Privileges at MCSD at taxpayer expense

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
November 30, 2010

As many know, the McHenry County Sheriff's Department provides take-home cars to many patrol deputies and their patrol supervisors. This is done at great expense to the taxpayers, but the actual cost just gets swallowed up in the huge budget of the sheriff's department.

What taxpayers might not know is that many other employees at MCSD also get take-home cars. The sheriff drives at least one. Other senior command personnel have them. For example, Dan Sedlock, Chief of Corrections, has one.

And the problem with that? Sedlock has been out on sick leave. He has a take-home car, although I wonder why. All of his work is at MCSD. The jail doesn't move around. When he works, he drives to work; then he drives home. In most business operations, that's called "commuting."

I understand that the policy at MCSD is that, when an employee is sick and not going to be on duty for some period of time, then his take-home car is to be returned to the lot, where perhaps it could be re-assigned.

Did this happen in Sedlock's case? Several callers have told me that Sedlock's car is still at his residence near Chemung. And, further, that his wife is driving herself and family members to visit Sedlock in the hospital. And where is the hospital? Try DuPage County.

Why would a County-owned car and, presumably, County-purchased fuel, be used for traveling to visit a sick employee in the hospital? Say a round-trip of over 100 miles? Maybe, every day?

Why? Because "rank hath its privileges", and nobody had better speak up or complain about it!