ptofat don't believe everything you read. Maltese lied, he actually approached the chief and said he loved the e-mail jokes, and to 'keep them coming'.
I'm sure the chief would be willing to take a lie detector test on this, would Maltese? I bet not. Why don't you set this up?
There have been MANY references to Maltese on these blogs as a liar - from his prior 'workmates'.

ptofat-

http://www.mywalworthcounty.com/main.asp...

WakeUp I read that story and I even read between the lines and did not find anything that said 7 computers. I did see that when Maltese was sent the inappropriate material he did not join the good old boys club.

ptofat---The Delavan Enterprise edition of April 9 has this quote in its front page headline story--- "found on seven Police Department Computers". The title of the article was "Sex, lies and videotape in Darien". Hope that answers your question.

ptofat-
I think I might know where people got the "7 computer" info from.... I don't know for sure but read this article....right above "Time Wasters" there is a quote from DeVoy that may have implied multiple computers.

http://gazettextra.com/news/2009/apr/04/...

oplease I looked thru all the Enterprise papers and did not find anything that said how many computers the information was taken from.

WakeUp....Right on!! Couldn't have said it better myself. Makes me wonder.....if a trustee can't understand the election process, and puts people down who work at the polls or who help set up for the election; can they make good decisions at board meetings?

oplease Tell me which article said that the infoirmation came from 7 computers. If you know there are 7 computers in the Police Department you must spend a lot of time there. Devoy was getting paid to be the Chief, man in charge,his job to know what was going on in the Police Department. WakeUp Yes sounds like you may have made a mistake

Loose cannon comes to mind.

Is it just me or............has somebody lost their common sense!??? "Darien village trustee alleges impropriety at polls"
I wonder why it is so hard to accept the facts. It was not intentional. Sorry to pop your bubble but NO ONE risked their job to remove "certain" names from the roster!! Duh!!! I voted for this person who is so carelessly accusing ridiculous things. Did I make a mistake? I am afraid there might be a little slander in this article. Can we just be nice to one another? I am sick of this already!!!

http://www.mywalworthcounty.com/main.asp...

From April 3,Devoy has more than 10 and less than 30 working days to ask for a hearing,if he did not do anything wrong and if someone else put all the 200,000 pages on the computer system. He should be asking for the hearing on Monday April 20. because that is the 11th day. Devoy could ask for a Power Point presentation of the e-mails found on the Police computers and it could be held at the Senior Center for all village residents. As each picture came on the screen he could explain why it was on the computer system.

Sad really to see all this anger in this little sweet town. How are the children suppose to grow up nice if the adults in this town can't even place nice together

Copperguy: I think you’re exactly right. My understanding from talking to some of the employees is that the village policy allows a 15 mile radius from Darien. They made Dennison move within the village and there is no reason why a police chief should be allowed to live 15 (or more) in Maltese’s case from Darien. How could he effectively respond to an emergency situation from Janesville? Then again I hear he doesn’t have the training for Incident Management anyway. In addition, living inside a 12’ high fence would take some time getting out. According to the meeting minutes, the personnel committee granted Peggy Moran an extension for her new residence. So I guess the policies that are in place really aren’t enforced for ALL and just for ONE.
Lifesawheel: Any reason that you know of that the police association doesn’t file a grievance against Maltese for failing to offer overtime to the officers in the association? I highly doubt that Metzner is a union member and on top of that, most senior. I see he retired from many professions in his life time!

Word around the same campfire is that within the last week, Maltese and Metzner dropped off one of the police cars in Madison to get stripped down and had a nice long ride back together in Metzner's car. I wonder what they talked about? Even after all this, they are not afraid to hide the fact that they are in "ka-hoots"

My understanding of the court decisions is that a government body can require that employees who need to be available in a timely manner can be required to live within a fixed number of miles or within a certain drive time of their employer, but can not be required to live within the jurisdiction.

