With the upcoming municipal election in April, candidates are wasting no time campaigning, hoping to woo the vote of village residents. Mayor Mike Adrieansen and Trustee Justin Young, both running for reelection, recently published campaign materials that drew the ire of trustee candidate Mike Naughton. Naughton was so irked by the statements in the materials that he took to the public comment at the village board meeting to address them.
Naughton primarily criticized Young’s Facebook claims that he had brought more police officers, flock cameras, and established school resource officers while in office.
“Public safety has been a top priority of the mayor and myself. When we were elected four years ago, we recognized the need for increased safety measures, including more officers, a K9 unit, and flock cameras,” Young’s Facebook statement read.
“We also took the necessary step of adding officers in schools, something that was long overdue,” it continued.
Ultimately, Naughton seemed to take issue with Young taking credit for implementing those safety initiatives.
“I understand, when you were elected, you wanted to increase safety measures,” Naughton began.
“We had been doing things for over 30 years, whether it be increasing pay, budgeting for additional officers, this is not something new, not something brand new. You know the K9 unit, the flock cameras — it’s just not the two of you. There’s five other trustees that were involved in that — it’s not a one-man show. The additional officers for the schools were planned years before you showed up on the scene,” Naughton said.
Despite Naughton’s complaint, the public safety improvements he brought up were made during Young and Adrieansen’s time on the board — however, Naughton and Trustee Dave Beemsterboer, running for trustee and Mayor, respectively, were also trustees on the board.
Young’s Facebook statement alleged Naughton and his slate “allowed trucks of all sizes and weights to pass freely through town” and they “allowed truck traffic to go unchecked.”
Naughton chastised Young for those statements, claiming that Young’s campaign materials were potentially libelous, because Naughton and others on the board did what they could to fight truck traffic. He said they borrowed scales and used Crawford Grain’s scales because the village didn’t have its own.
Naughton continued, explaining that the previous administration under Mayor Jamie Doyle — of which Beemsterboer and Naughton were a part but not Adrieansen and Young — couldn’t complete those safety initiatives, because they weren’t in the budget, and that their work essentially paved the way for those items to be completed in the future.
It is worth noting Beemsterboer was absent from the board meeting when Naughton aired his grievances; however, Beemsterboer made his own Facebook posts echoing Naughton’s sentiments.
With regard to the public safety initiatives in question, the flock camera program was part of a 2022 countywide initiative by State’s Attorney Jim Glasgow’s office.
During the February 15, 2022, village board meeting, Glasgow presented then-Police Chief Jeff Wold (now village administrator) and Mayor Adrieansen with a $5,000 check for two flock cameras. At the same meeting, James Ackley, of Manhattan business J.J. Advantage, matched the $5,000 from Glasgow’s office and presented his check.
According to a press release from Glasgow’s office, the village estimated the cost at approximately $12,000. This meant Glasgow’s office and local business J.J. Advantage almost entirely covered the cost, making a negligible impact on the budget.
Two new police officers were sworn in during the same meeting. According to the meeting minutes, Wold thanked the board for hiring more officers to fully staff the department and moving forward with the flock cameras.
The first School Resource Officer (SRO) and the K9 unit also were established in 2022.
Both the SRO and new police officers were included in the budget presentation at the February 15 meeting with then-Finance Director Glen Gehrke’s report noting, “On the expenditure side, the village will be increasing its public safety staff by adding two police officers, along with squad cars and a K9 unit.”
Gehrke’s report also noted “steady financial growth,” with changes to sales and Home Rule taxes; Gehrke also noted tax collections were higher in 2022 than the year before, and assessed values had continued to increase, though the village tax rate had not.
Neither Adrieansen nor Young addressed Naughton’s comments at the meeting.
In other news, Police Chief Ryan Gulli reported that as the police force has expanded, they were looking to obtain additional non-lethal devices; the City of Rockdale was getting rid of tasers, and the Manhattan Police Department currently uses that particular model. As such, they obtained five tasers, which would otherwise cost the department $5,000 each if purchased new.
The former Agave Azul Mexican restaurant, which has been shuttered for the past couple of months, will not reopen. Instead, a new Mexican steakhouse, Flor de Fuego, will open. At the meeting, the board approved a new liquor license for the restaurant.
Outside of that, the board approved holiday pay for part-time staff and a new intergovernmental agreement for Dial-a-Ride services, which would now be run by Will County. The new services would be in place beginning May 1.
Stephanie Irvine is a freelance reporter.