Cop Gets Hot Ride, Trustee and Mayor Get Hot Tempers

Shorewood Trustee Jim McDonald ruffled some feathers on the village board when he questioned dropping more than $30,000 so a police commander can have a new sport utility vehicle.

And when McDonald later complained about not getting to chair any of the board's committees, he really managed to irk the mayor.

"I didn't appreciate that right now," Chapman said to McDonald near the end of Tuesday night's meeting.

"There's a lot of things I don't appreciate," McDonald shot back.

Chief among them, apparently, is that he does not have a committee to chair.

Every other trustee, including the newly-elected Steve Brockman, who was appointed chief of the citizen's advisory committee on Tuesday night, chairs one of the board's subgroups.

After the meeting, Chapman said McDonald was given the opportunity to lead the board's cable television committee but turned it down. The board does not currently have a cable television committee.

During the meeting, Chapman said McDonald might have a committee of his own if he "could stay focused on the issues at hand."

Earlier in the meeting, McDonald appeared to irritate the mayor and some of his fellow trustees when he questioned spending $30,305.75 so police Cmdr. Aaron Klima can have a 2011 Chevy Tahoe.

The Tahoe will replace a Crown Victoria the village is removing from the department's fleet of vehicles. The car Klima now drives is going to be handed down to a detective.

"I think we're getting carried away too early with this sales tax," McDonald said, referencing the 1 percent sales tax increase set to start July 1.

"I just hope with the economy down we're not getting too carried away here," he said.

Trustee Dan Anderson countered that buying a police car of any kind would be expensive.

The $30,000-plus for the 2011 Tahoe is "a little more than a squad car, about 10,000 more," Anderson said.

Anderson also pointed out that a Tahoe would have been useful during the February blizzard.

Chapman noted that Klima runs the village's Emergency Services and Disaster Agency and a Tahoe might be a handy thing for him to have.

"He will be carrying equipment for his ESDA duties also," the mayor said.

When it came time to vote, McDonald went along with the rest of the board — except for Trustee Celine Schwartz, who was absent — in approving the purchase of Klima's new truck.