And, if memory serves me correctly, that came from a decision many years ago when the City of Madison tried to require police officers to live within the city. A court threw that out, and instead allowed the response time requirement.

If the village is smart (which most of the current board hasn’t proved yet) they’d take applications and have Maltese apply for the position too. It’s ridiculous to think that he’d be chief in less than 2 years of being on the department, not having a degree, and has no respect of the subordinate officers. Furthermore, would he REALLY be able to convince a promotional board this time that he’s deserving of the job since he won’t have Bobby-boy feeding him the questions before-hand. This guy is not worthy of being a COP, much less supervisory material. He’d make a better salesman with all the B.S. he pours on to make himself look good and others bad. People, we’re in trouble if he gets promoted to chief! We all know that this has been Bobby-boys goal but couldn’t accomplish it without getting rid of DeVoy first. Someone should determine how many emails that were racist in nature or pornographic were sent /received and viewed by Maltese. Being Sergeant I would presume that he is personally responsible for overseeing the subordinate officers. If he failed to do so by condoning the emails then he should be facing charges too instead of licking his lips about being the next chief of police. Maybe the village forgot that he’s a supervisor too and should be held to like standards of DeVoy.

I tried to stay away but this frightens me too much not to share. The word around the campfire is that the old board is trying to get Maltese locked in as official Chief of Police before they leave office. This madness has gone on long enough. They are blinded and are just being spiteful at this point. We cannot let this happen.

I believe that each village or city can set their own rules..not sure but think that's how it works

But we are not a city, we are a village and maybe that makes a difference for residency. The rules might vary. I have a relative who just has to live within so many miles of a city in Rock county, and he is an employee of the city.

Copperguy
That's not true..Most cities require municipal employees to live within the limits.. Heck Beloit even requires residency for principals...
I think it's good practice...

bigmama101: Don't ask for specific statute or case citations, but it's my understanding that it is unlawful to require municipal employees to live within the municipal limits. Perhaps others can give some citations.

I do not live in Darien, never have and never will, thankfully. Like all small towns, everyone knows your business. But, if I did, I would certainly be suspect when in comes to DeVoy. All that smoke must mean at least a little fire, and as chief, he should have set a better example.

This comment has nothing to do with the posted news article here, but I'm just answering a question below from bigmama101. The Town of Darien has a Town Board Chairman, a Board of Supervisors, Committees and a Clerk/Treasurer. They have a nice building, their own workers, trucks/snowplows, etc. Maybe there's more or less, I don't live in the township, so I'm not sure. Take a drive out past the fire station, turn left on Foundry Road, go across the R.R. tracks and the Town Hall is on your left, not much over a mile from the Village of Darien. Take a look at it, very nice. I hope that answers your question.

Interesting Copperguy...
I would like to be appointed

The only thing the Town and Village have in common is that the Town loans the Village money

Has anyone heard specifics on the hearing for Chief DeVoy? Statutes allow for the appointment of either 1 person, or a panel of at least 3 people to hear the matter, none of whom can be elected officials or employees of the Village. Just curious if suh person or persons have been selected?

Just a note of clarification - bigmama101. The town hall for the Town of Darien is located on Foundry Road off of County X. It's where the rural Darien residents have their meetings and vote, etc. In your postings you keep referring to the town hall or to go to the town hall while mentioning village items or business. I think you really mean the village hall on N. Wisconsin Street in the Village of Darien, which is for the village residents' use for meetings or voting, etc.

Sorry, I’m on a roll: A “finger-print” of evidence whether it was deleted or not should’ve been found on DeVoy’s computer regardless whether he deleted the emails or not. I’ve seen the number of evidentiary documents start at 50, rise to 200,000 and now is at 300,000 – admittedly from 7 computers and NOT all from DeVoy’s. Why would anyone blame DeVoy for requesting a hearing if he isn’t fed up with Darien, and fight this fight? It appears that the village should get ready for the fight and a possible law suit. If they have an overwhelming amount of evidence that shows other employees were involved, then why aren’t they being held accountable? It sounds like the majority of the “old” board had blinders on and bit at the advice of attorneys that will make money regardless the outcome. Especially if this case goes to trial! Maybe they should research a recent case with the WCSO that pertained to emails. NO one was terminated, only disciplined………..including supervisors. My point is; roll the dice and DeVoy may still get reinstated plus the cost of a law suit. Otherwise every chief that has been in this situation has been paid to leave. Darien can’t afford to upgrade their sewer, how are they going to pay the chief to leave?

