Morefield rejoins Bourbonnais Police Department as new chief

Bourbonnais’ new police chief is no stranger to the department.

Dave Morefield was approved 6-0 by trustees during Monday’s board meeting.

Prior to retiring from the Bourbonnais force as a lieutenant in 2016, Morefield served the department for 32 ½ years. Prior to that, he worked for the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Department for seven years.

The 70-year-old Morefield’s first official day on the job is Tuesday. He has a one-year contract that runs through July 26, 2026, with a salary of $143,000, according to the resolution that was approved.

After he obtains his recertification, he will be paid an annual base salary of $148,060, according to the resolution.

“I’ve missed law enforcement probably because so much of my life was involved in it, nearly 40 years. With that being said, when I was given the opportunity to come back in such a leadership role with the Bourbonnais Department that I retired from, that meant a lot to me,” Morefield said after the meeting.

“I thought it was definitely worth giving it a try if it came to that. And it came to that, and here I am. I feel like I’ve got a lot of support from people that I know in the community,” he said. “I think I’ve got a lot of support for the officers of the Bourbonnais Department.”

He replaces Patrol Commander Jason Sztuba, who had been interim chief since May.

While the vote to hire Morefield was unanimous, three trustees - Rick Fischer, Bruce Greenlee and Randy King - all made statements about the hiring process used by Mayor Jeff Keast.

Fischer said there were more than 30 applicants who applied, with many highly qualified to be police chief.

The field was narrowed to three finalists to interview, but Fischer said that didn’t occur.

“However, the trustees never got to interview them, because a letter of rejection signed by the mayor was sent out,” Fischer said.

“Thereby, the only person that we could interview was Mr. Morefield. Because of this, the trustees never had a chance to interview, and thereby is a violation of the trustees’ advise and consent according to our ordinance. That’s not right. We have a process. We need to follow it,” he said.

Fischer said he is proud of the Bourbonnais department.

“I appreciate the Bourbonnais Police Department. To me, they are second to none. They’re the best in the area, and I really appreciate all that they do,” he said.

Before the trustees knew what was going on, Keast had talked to Morefield last September about the possibility of becoming police chief, if Keast was elected mayor, Fischer said.

The police force knew about it at the village Christmas party, he added.

“However, the trustees did not know anything about your plan, and after all, we are the voting members here, whether to accept your nomination,” Fischer said.

“The question there is, where’s the transparency? Why were we kept in the dark for so long after this? It’s just not right. It’s tough to come to this point,” he said.

Fischer added that if this was a vote about the process, it would not be very well received.

“But this resolution is about voting for a new police chief for the village of Bourbonnais. The department has been without leadership for months. It needs to get back on track, and I have to put my trust in you, Mayor, that you believe wholeheartedly that Mr. Morefield is the right person to do the job. With that being said, I vote in favor of Mr. Morefield,” Fischer said.

Greenlee said, “Trustee Fischer brought up some important items, which I agree with. However, we’re not voting on the process.”

King said he was ready to vote no. He met with Keast before the meeting.

“It has nothing to do with Mr. Morefield or our wonderful police department. It appears that the appointment is going to proceed. I strongly urge the new chief, the mayor and the administration to conduct a full internal review of the department, its structure, staffing and operations, before moving forward with any deputy chief appointment or organizational changes,” King said.

During Keast’s regular president’s report, he addressed the situation.

“I’m glad we got this to the finish line, and I know I struggled in communication with the board, and it will be better in the future. I promise that,” Keast said.

“I’ve been [mayor] for two and a half months now, and I’m learning. So I want to apologize to the board for not making this as smooth of a transition as it should have been and as smooth a process as it should have been, and I will definitely be working on it,” he said. “But again, I didn’t want any of that to take away from the fact that I truly believe that Dave is the right guy for this job, and I think he is going to excel in that position.”

Stubza became interim chief when now-retired Deputy Chief Dave Anderson resigned. Anderson had been interim chief since Jim Phelps retired last year.

“First of all, I’d like to tell former interim chief Stubza, who has worn many, many hats in this period of transition and time, I truly appreciate everything you’ve done to keep the wheels on the bus,” Keast said. “You’ve had to wear three different hats in a short amount of time, and you have done a very good job. Thank you very much.”