Nov. 19--DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin called for an audit of the sheriff's department last week and pressed Sheriff John Zaruba to answer questions about spending proposals as board members enter the final weeks of developing a spending plan for DuPage County government.
Board members say they've been in the dark about some of the department's basic operations: They didn't know whether the sheriff maintains an inventory of seized vehicles, or which personnel have access to confidential databases, among other procedures. Cronin posed these questions, along with a request for an internal audit, in a formal letter addressed to Zaruba Nov. 9.
"He continues to be reclusive and non-communicative and unresponsive," Cronin said. "I'm sorry I've had to call him out publicly like this, but I have to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of my office."
On Monday, Zaruba sent back a letter in which stated he'd been "responsive, available and truthful" with Cronin and the board, and that he hadn't been invited to meetings to discuss his spending plan before or after Cronin announced next year's budget.
He also responded to public claims of his unavailability made by Cronin.
"A leader should lead and not use the media as their bully pulpit," Zaruba said.
Monday's letter was Zaruba's first contribution to the budget process since sending a strongly-worded letter to Cronin in September, in which he voiced his opposition to the county's proposed $443.8 million fiscal 2016 budget. Zaruba hadn't attended board meetings or responded to calls or requests for communication since, board members said.
The proposed budget had called for reductions in sheriff department staff, from 530 to 520, which frustrated Zaruba. Cronin said the reduction is smaller than it appears, though, as the department had operated throughout the year with 521 employees.
Zaruba had asked the county to increase his department's $40.4 million budget by more than a million dollars to fund body cameras for his deputies and new squad cars but failed to meet with finance committee members to justify the expense, records show. In late October, when the finance committee approved the budget without the requested increases, the sheriff wasn't around.
Committee members were already hesitant to funnel more money into the county's largest department with the uncertainty of the state budget impasse and said their decision to deny Zaruba the extra funding was because of his lack of communication.
As it stands, the county's budget does increase the sheriff department's yearly spending from $40.4 million to $40.8 million to accommodate raises due to union contracts.
At last week's DuPage County Board meeting, Paul Fichtner, chair of the finance committee, said every countywide official has attended finance committee and County Board meetings and has made themselves available to discuss their budgets, particularly if they weren't pleased with them.
"I'm pretty confident, too, that no other sheriff in any other county in the state treats the county board with such contempt that they don't even show up during the budgeting process," he added.
Zaruba did not attend the meeting.
Cronin had requested the following from Zaruba in his Nov. 9 letter:
--Policy, procedure, budget and staffing information for the sheriff's Explorer program, which educates teenagers about law enforcement. Cronin asked for the number of participants, activities of the program and any liability or risk management costs.
--Detailed accounting of the Drug Traffic Prevention and Drug Traffic Seizure Accounts. "I know the state law is very specific in governing how that money should be spent," Cronin said. "How is he spending that money?"
--An inventory of vehicles seized by the sheriff's office and the regulations for these vehicles.
--Information of policies and procedures for preventing inappropriate access to confidential databases. "I don't know about the people who have access to these systems," Cronin said. "Do we have liability? These are privacy issues."
--Information about the video cameras in squad cars and body cameras, as well as the costs associated with the equipment.
In Monday's letter, Zaruba included more than 250 pages of supporting documentation to answer these questions. His response showed the Explorer program operates without taxpayer money, and that employees with access to a certain confidential database must be tested every two years to ensure they're well-versed in security policies.
As for Cronin's request for an audit, Zaruba said both the Drug Traffic Prevention fund and the Drug Traffic Seizure fund have been audited since their inception. And in response to the question on seized vehicles, Zaruba said the department currently has 25 seized vehicles, seven of which are in limited use.
Zaruba also provided documentation detailing the department's use of squad cars and video cameras, and cited State's Attorney Robert Berlin's support of the initiative due to an increased demand from jurors for "scientific and corroborative evidence."
"The natural question is, wouldn't body-worn cameras further assist in the prosecution of cases other than DUI by providing corroborative evidence?" Zaruba wrote to Cronin. "I await your response as to your reasons for removing this item from your recommended budget."
Cronin was not immediately available to comment on Zaruba's response. The county board will vote on the final budget Nov. 24.
meltagouri@tribune.com