Okay, let me report this like Ann Marie would (no offense): this is what we know so far. DeVoy had knowledge that Metzner was impersonating an officer and stopped ride-a-longs making Metzner mad. DeVoy had evidence that someone was illegally accessing files of the police department causing a liability to the community due to confidentiality reasons. He goes to the WCSO, they install cameras to catch the person(s) responsible. DeVoy gets suspended and the village officials and attorneys go on a witch hunt. Now the I.T. person (Williams) claims that DeVoy was “obsessive” and kept his office locked and maintained control over the police department computers – yet everyone had their own workstation. Bob Wenzel claims that DeVoy was “holding out hope that a majority of board members who support him would be elected.” Did Wenzel hear that from DeVoy? Obviously Wenzel himself doesn’t have a clue what’s going on because DeVoy is entitled to a hearing before the termination will be official. The hearing will probably occur sometime this summer or early fall according to the attorneys. Next thing he’ll be accused of is circulated flyers for the “4 pack”. Wenzel said the snafu with DeVoy began with the promotion of Michael Maltese to Sergeant and set out to incriminate Bob Metzner – it appears he did a good job ALL by himself. I think the only thing that’s missing is DeVoy’s side of the story and evidence that he may have. I think if they were to talk to him (like I did) they would start unraveling the truth. Like the fact that DeVoy has NEVER locked his office door, the interview panel unanimously (including Zipp) suggested promoting Chet Wilson over Michael Maltese to Sergeant. The fact that the I.T. “expert” couldn’t find things on DeVoy’s computer so he went to the other computer and blamed their contents on DeVoy.

please101-well I am glad I am not the only who feels that way about the "other woman". I understand it too that the number of documents was 200,00 from all of the computers! But they still want to blame it all on the chief because he is the boss. I will tell all of you that I am on a networked system at my job and at any given time (except when I am working) someone can get on my computer or any of the others and look things up, email or whatever, so what I am trying to get at is if computers are networked,the boss should be responsible for everything that everyone else does? I know once I read an email I delete it, yes I know it is on the hard drive, but it is not visible to the eye unless you get a computer person to look at the hard drive. So was the chief to hire a computer person to come in once a week and look at everyone computer to see what they are doing? Plus I looked at some of the emails and jokes and unless you don't have a sense of humor I didn't find anything to be that bad.

keepitrealnow - yes, I do know the woman in question and that is exactly what she is doing, let's see how many other people she can stab in the back. I guess she wants everyone and their neighbor to think poorly of her. Evindently the rest of the town is BLIND!

To everyone else with the question of the number of documents recovered, as I understood it the total of 200,000 was the amount recovered office wide, that is every computer over several years time and many employee's. Also that is total documents, not the number of "personal" ones or "racist and dirty or sexual either" come on, read between the lines. A few people in this town are trying to ruin a good man and have done nothing more than succeeding in giving our town a bad name, a reputation of being a bunch of bickering, back stabbing, crazies who just want to blame everyone else instead of working together to fix anything!!!

I see it's still messy in here...

I will support many women in position, however she will have a lot to prove as the new VP, as would anyone. From what I have seen when she sits in the back of the Board Meetings and talks trash about the current Board; this shows that she is NO better than the current administration.

