Batavia Fire and Police Commission 2022 Annual Report

The Batavia Fire and Police Commission Board consists of three people as ordained by Illinois Compiled Statutes and City of Batavia Code. The Commissioners are unpaid representatives of the City of Batavia. They are appointed by the Mayor, and approved by the City Council for three-year terms. Former Alderwoman Nancy Vance chairs the Commission, along with retired City of Batavia Police Chief Dennis Anderson as Secretary and retired City of Batavia Fire Department Battalion Chief Randy Zies as a Commissioner. The Fire and Police Commission holds regular monthly meetings usually on the first Tuesday of each month at 4:00 p.m. These meetings are held at City Hall. Meetings are open to the public, except when specific personnel matters are being discussed.

Responsibilities of the Commission include:

• Overseeing initial testing for Fire and Police applicants.

• Overseeing promotional examinations for Fire Lieutenants and Police Sergeants.

• Maintaining eligibility lists for Fire/Police hiring and promotions, all based upon competitive testing.

• Hire Firefighter Paramedics and Police Officers from current eligibility lists.

• Promote Fire Lieutenants and Police Sergeants from current eligibility lists.

• Conducting hearings for Fire/Police personnel who request an appeal to a disciplinary matter.

Prior to being offered employment with the City of Batavia, Firefighter Paramedic and Police candidates must pass written examinations, physical agility testing, a polygraph, psychological and medical examinations, and extensive background investigation and relevant interviews conducted by the Fire and Police Commission.

In 2022 the Fire and Police Commission operated on a budget of $27,150.00. Budgeted money is used for Police and Fire candidates written testing examinations, polygraphs, psychological and medical examinations, promotional testing for Fire Lieutenant and Police sergeant, advertisements for future testing dates, legal fees that arise from questions or conflicts and Commissioner membership to the Illinois Fire and Police Commissioner Association.

Retired Police Officers in 2022:

Five Batavia Police Officers retired in 2022 and were replaced with six new Police Officers.

The retiring officers and retired dates were:

Richard Brouillette 02/01/2022

Thomas Doggett 03/21/2022

Emil Jensen 05/19/2022

Tony Gramme 09/11/2022

Daniel Eul 2/21/2002

New hires for Police Officers in 2022:

Joseph Gudella 01/24/2022

Travis Kurtz 04/04/2022

Volodymyr Skrupskyy 06/09/2022

Aaron Riley 10/10/2022

Peter Rudelich 12/21/2022

Caleb Saxsma 12/21/2022

Other Commission Meeting Highlights for the year 2022 include the following:

January 11, 2022 Meeting

• Mayor Schielke authorized the Commissioners to hire one police officer due to the retirement of Deputy Chief Glenn Autnrieth on July 2, 2021.

• Joseph Gudella was appointed to the position of Probationary Police Officer.

February 15, 2022 Meeting

• Batavia Fire Department Fire Chief Randy Deicke retired in late January. He served as Fire Chief from 2009 to 2022. Deputy Fire Chief Craig Hanson was appointed as interim Fire Chief by Mayor Schielke until a fulltime replacement for Chief Deicke is appointed.

• Mayor Schielke authorized the Commissioners to hire three new Patrol Officers. One to fill a vacancy created by Officer Richard Brouillette’s retirement, one to fill a vacancy created by Officer Thomas Doggett’s retirement and one additional officer.

• The Board approved conducting Police Officer testing on June 11, 2022.

• The Commissioners interviewed five candidates for the position of Police Officer.

• The Commissioners then gave Travis Kurtz a Conditional Offer of employment as a probationary Police Officer based upon successful completion of a psychological and medical exam.

• The Commissioners gave permission for Investigations to conduct additional background checks on Police Officer candidates from the Secondary Eligibility List for future interviews.

March 8, 2022 Meeting

• Travis Kurtz was given a conditional offer as a probationary Police Officer and has successfully completed the requirements within the offer.

• A motion was made and passed to conduct two separate police officer tests; one for the Primary Register (non-certified candidates), which will be held in person, and one for the Secondary Register (certified candidates), which will be done remotely through the testing company Standard and Associates.

