, then new policies must be adopted immediately; but if the department's policies are not being properly employed by its officers, that should be remedied immediately through more and/or better training.


3. Police officers need better pay, especially at the entry level. Park Ridge citizens should be willing to pay for, and get, the pick of the police academy litter. A first rate town deserves first rate police officers who merit first rate pay to make and keep this community safe and secure.


4. The police department and city management should stop believing the problems within and without the department are just a public relations matter. Please... keep your pens, key chains and other tchotchkeys: just honestly tell the community the number and nature of the complaints that have been received, what the outcomes of the investigations into them have been, and how any complaints will be dealt with in the future. None of that requires an invasion of anybody's privacy nor violation of legal rights.


5. Bonus! (and we do not suggest this lightly): The police administration needs to grab hold of its fortitude and cut loose a big chunk of its "morale problem." They know who he is.

We did see, and laugh at, the statement in the Spokesman that: "The Council is always happy to hear from residents, however, initially giving such complaints to the City Manager will expedite the process considerably. Because the City Manager is the top day-to-day administrator, the Council will refer matters to him. Going to him first will reduce the time and number of steps involved. The City is most anxious to remedy any problems."

From what we've seen so far, City Manager Schuenke will "expedite the process" if the remedy you're looking for is...sweeping things under the rug until forced to deal with the issues, and then deal with the issues by using a bunch of buzzwords he's picked up from those municipal workshops and seminars he attends.