4_2levelheaded what do you mean, "the new Etten"?
She has not even taken office yet and you criticize already?
You sound like someone who wants to keep this village in the dark ages and won't consider that a female for a change might do a good job.
Given the current investigations and legal charges against the former VP, you're either close minded or ill-informed.

one943 I agree with you on Etten. All should be voting on what they feel is fair and correct for the village. There will be different opinions and viewponts.

oplease We do need someone to set therecord straight. I thought all the 200,000 were from Devoy's computer, but I don't know if that is true or not.

please101-you obiously know the female who supposedly was having the affair with the chief!? I too know her and all about her actual affair. The time frame that the "affair" supposedly occurred, ironically that time she was still married, living with her boyfriend but still had time for the chief! Busy girl!! I too know the chief and his wife. I also know that the chief and the "other woman" were very good friends. You would think that if she was any kind of a friend or human being that she would step up to the plate and admit to everyone that NO AFFAIR ever happened. But if you know her like I do she would rather be venditictive! It is either her way or no way.

please101-you obiously know the female who supposedly was having the affair with the chief!? I too know her and all about her actual affair. The time frame that the "affair" supposedly occurred, ironically that time she was still married, living with her boyfriend but still had time for the chief! Busy girl!! I too know the chief and his wife. I also know that the chief and the "other woman" were very good friends. You would think that if she was any kind of a friend or human being that she would step up to the plate and admit to everyone that NO AFFAIR ever happened. But if you know her like I do she would rather be venditictive! It is either her way or no way.

levelheaded-which you are not! obviously old supporters of Metzner got fed up with his B.S. and looks like they wanted a change.

2LevelHeaded
I agree with everything you say. I don’t think it should be us against them. What bothers me is.
“Etten looks forward to working with the new board. She thinks new faces will make for more evenly split votes.” I hope she doesn’t mean that.

Please101: It appears as you are the blind one. A personal phone call or email is fine if it is limited and is allowed in the computer policy. I would think 200,000 documents is a lot more than an occasional phone call or email.
Also, there is no "old boys" club either. The vote on what they feel is right and is best for the village. Not everyone may share their opinion but there is no collusion to vote one way or another.

from what I've seen the people who were the big supporters for the new Etten, are the same people who supported Metzner to be elected.

The people have spoken,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Wow, I can't belive how blind everyone is who have posted comments on this blog!! Thankfully we have a new VP!!! Hurray!!! Howver with regards to the Chief, he has served us well for years, then we get an idiot VP who pushes the old boys club to stir up the pot, most people would consider Metzners actions while VP scary, especially from a legal stand point!! To add it all up the board hires Maltese against the advise of the chief and the board that reviewed all the aplicants. Talk about throwing a wrench in the machine, (Dave we miss you!!!) and to top it all off you have the only female employee involved in an affair. People put 2 and 2 together. Chief and her husband are friends!!! Hello, piss people off much? Anyone who knows Chief and his lovely wife personaly know that there was no affair, the town would have heard about it and its concequences, just like they did her true affair and the spliting of 2 families. Read the writing on the wall. And to those of you who claim that sll this comes down to the chief using the computer for personel reasons, you tell me that you have never checked your personal Email at work or taken a personal phone call, should we fire you? Let's put it in perspective and think about whats best for our town and for our protection, I'll stick with Steve and Chuck and Chet any day of the week.

Darien Village Referendum
Total
Vote For 1
Total Votes 355
YES 152
NO 203

Vil Darien President
Total
Vote For 1
Total Votes 348
Evelyn Etten 227
Bob Metzner 114
Write-in Votes 7

Vil Darien Trustee
Total
Vote For 3
Total Votes 957
Cheryl Kaufenberg 163
Allen Kenyon 160
Craig McCue 183
Cynthia Holmes 104
Philip Putman 157
Debi Olmstead 183
Write-in Votes 7

oplease
Apr 7, 2009 at 6:02 p.m.
Suggest removal So how did we go from 200,000 to 300,000 records, and how would DeVoy been able to delete information from his computer when the village seized it on Dec 1, 2008. Does anyone else smell something funny going on here?
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no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-

It's now 9:26pm. How come ever other community has the results posted on the website posted by turkeyman EXCEPT Darien?
AGAIN the last to post - why?

