VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
NOVEMBER 6, 2017
CALL TO ORDER
Trustee Gaffino called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Trustee Mark Gaffino, Trustee Mike Lowery, Trustee Mark Guethle, Police Chief David Fisher, Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Finance Director Bill Hannah.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS – None
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. Approval of Public Safety Committee Meeting Minutes dated August 7, 2017
Motion to approve made by Trustee Lowery and seconded by Trustee Gaffino. All in favor. Motion approved.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Discussion of Local Prosecution of D.U.I. Arrests
Chief Fisher requested discussion regarding local prosecution for D.U.I. arrests. Currently, when the department makes an arrest, the information is given to the State’s Attorney’s office and they prosecute the case. Fisher said he spoke with a commander at the Geneva Police Department. They have a private attorney who prosecutes the cases instead of the State’s Attorney’s office. The attorney, Peter Buh, handles prosecutions and defense of DUIs. Dixon and Carpentersville use the same attorney. Fisher said that by having a local prosecutor handle the cases, the Village has more control over the cases. As far as punishments, it is the same as if the State handled the case. A major benefit is that the officers would spend less time in court.
Whenever there is a DUI arrest, the State’s Attorney’s office subpoenas all of the officers and they wait around in court for a couple of hours and many times are told that the case is continued to a different date. Geneva and Carpentersville said that their court time dropped dramatically by using a local prosecutor. Another advantage of using local prosecution is that when fines are assessed, the majority of the money would come to the Village versus getting split by the County.
Attorney Buh would charge on a per case basis of $275, not an hourly basis. Therefore, whether he has to make one or 10 appearances in court, the cost would only be a one-time fee.
The Committee was in favor of the local prosecution of DUI arrests. Steve Bosco said that a change would be made to the ordinance to allow this and would be brought forward to the Village Board.
OLD BUSINESS – None
OTHER INFORMATION – None
TRUSTEE COMMENTS
Trustee Gaffino said he saw the new police logo and was concerned that it was hard to see the words North Aurora.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn made by Trustee Lowery and seconded by Trustee Gaffino. All in favor. Motion approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori J. Murray
Village Clerk
