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Committee revises department chapters: merit commission role reduced; jail staffing caps, auxiliaries and court security clarified
Summary
Will County's ordinance review committee struck outdated police-department language, aligned the merit commission's role with state law, set staffing ceilings for correctional deputies and auxiliaries, and forwarded Chapter 33 to the executive committee.
The Will County Rules and Ordinances Committee reviewed a broad set of changes to Chapter 33, which covers county departments, offices and committees, and voted to forward the chapter to the county executive committee.
Phil (staff) told members he removed legacy references to a "police department" and replaced them with the correct terminology — the sheriff's office — and aligned the merits-and-personnel sections with current state statute. He said the merit commission no longer sets some internal rules that it once did; under state law the commission's primary role is certification for initial hires and appointments, and many disciplinary and operational decisions now rest with the sheriff or are governed by collective bargaining agreements.
The committee also discussed staffing ceilings: the draft sets a maximum number of deputy correctional officers for the county jail (listed in the draft as 250) and sets a cap on auxiliary deputies (the sheriff requested a cap of 80–80 was used as a suggested maximum). Committee members asked that the ordinance language make clear these numbers function as board-set maximums and that any increase would require a further board action. The committee also added clarifying language that the sheriff determines the rate charged for special-duty or reimbursable sworn activities (for example, detail work for municipalities), instead of hard-coded rates in the ordinance.
Members reviewed an item that set up a fund to receive special-duty reimbursements and agreed to keep language establishing the fund while delegating rate setting to the sheriff's office. The draft also retains a court-security officer category (a not-to-exceed number was placed in the draft at 100 per staff discussion) and moves antiquated historical references out of active code text.
The committee adopted a motion to send Chapter 33, as revised, to the county executive committee. The voice vote passed; the transcript records some members voting in favor and at least one recorded objection by a committee member who voted "no."