Robert Metzner remember what you were told

YA CAN RUN BUT YA CAN'T HIDE.............

WE HAVE A NEW PRESIDENT!!!

Pizza? I must have missed the collection plate!!!!

Thanks for your hard work!

Hi all-

We will post the results on GazetteXtra as soon as they come in.

You can find the link on the front page of our Web site. Here's a link.

http://www.gazettextra.com/elections/

Also, you should be able to find them on Walworth County's site.

My fellow reporters and I will be here scrambling as the results come in. (It's never a fast process.) We'll have full stories here tomorrow and in tomorrow's paper.

Also, we have pizza.

Thanks for reading, everybody.

Ann Marie

http://www.co.walworth.wi.us/walco.nsf/E...

http://elections.todaystmj4.com/L02F010....

Ann Marie: Will results be available on gazettextra.com tonight?

Anyone know of other site(s) where they might be posted?

oops-Sorry about the spelling. It should be Ann Marie.

Thank you very much Anne Marie for clearing that up for us! Now we can all move forward!

Teacher -

I just talked to Marc Dennison at village hall. The problem was with the statewide voter registration system.

For some reason, the system split the village into two wards. It's been years since Darien had two wards.

As soon as poll workers realized there was a problem, they called the Government Accountability Board. Together, they figured out what was wrong.

Some people did have to re-register to vote while they were figuring it out, Marc said.

He said nobody was turned away.

Does that make sense?

Ann Marie Ames

oplease-

I don't know the answer to your first question.

But, to the second question ... DeVoy attempted to delete information off his computer before the computer was seized, according to IT expert Dean Williams.

Reporter Ann Marie Ames

A smell to high heaven. Why are they still digging for dirt, they must not be too confident about what they used for grounds to fire him or they wouldn't continue.

I just found out that there was once again voting problems in Darien! The voter registration sheets excluded A LOT of residents that have lived in the village for a long time, and they had to re-register to vote. Will the VP and his henchmen go to such extremes to be sure they win?
****
It just so happens the people left off the roster were supporters of the fantastic four! I sure hope some charges are filed...and I hope ANN looks into this!

Bigmama - Nice comment. Huh?

Regarding the preposition, I know.

So cornchild let me get this straight....you don't think that if Dean or any DPW or other village employees emails and internet usage isn't a waste of TIME which in turn costs us ALL MONEY???

http://www.mywalworthcounty.com/main.asp...

Indeed, skipper! I am a stickler for proper English, grammar, and sentence structure. All of my efforts to proofread my posts before I submit them still yields an occasional error.

BTW, Swisschick: You ended your question with a preposition.

Hey Swisschick, I hope you feel good about yourself. Bigmama had a stroke and has a hard time typing. Why are there so many mean people in this world!

Blacktax & Bigmama. Please take 2LevelHeaded's advice and quit using an exclamation point instead of an apostrophe. Yeesh, where did you learn that from?

God Help us today and have people vote for a real change not a single agenda. There are greater problems in our fair village that need attention more than Steve Devoy.

cornchild: I am most certainly NOT offended by your disappointment. WHen I used the word "offensive," it was in relation to someone making a false claim of being "retired" from a career in public safety. And, as I said in that post, "retiring" from a "career" indicates having spent a number of years in that career with some degree of success.

If someone completed an application for employment as a police officer, indicating that s/he was a retired police officer, and an investigation showed that s/he had worked as a cop for 4 years some 30 years prior, that would be a HUGE red flag to the now-hiring agency. Based on the information I've seen, I think it highly unlikely that Mr. Metzner is a retired police officer. Show me otherwise and I will make a full retraction and apologize.

Indicating "retired" is a far cry from indicating a previous employer. It's disingenguous.

