Steger Trustee Charles Tieri says concern for a former patrolman’s civil rights is the primary reason he and three other Village Board members want to limit the number of police sergeants to three.
Tieri cited a letter from attorney Terrance Norton, who alleges the Steger Police Department’s promotion list “was compiled in violation of existing civil rights laws.”
Norton represents Patrolman Scott Osantowski, who unsuccessfully sought promotion to sergeant. Osantowski is contesting the constitutionality of the promotion list in U.S. District Court.
Tieri said he and Trustees John Cashman, Robert Joyce and Anthony Santori will vote on Monday to limit the Police Department to three sergeants. That vote would reaffirm their Oct. 2 vote and override Village President Lou Sherman’s Oct. 16 veto.
Sherman maintains the village needs at least four sergeants to oversee the department’s around-the-clock operations.
Currently, the 14-member department uses patrolmen to fill in during the more than 2,000 hours a year when all three sergeants are off duty.
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The vacancy issue arose with the September retirement of Sgt. Terry LaMastus. LaMastus spent his last year on the department serving on a state police unit investigating auto thefts in Cook and Will Counties.
Norton, in his Oct. 16 letter, requested village officials “defer any promotion to the position of sergeant until officer Osantowski’s case against the village has been resolved.”
Tieri denied the issue is part of a strategy of confrontation with Sherman. “We’re not out to get him,” Tieri said.
Still, Tieri did not deny that the four trustees contend the money for a sergeant’s salary could be better spent on other village needs, or that he and his allies are unhappy with the performance of Police Chief Richard Stultz.
Tieri, who previously served as police chief, has openly criticized Stultz.
In July, Cashman, Joyce, Santori and Tieri trimmed $300,000 from the Police Department budget, leaving it $55,000 in the hole for police officers’ salaries, according to the village auditor.
The trustees also have refused to approve the creation of new positions within the department and have repeatedly attempted to fire Stultz.
In August, the four passed a budget resolution that, for the second time, provided no raises for department heads, including Stultz. Sherman vetoed the measure and the four trustees overrode his veto.