Norridge trustees have elected to use the village’s home-rule status to override two impending state mandates, effective Jan. 1, regarding police candidates and paid leave.
Village officials said they prefer Norridge’s current policies regarding both practices, in particular police hiring procedures that restrict the village from hiring non-U.S. citizens.
“The state of Illinois tried to remove citizenship requirements,” said Trustee Jack Bielak, chairman of the Village Board’s Law & Ordinance & Economic Development Committee, at the village’s Dec. 13 meeting. “We want to keep them. The chief recommended it, and we agreed.”
House Bill 3751 allows non-citizens who are authorized to work in the U.S. and those granted temporary legal status by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, to apply to become deputy sheriffs or police officers in Illinois.
Trustee Debra Budnik, chairwoman of the board’s Police Committee, said that under the state law, conducting background checks on non-citizens might become very difficult.
“Our biggest challenge, which we’re currently going through now, is finding qualified candidates,” Budnik said. “There is an extensive background check involved. The new law makes it almost impossible to do background checks when you don’t have any information on candidates.”
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Non-citizen applicants might also face problems getting references or recommendations for job openings, she said.
“These are all qualifications for becoming a police officer,” Budnik said. “We would need them all met to process and move forward with a position. It’s just something we do not want to take a chance not knowing.”
Police Chief Brian Goss said the biggest issue police have with the mandate is allowing non-citizens to enforce laws against citizens.
“For some people, that’s a tough pill to swallow,” Goss said. “You have people who are not citizens enforcing laws against people who are citizens. My personal feeling is they wouldn’t appreciate it.”
Goss said the bill was passed with good intentions because the legislature wanted to help attract more candidates at a time when police departments are facing shortages of qualified candidates.
“The intention was to fill the void of not enough police officers,” he said. “Instead we need to find out why legal residents are not applying to be police officers.”
Goss said allowing DACA-recognized individuals to apply was largely “symbolic,” because federal law prohibits them from carrying firearms.
The Paid Leave for All Workers Act will give all workers in Illinois up to 40 hours of paid leave during a 12-month period and will affect about 1.5 million employees starting in 2024, according to the Illinois Department of Labor.
Norridge rejected the state mandate because the village already has a paid leave policy for village employees, Bielak said.
“Many suburbs are opting out because the state is trying to impose procedures when we already have our own in place and we want to keep following them,” he said. “We don’t appreciate the state coming in and telling us what to do.”
Budnik agreed.
“The village is pretty generous with how we offer leave,” she said. “Sticking with home rule, we would stick with how we already pay our employees.”