I have not indicated that I am convinced Chief Devoy should have been fired. I also have not indicated that Mr. Metzner should be charged, tried, and convicted for Impersonating a Police Officer. I have not indicated that I believe the Board members should be convicted of Open Meetings violations. And in all of these instances it's for the same reason: I haven't seen the evidence. And, I have been involved in enough cases to know that what often seems "plain" at first ends up being much murkier when it's presented to a trier of fact.

If that's not objective, I surely don't know what is.

oplease - good idea, because if Dean and the DPW guys are caught violating the policy, that will bring back the huge amount of money we wasted while paying Steve DeVoy to have his "internet fun".
Copperguy, I am sorry you are offended by my disappointment, but your ensuing comments lead me to believe you are anything but objective. But go ahead - your audience here will never support Metzner or give up on DeVoy, so you are preaching to your own little choir. Again, I have seen the evidence, and I am convinced that the board, including Bob Metzner, made the right call. You can rationalize it all you want or get creative with the math, but here is my equation: 1 Chief of Police who engaged in this activity to this extent = 1 person who doesn't deserve to keep his job or position in our community.

if you talk to Danz, they are looking into all village employees. some present and some past.

If it is a VILLAGE policy, then ALL Village employees should have their emails looked at!
Chief DeVoy was in charge of the PD NOT the other village employees!
***
Board members please request ALL emails off the server at the next meeting!!

Me2
I believe that's the point

One943: not to keep playing the numbers game but in a 24 hour period there would normally be 3 officers and a secretary that could send emails. Do you REALLY think that they collectively could send that many emails and still get their jobs done. How do you account for the tickets and arrests posted in the newsletters. I'm not buying into this at all!

Dreamer: Thanks for that. I did not do the calculations myself. I took numbers cited previously. So, in the interest of full disclosure and accuracy:

The time period is about 3 years, 4 months, or 3.3 years. Figuring an average of 22 work days per month, and 12 months in a year, multiplied by 3.33 years, then dividing into the number of total emails (2492), the average number of emails sent and received is just under 3.

What constitutes personal business? Well, dealing with one's financial accounts, personal gifts/shopping, a home business, making vacation plans with an out-of-state relative/friend, etc., all seem to fit the bill perfectly.

What about jokes? Hmmm....That one COULD be open to interpretation. For one thing, anyone who desn't believe that humor plays an important role in policing is sadly mistaken. Even "gallows humor" helps cops cope. So, I would not be quick to judge jokes or other humorous emails to be "personal." If it doesn't result in personal gain - or serve some other purely non-business role - then I think it's open to debate as to whether or not it's "personal."

If an employee receives two humorous emails and forwards them, that's a total of 4 in the message count. Is that abusing the employer? Absent some actionable content, i think a lot of folks would say "no way." Especially when you figure in the fact that police officers do not get off-the-clock lunch or other breaks. If we do get a break, we're still on duty and I have personally had to leave a meal sitting on a restaurant table, dropped a $10 spot to cover it, and never got back to it.

What I'm saying is that there are a LOT of things to take into consideration. A number means very little until it is put into perspective. Furthermore, employees must NOT engage in personal business using public resources. But, one first must consider what really is "personal business."

I asked. The 2,000 pages were just a sample of 200,000 pages the IT guy found. So if you take it as a true sample then you are talking about 77,500 in 3 ½ years. More like 200 a day.

Ummmmm--not that it matters that much, but for those mentioning the count of the one bunch of 775 e-mails from June 2005 through Oct. 2008 (if those dates are right, and not a typo) as 4 1/2 years, it's really under 3 1/2 years. Count 'em again.

My next comment would be...why wouldn't the I.T. "expert" be able to put these numbers in perspective? If it wasn't his job then between three high priced attorneys couldn't they have done the same before presenting this information to the board. It's appearing they were all presented with a "bill" of goods just to get rid of the guy. Lastly, did the I.T. "expert" determine if DeVoy solicited the contents of the emails or just pass them on. I've researched other departments that have gone through this and the outcome depended on various factors.

none the less, inappropriate emails are still part of personal emails are not allowed in the village's email policy.

