the village free press Vol. I No. 18
@village_free
DECEMBER 13, 2017
@maywoodnews
thevillagefreepress.org
Meet J. W. SCOTT, PAGE 2
Maywood approves new police contract Village officials tout wins on minimum manning, sick leave By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
Maywood village officials are counting a new police contract that they approved unanimously during a Dec. 6 regular board meeting as a significant achievement that could save the village money in the future. The new bargaining agreement, made between the village and the Illinois Council of Police, was voted on only after it went to impasse arbitration, which means that the two sides were unable to come to agreement on the terms of the new contract during good-faith negotiations. The impasse arbitration process is governed by the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, which requires negotiations between parties to play out before an impartial arbitrator. “Some very significant, positive things came out of this contract,” said village attorney Michael Jurusik. “Three of the four proposed changes that went to arbitration were economic in nature. One was a significant economic proposal — minimum manning.” “The union proposed to maintain the existing contract requirement of a minimum of five patrol per shift,” according to a summary of the new contract drafted by Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, the village’s contracted law firm. The new contract runs from May 1, 2017 to April 30, 2020. “The village proposed to eliminate any manning requirement from the contract. The arbitrator ruled in favor of the village,” the summary states. “There is no minimum manning in the new contract.” Maywood Village Manager Willie Norfleet, who explained how minimum manning works, said that the practice costs the village hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. See POLICE CONTRACT on page 3
Alexa Rogals
STREET WISE: Michael Johnson, 47, talks about the different shelter options throughout the suburbs, including the Maywood-based Housing Forward, earlier this month outside of a Starbucks in Oak Park.
Down, but not out, in the suburbs How Housing Forward takes the sting out of a man’s homelessness
By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
Last Sunday, Michael Johnson, 47, and his fiancé, Cynthia Saack, 45, trekked over to one of the numerous Oak Park churches that, on any given night, serve as temporary shelters affiliated with the Maywood-based nonprofit Housing Forward. Each evening, Johnson and Saack put their names into a lottery, hoping to land on one of roughly 60 pads in the shelter. That night, Johnson said, Saack got picked but
he didn’t. So they both ended up sleeping on chairs under the Harlem Avenue Metra line. “If I get in and she don’t, then neither one of us get in — and it’s vice versa,” said Johnson during an interview earlier this month outside of an Oak Park Starbucks, where he often sells StreetWise magazine for $2 each (he gets to keep $1.10 of each one sold along with tips). Johnson and Saack have been homeless for two years — the result, they say, of a
get-rich-quick scam that quickly went bad. A guy Johnson went to school with conned the couple out of their money, luring them to Chicago from Freeport with hopes of cashing in. “A week after we got here, we heard nothing from him and haven’t heard from him to this day,” Johnson said. “It’s been hard to get a job,” he said. “I got a bad background. I’ve been clean for five years, but before that I had been in prison See HOUSING FORWARD on page 5