April 12, 2022 Meeting

• The Firefighter eligibility list will expire on November 3, 2022. The Firefighter testing normally takes place at College of Dupage (COD), however they are not doing any in person testing currently. It is possible they may open in person Firefighter testing again in May.

• Applications are being taken for Certified Lateral Police Officer Testing that will take place online May 3-5, 2022. As of today, there are 15 Certified applications. The deadline to apply is April 22, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. Entry Level Police Officer testing applications will be available this week. The Entry Level testing will take place in person on June 11, 2022, at Rotolo Middle School. The deadline for applications is May 27, 2022 at 4:00 p.m.

• The Police Department currently has three probationary officers in the Field Training program. Another officer will be graduating from basic training at COD next week. At that time, the department will have four officers in the Field Training program.

• The department had been averaging two retirements a year, prior to this year. Currently there has been two retirements already. Chief Eul is expected to retire in September along with another police officer.

• The Commissioners interviewed five candidates for the position of Police Offer.

• After the interviews, the Board gave a Conditional Offer of employment to Police Candidate Volodymyr (Walter) Skrupskyy, based on successful completion of a psychological and medical exams. He accepted the offer and will proceed with the final requirements.

• Next a Conditional Offer of employment was given to Police Candidate David Hurwich, based on successful completion of a psychological and medical exams. Hurwich wanted to discuss the offer with his wife and plans to give the Commissioners an answer by Friday, April 15, 2022. He later declined the offer.

May 10, 2022 Meeting

• The Commissioners approved the Batavia Fire and Police Commission 2021 Annual Report as presented.

• Applications are being taken for the Primary Police Officer Register until May 27, 2022. Currently 19 applications have been returned.

• Testing took place online May 3-5, 2022 for the Lateral Police Officer Register. Thirty candidates applied, but only twenty-four candidates took the test. Seventeen candidates passed the written test, seven failed.

• Police Chief Eul discussed the progress of the four probationary officers currently in field training.

May 24, 2022 Special Meeting

• The Board appointed Volodymyr Skrupskyy to the position of Probationary Police Officer with the Batavia Police Department. He had successfully completed all the requirements from the Conditional Offer.

June 7, 2022 Meeting

• Craig Hanson has been promoted to Fire Chief. The fire department is in the process of creating two Deputy Chief positions instead of one. This will mirror the police department by having a Deputy Chief of Administration and a Deputy Chief of Operations.

• The Batavia Fire Department Firefighter eligibility list will be expiring soon. Chief Hanson is looking for testing sites.

• 57 applicants have been recorded for the Primary Register for Police Officer testing. The deadline was May 27, 2002.

• The police officer candidates on the Police Officer Secondary list turned in their preference points.

July 5, 2022 Meeting

• A motion was made to keep the board members the same: Nancy Vance, Chairman; Dennis Anderson, Secretary; and Commissioner Randy Zies.

• Fire Chief Hanson is still looking at options for firefighter testing. No updates on the Deputy Chief positions.

• The Board approved the Initial Eligibility List for the 2022 Primary Register. 57 candidates filed out applications. 38 candidates showed up for the orientation and took the physical ability test on July 11, 2022. 37 passed the physical ability test. 36 took the written exam and 12 failed. 24 candidates will be placed on the eligibility list.

August 2, 2002 Meeting

• The Commissioners accepted Mayor Schielke’s memos dated August 2, 2022, authorizing the Board to hire two new patrol officers. One officer to fill a vacancy created by Officer Tony Gramme’s retirement on September 11, 2002, and one officer to fill a vacancy created by Chief Daniel Eul’s retirement on September 12, 2022. The Mayor also authorized the Board to promote one police officer to the position of Sergeant to fill the vacancy created by the appointment of Watch Commander Michael Johnson to the position od Deputy Chief effective September 12, 2022.

• The Fire Department along with City of Batavia Human Resource’s department will be interviewing next week to fill two vacant positions for Deputy Chief. There are 7 candidate applications.

• The Fire Department eligibility list will be expiring November 3, 2022, COD is still not doing testing so the department is looking at using a different testing company or extending the current list.

