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| 7/23/2010 4:42:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Dover Police Department disbanded
Entire staff resigned following recall election results
Mark Dudzik
EDITOR
With the writing clearly on the wall following the results of last week's recall election, all members of the Dover Police Department immediately resigned from their posts.
That action was a foreshadowing of things to come as the a grass-roots group opposed to the formation of the department declared a political victory July 13 by sweeping two members of the current town board out of office.
Finding themselves former members of the board following the results were Town Chairman Ray Gromacki and First Supervisor Mario Denoto.
Newly installed as town chairman was Thomas Lembcke, who had previously served on the board for eight years as supervisor and town chairman.
With three vying for the town chairman title, one of the candidates was required to secure 50 percent of the vote plus one vote to be declared the winner, thus precluding the need for another election later in the year.
Lembcke garnered that and then some by locking down 53.4 percent of all ballots cast, restoring him to the title he last held in 2007 when he stepped down from politics to allow for those with "fresh ideas" to take a stab at politics.
The problem in Lembcke's mind is that his successors came in with the kind of ideas that have proven costly to town taxpayers, as he pointed to marked increases in spending that he said have taken place since his political departure.
Among them was the Dover Police Department, which Lembcke said even under the best of projections stood to drain $11,000 from the township.
While Lembcke said he contemplated convening a special meeting to formally abolish the police department, he has instead chosen to have that action item on the agenda for the town's regular Aug. 9 meeting to ensure that taxpayers aren't caught off-guard by the action.
Also at that meeting, the newly seated town board members are expected to act on ratifying a contract with the Racine County Sheriff's Department to once again provide protection and other services for the township.
Despite the resignation of the police department members and the fact that the sheriff's department is not currently under contract to provide protection, Lembcke said the agency has agreed to provide that coverage as a stop-gap measure until the contract is formally approved.
That new contract with the sheriff's department, according to Lembcke, will cost the township under $4,000 compared to the $50,000 he estimated the police department was costing.
That new contract with the sheriff's department, Lembcke said, will return some of the revenue the agency collects from the issuance of citations back to the township.
Getting rid of the remnants of the police department is expected to come at very little cost to the township, as Lembcke said it only requires the sale of a police car and other equipment that was purchased at the time the department was formed.
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