By Debra Landis
The State Journal-Register
HILLSBORO, Ill. — The five Hillsboro police officers and Hillsboro police sergeant suspended after a no-confidence vote in their chief are headed back to work.
The officers were suspended Monday for five days without pay by Police Chief Gary Satterlee, after which they were to be placed on administrative leave with pay until such time as there would be a hearing before the Hillsboro Board of Fire and Police Commission.
“The union has been informed the city now has decided to rescind the administrative leave with pay and that the officers and sergeant will be patrolling the city of Hillsboro this weekend and thereafter,” Rick Stewart, a lawyer for the officers’ union, the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, said Wednesday.
In an e-mailed statement, Mayor William Baran said, “We will not comment on the specifics, since the disciplinary process is continuing. The city continues to be well protected. Details of the current police coverage are operational, so we cannot discuss them. The chief has arranged assistance from other agencies on an as-needed basis.”
Baran added that the assistance of Montgomery County and state law enforcement agencies, “along with our remaining department, provides more than adequate protection.”
In addition to Satterlee and the suspended officers, there is a deputy chief and one part-time officer.
The no-confidence vote was taken June 9, and the officers said in a prepared statement afterward they “felt that we had no other choice but to let the good people of Hillsboro know there is a crisis of leadership and trust in the department.”
Baran said in his e-mail that the Hillsboro City Council’s public health and safety commissioner, Chris Sherer, “and I have worked very hard, using the proper channels, to address concerns as they are brought to light, and will continue to do so.”
Stewart, saying he wasn’t sure what prompted the officers’ reinstatement, added, “It just happened.”
The union, which has filed grievances over the matter with the city of Hillsboro and the Illinois Labor Relations Board, is “insisting the officers be repaid all lost wages and their records be cleared,” Stewart said.
Satterlee, who has been chief for 3 1/2 years, says the officers violated department rules about public criticism when they released their statement to the media. He also maintains that proper grievance procedures were not followed regarding officers’ concerns.
Stewart said it was the union — not the officers — who distributed the press release and that it is against state law for them to be suspended for union activities.
He said “various unions, their leaders and members have taken no-confidence votes over the years in Illinois, and this is the first occasion the employees have been suspended for their union publicizing the fact the vote occurred. The suspensions will be contested through arbitration and at the state Labor Relations Board.”
Copyright 2008 The State Journal-Register