• The Board approved the extension of the probationary period of Officer Jacob Wollenweber for the period of six months.

• The Commissioners interviewed three candidates for the position of Police Officer.

• No offers of employment were given after the interviews.

September 6, 2022 Meeting

• The Commissioners discussed the 2023 budget with the Police and Fire Department Chief’s. it will be reviewed again at the October meeting.

• The Fire Department has been unable to find an alternative site for firefighter testing. They suggested they would like to extend the current list which has many available candidates on it for one year. Motion made to extend the list one year was approved. The list will now expire on December 3, 2023.

• The Board promoted Bryan Lorden to the position of Police Sergeant effective September 12, 2022.

• The Board received authorization from Mayor Schielke to hire one probationary police officer to fill the retirement of Officer Emil Jensen on May 19, 2022.

• The Commissioners interviewed one candidate for the position of Police Officer.

• After the interview the Commissioners gave a Conditional Offer of Employment to Police Candidate Aaron Riley. This was based upon successful completion of a psychological and medical exam. He accepted the offer.

September 26, 2022 Special Meeting

• The Commissioners appointed Aaron Riley to the position of Probationary Police Officer with the Batavia Police Department. Aaron Riley had successfully completed all the requirements from the Conditional Offer and his appointment start date will be October 10, 2022.

October 4, 2022 Meeting

• The Board approved the Board of Fire and Police Commission 2023 Meeting Dates as presented.

• The Board approved the Board of Fire and Police Budget for 2023 as presented.

• The Commissioners interviewed three candidates for the position of Police Officer.

October 4, 2022 Meeting Continued

• After the interviews, the Commissioners gave a Conditional Offer of Employment to Police Candidates Peter Rudelich and Caleb Saxsma both upon successful completion of a psychological and medical exam. Both Candidates accepted the Conditional Offer.

November 1, 2022 Meeting

• The Fire Department would like to mirror the Police Department by having two eligibility lists: one for lateral transfers and one traditional list. The Commissioners will check their rules and regulations to see if it is possible to do so.

• The Board appointed Peter Rudelich to the position of Probationary Police Officer with the Batavia Police Department. He had successfully completed all the requirements from the conditional offer.

• The Board appointed Caleb Saxsma to the position of Probationary Police Officer with the Batavia Police Department. He had successfully completed all the requirements from the conditional offer.

November 17, 2022 Special Meeting

• Mayor Schielke authorized the Commissioners to appoint one full-time Lieutenant for the Batavia Fire Department to fill the vacancy that will be created by the promotion of Robert Hogan to Battalion Chief on November 21, 2022.

• The Commissioners appointed Firefighter Cale Loebbaka to the position of Lieutenant with the Batavia Fire Department. This will be effective Monday, November 21, 2022.

• Chief Hanson placed a resolution to extend the firefighter eligibility list one year on the November 29, 2022 , Committee of the Whole meeting and on December 5, 2022 City Council for approval. After approval, the fire department will begin background checks on some of the top candidates.

December 6, 2022 Meeting

• The Commissioners accepted a memo dated December 5, 2022 , from Mayor Schielke authorizing the Commissioners to appoint one additional probationary firefighter/paramedic for the Batavia Fire Department as a result of a pending vacancy due to a firefighter promotion to lieutenant.

• City Council approved extending the Firefighter Eligibility list for one year. Chief Hanson would like to start background checks and conduct interviews on January 20, 2023.

• The Board approved a motion to start background investigations on firefighter candidates and to conduct interviews of eligible candidates.

• The Board discussed the security concerning background investigations for hiring police officers and firefighters. The Board agreed to maintain those records as part of the executive session documents and remain private and confidential closed documents.

2022 was a busy year for the City of Batavia Fire and Police Commissioners. Yet, the Commissioners continued their commitment to ensuring that Batavians receive the finest Police and Firefighter/Paramedic services possible by hiring the best possible people for these positions. Also, we sincerely appreciate the hard work and tireless efforts of the Commission’s Recording Secretary Joanne Miller. The Board would also like to thank Mayor Schielke and the Batavia City Council for allowing us the opportunity to be of service to the citizens of this great City of Batavia.