The village of McCook has parted ways with police officer Mark Goddard, who was fired after an extended 18-month probationary period.
“Probationary was a year, then he had a six-month extension. Three days before the six months was up, it went south,” Mayor Terrance Carr said.
“We offered extended probation again. He didn’t feel he needed it. So, he got terminated,” Carr said after the April 21 village board meeting.
One reason for his dismissal was that Goddard “didn’t meet the requirements of our probationary period,” the mayor said.
In a related police matter, the village board unanimously approved paying no more than $51,364 to StarChase LLC for a vehicle-mounted launch system in each police car.
The money comes from the drug forfeiture asset fund, Carr said.
“It’s a dart that we shoot,” Carr said. “It’s a live GPS tracking unit. It’s magnetic on the back of the vehicle. We’re able to track the vehicle. Don’t have to chase anymore.”
The one-time fee to sign up was $51,364, Deputy Chief Dave DeLeshe said. After that, the fee is $1,600 annually for each of the six police cars in the department, DeLeshe said.
The system works, he said, and prevents high-speed chases that often prove very dangerous.
“North Riverside has it. Countryside has it. Oak Brook has it,” DeLeshe said. “The officer uses that and then stops the chase. We’re there when they stop.”
In other business, residents probably noticed the roar of power saws in recent days as
McCook cut down 27 dead trees.
“We planted 28, so we planted one more than we cut down. The arborist said they were no good,” Carr said.
Asked to define “no good,” Carr said: “A lot of them were lightning strikes. Some were trimmed and growing the wrong way. Some were lifting up concrete.”
Other dead trees will be removed next year, he said. A variety of species was planted to replace those cut down.
Removing the trees, planting new ones and replacing sod cost $50,000.