At their February 5 meeting all Forest Preserve Commissioners except Forrest Claypool were present. The meeting started about a half hour late and there were numerous resolutions and photo-opps with the family of the late Commissioner Ted Lechovitz for whom a portion of the Forest Preserve has been named, and the Motorola Foundation and Friends of the Parks who performed good volunteer service in habitat restoration.
The main discussion at the meeting surrounded a Fox News report that had been aired a couple of days earlier. Commissioners questioned the Superintendent of the Forest Preserve and the Police Chief of the Forest Preserve about this report, which apparently showed many FP vehicles that were new but parked and not used. The Commissioners were concerned about the effect this would have on public perceptions. The Superintendent stated that there were mistakes made that kept assets (the cars) from being deployed in a timely fashion. He took responsibility for the problem and promised to return to the Commissioners with a written policy so that this could not happen again. The Commissioners also questioned the Police Chief about how he assigned cars. Both the Superintendent and the Police Chief agreed that some FP police are driving in old cars but that there is no safety issue involved.
After this the Commission retired so that the Finance Committee could meet. The Finance Committee is a Committee of the whole. They reviewed and approved a number of items but chose to delay a vote on the acquisition of more vehicles for the Forest Preserve Police. They want to hear the Superintendent provide the new written policy before that vote is taken.
