I have heard the same rumor, Opie. Mr. Rogers hasn't declared his intentions of who he would appoint as police chief. It is a very lucrative position, with, presently, no accountability to the board of trustees.
It would be a reasonable request of all the candidates, to inform the voters, beforehand, of who their choice of police chief would be, if elected. The only one I know for sure is, Mike Pagano would keep Charlie Leuhmann.
The mayor's position had always been part time, until the present mayor made it full time. It was never a needed practice, and limits our potential mayoral candidates to the retired or unemployed, when many others could do the job. We have an awesome office staff who are fully capable of working with a part time mayor.
We don't speak much, but I know that Jack Rogers is our present mayor's chosen candidate, and that's enough information for me to decide my vote. He has been coming to the meetings, though--not all the candidates can say that.
That the police chief's job is an appointed one, unfortunately ties it very closely to our politics--which hasn't always been as concerned with "right and wrong" as our police department should be.
Whoever gets elected will inherit a "bucket of worms" with our budget, and the mandated pension plans, which are supposed to be self-sustaining by 2014. Many other communities, nationwide, are also having the same problems, and have been taking drastic measures with community services to try and gap the shortfalls. We got our taxes raised.
The upcoming elections are very important to our village, and I hope everyone makes it a priority to get their vote in.
on January 2, 2011, 2:22 am, in reply to "