Hebron’s Robert Shelton trailing far behind Steve Morris for village president

In 2021, Robert Shelton won the Hebron Village President slot with 72% of the vote, vowing to slash the police department he and others said had grown too large for the tiny village on the Wisconsin border.

With all village precincts reporting Tuesday, Shelton appeared to have lost handily to planning and zoning committee member Steve Morris, one of three candidates for the village president slot.

Unofficial results show Morris winning the seat with 63% of the vote.

The third candidate, former 16-year Village President Frank M. Beatty, was running second with 29% of the votes. Beatty was ousted in 2013 by John Jacobson, who was facing drug charges at the time of his election but prevailed among residents upset with costs surrounding wastewater treatment.

According to Northwest Herald stories at the time, Hebron officials elected to build a new treatment plant in 2005 for about $4.5 million rather than redo the village’s 20-year-old system for about $2 million, a decision that was supposed to allow the village to grow. At the time – and before the Great Recession – the village had developments lined up to at least double the population. Beatty was at the helm when that was built.

Jacobson then lost to Kimmy Martinez in 2017. Martinez expanded the police department, then subsequently lost to Shelton, who vowed to cut its budget.

The Hebron Police Department emptied out during Shelton’s time in office, going from a mix of about a dozen full and part-time officers to, currently, a chief of police and one sergeant who is out on medical leave. The village is contracting with the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office for additional patrol.

On Tuesday, residents seem to have said that pendulum swung too far in a particularly contentious campaign.

“Contentious would be the politically correct term. At times it was downright ... vicious,” Morris said Tuesday night. “I have done my best to stay above the fray and try to run a nice, clean campaign.”

Hebron is known for dirty politics, he said. “People are just tired of it.”

After Morris is sworn in next month – along with Village Board incumbents Jonathan Mindham and Dawn Milarski and newcomer Edward Gentry – Morris plans to address the policing issues, he said.

“The village as a whole is not happy with the chief,” Morris said, referring to Peter Goldman. Goldman was named chief of police in November, four months after the previous chief, Juanita Gumble, was ousted by a majority vote, a move that proved unpopular with many in the community.

Morris wants a department that is a “happy medium” between the past “overblown department and what we have now,” Morris said.

“I have a couple of people in mind” for the chief of police job, Morris said, adding he intends to appoint an interim chief.

Morris will likely be able to name an additional village board member, replacing Mark Mogan, who resigned in February.

“We will have a committee to pull in interviewees, and post that we are looking,” Morris said.

Shelton did not immediately return a request for comment.