With Hebron down to 1 full-time cop – who some want gone – village contracts with sheriff for local patrols

Hebron Village President Robert Shelton ran in 2021 on a promise to downsize the police department, which was expanded under the previous administration.

The department, which then had a mix of full- and part-time officers, now numbers one.

Police Chief Peter Goldman is the department’s only active, full-time employee. Hebron’s lone sergeant is on medical leave after a fall at the station in December, and the village’s community service officer resigned in early January.

But residents demanded more patrols – an activity some say they have not seen Goldman doing since becoming chief on Nov. 13.

Goldman is “sitting on his tuchus getting paid his glorious salary, sitting there ... doing nothing,” resident Pat Tibbitts said at an at-times raucous meeting Monday evening, during which the Village Board approved a contract with the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office to provide occasional patrols. That approval came on a 3-3 vote, with Shelton breaking the tie.

Goldman did not attend the special meeting Monday, nor did he attend a regular meeting Jan. 27, at which residents demanded more patrols in the village.

Tibbitts and others in the audience Monday asked the board why the village continues to pay a chief’s salary if, as they claimed, Goldman does not patrol or respond to calls for service. Many of those residents continued to call out the board, creating back-and-forth between the board and audience during discussion on the intergovernmental agreement.

The contract with the county allows sheriff’s deputies to volunteer via a sign-up sheet in the sheriff’s office for extra duty patrol in Hebron for $70 an hour. If a sheriff’s deputy responds to a call other than during those pre-approved times, the county will bill Hebron $70 an hour. It expires March 31, by which time Shelton hopes the injured sergeant will return to duty or more officers can be hired.

Trustees Mark Shepherd, Shirlee Correll and Mark Mogan voted in favor of the agreement. Trustees Josh Stevens, Dawn Milarski and Jonathan Mindham voted no. That vote mirrored the results from when Goldman was approved by the board and sworn in.

In an uncontested race, Milarski and Mindham, along with Edward Gentry, are running for three seats on the Village Board in the April 1 elections. Correll is not running for reelection. Shelton is seeking another term and faces a challenge by former Village President Frank Beatty and newcomer Steve Morris.

Those voting against the contract are not anti-police, Stevens said, but they don’t want to spend additional money on the department if Goldman is not supervising any officers or performing adequate patrols.

“The chief makes a patrol twice a day typically,” Shelton said, as members of the audience loudly responded with disagreement to the statement.

Goldman is trying to hire more officers, Shelton said, adding that at least 900 people had viewed the posting on a police job board, four people had expressed interest and one person had applied.

The sheriff’s office contract allows for patrols “until the full-time officer comes back or we can get more” hired, Shelton said.

Residents in the audience and board members voting against the contract asserted that not only is Goldman not patrolling, but he effectively prevented staff from doing so, too.

Sgt. Bruce Biancalana – who ran the tiny department after former Police Chief Juanita Gumble was ousted last year – was not allowed to answer calls but was told to clean the department instead, Milarski said. Biancalana was cleaning Dec. 4 when he tripped, fell and was injured, and he has been on medical leave since.

The only other recent full-time employee was community service officer Darrick Tomlin, who resigned Jan. 7. Hired in May 2023 by Gumble, Tomlin told the Northwest Herald that of his 40-hour workweek under Goldman, 35 hours were spent cleaning at the station.

Stevens read from an email that he sent to Goldman before the meeting where Stevens called the county contract an “outrageous request” and a “slap in the face of every taxpaying citizen in our community.”

The email was necessary, Stevens said, because Goldman filed a hostile work environment complaint against him. Milarski said she received the same complaint.

Stevens – who also called for Goldman’s resignation – tried to table a vote to a future board meeting. That motion died, again with Shelton breaking the tie.

“I am embarrassed to serve under you,” Stevens said to Shelton. “You said you were going to make change [when you ran for the village president role]. You are a terrible leader and a terrible person.”

In 2021, Stevens ran for village president before withdrawing to support Shelton.