THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2008
Agree On Police Auditor
By a vote of 6-1, Park Ridge City Council on Monday, Apr. 21 approved hiring Ekl Williams as the law firm to conduct an audit of the police department.
Aldermen agreed after voting to accept three contract provisions suggested by Ald. Frank Wsol (7th). Wsol amended the contract to not allow Terry Ekl the ability to grant police officers immunity from disciplinary action, to make the final report public, and to not have city staff members arrange interviews for the investigation. Terry Ekl attended the meeting to answer questions from the council members.
Ald. James Allegretti (4th) argued for giving Ekl the ability to grant immunity. "How do we expect that he can do his job?" Allegretti asked. "We have to accept that without the possibility of immunity, he is going to be handcuffed part way."
Ekl explained he could not grant immunity from a criminal investigation and that he would turn over any evidence of criminal activity to the State's Attorney Office. He asked for the right to grant immunity only from department disciplinary procedures. He added, "I don't know if that issue's going to come up. I'm not suggesting that is a mandatory thing that I have to do."
Ald. Richard DiPietro (2nd) asked if he needed it later, if he could return to the council and ask for the ability. City Attorney Everette Hill confirmed he could and the council denied the use of immunity by a vote of 4 to 3 with aldermen Donald Bach (3rd), Allegretti, and Robert Ryan (5th) voting no.
Allegretti also argued against deciding to make the report public before its completion. "I don't know that we should make that decision at this time," he said. "We are foolish if we say right now, automatically, that it's public." He argued the report could open the city to lawsuits costing the taxpayers millions of dollars.
Ryan replied, "We have to give some public report. We owe that to the community." Ald. David Schmidt (1st) agreed saying, "We promised the citizens we would do a complete investigation and give them the results."
Bach offered an additional option. "Wait until we see the report and be sure it's not damaging in any way. We don't know what's going to be in there."
Aldermen debated if the final report should contain specific names and incidents and if the report could be complete while not exposing the city to liability. Ekl stated, "My report will be accurate and complete," but added the decision on public release could influence exactly what recommendations or subjective beliefs it would contain. The council agreed to make the report public by another vote of 4 to 3 with Bach, Allegretti, and Ald. Thomas Carey (6th) voting against the measure.
The discussion regarding involvement of city staff was far less contentious. "I think this is an excellent idea," Bach said. "We don't want officers at risk or any staffers at risk or the public."
Wsol explained the city would issue a press release and publish Ekl's information on the Web site to allow residents to contact him privately for interviews. Ekl agreed that interviews need not occur on city property either. "I'm going to figure out something," he said. He offered options such as private homes or other public locations as interview sites. "We can make this work," he said. That amendment passed unanimously.
Wsol questioned Ekl about his estimates for the project: about half the hours and one third the price of other law firms that presented bids. Ekl explained, "Number one, I'm going to be efficient. There's not going to be double billing." He compared his operation to big downtown firms with multiple lawyers "sitting around billing at the same time." Of his firm, he added, "Our billing is often one half of what they charge."
He added he believes he will interview about 40 citizens and between 10 and 15 police officers. He also intends to host Saturday sessions at City Hall when citizens can come in with information without needing appointments.
With Wsol's amendments, the council agreed to enter into a contract with Ekl for the investigation with Schmidt casting the only no vote.