Copperguy: thanks for that, I calculated using only a 4 year period instead of 4.5 - my bad and thank you. I think this puts things into perspective a lot better than just a "total number".

Me2: Great point. Actually, I come up with 1188 days in 4.5 years. And, even if you add all three numbers together (emails sent to, emails sent from, and "unconfirmed") that total is 2492, or around 2 per day.

Of course, all of this is over-simplification. But, it's a good exercise nonetheless to put things into perspective.

now that is using your head Me2! I bet noone else would have been that smart.

Ok if I'm understanding this right, in approximately a 4 1/2 year period of time they can only prove that HE sent 775 emails, in the same time period he would've worked approximately 8320 hours or 1040 days. I think that equates to a little more than 1 per day. Boy that sounds like an enourmous waste of time AND termination material to me! LOL

well said, policy is policy. maybe it's time for a VERY big change.

I have discussed with friends who have seen the information that the open records request asked for and the instance of Devoy sending e-mails of time wasting jokes, porn and racist e-mails sent from Devoy June 9 2005 thru Oct 30 2008 were 775. The number of time wasting jokes,porn and racist e-mails sent to Devoy Aug 8 2005 thru Nov 28 2008 were 943. The unconfirmed e-mail jokes, porn and racist was 774. When he sent e-mails to others on the network the e-mails stayed on their hard drive. They did not delete them so they were easy to find. This was an enormous waste of time and the Village Hand Book says you can not use the Village computer for your personal use.

DeVoy did not need to be IT expert to see wrongdoing on the part of some of his employees. If you would have bothered to look at the records or talk to one of the board members who were presented the information from the computer expert, you would know that some of the e-mails were e-mailed to DeVoy by employees and instead of repreimanding them, disciplining them, or anything a department head should do, not only did DeVoy NOT delete them, he forwarded them on to others.

so hsprdp1117-since you are so "smart" why don't you tell us, how DeVoy was suppose to monitor everyone's emaiils? Was he suppose to bring in an IT person once a month to monitor that. Like the village could afford to do that!!! Tell us oh wise one how could he manage to monitor 6 employees email. I don't know about you but after I read an email I delete them. So unless you are an IT expert how do you retrieve them? Seriously, where did you come from?!!

His side of the story? I believe if you've looked at his augmentation, his side of story is that it wasn't him. Someone else did ALL of this on his computer without his knowledge. Years, years, and years of it. And I will say again that all employees are not being disciplined the same way because they are just that...employees. He was the department head in charge of those employees. He should have done something if the employees were violating the policy. Instead, he allowed it, condoned it, and violated the policy himself...repeatedly.

Once again I will reitterate...You people are judging DeVoy, and you haven't heard his side of the story or for that matter the truth..
***
I pose the question why not have the board pull ALL the emails off the server and check ALL village employee emails.. Because they don't want to find out that almost everyone would be guilty, including the retired CM... Furthermore if the chief is guilty, why not PM?? It takes 2 to have a relationship!

And, finally, regardless of the outcome of the election, the genie is out of the bottle. Given the charges that have been made against Chief Devoy, I cannot envision even an entirely new Village Board just dropping all of this and saying, "never mind." I think that no matter who wins tomorrow, Chief Devoy will have a disciplinary hearing.

That's not to say that the outcome (termination) will be the same. If Chief presents a plausible defense, perhaps the Village Board will vote for a lesser discipline. But, the process can not stop now. It's beyond the point of no return.

I have said all along that people should hold off on forming an opinion of either guilt or innicence until this scenario plays out. My admonitions in that regard have applied equally to Chief Devoy and to the Board members in the allegations of Open Meetings violations. I have not played either side.

Even now, as folks are seeing some of the evidence against Chief Devoy, I will again caution against using that evidence to arrive at a conviction. I know enough about computer systems to realize that they are not "cut and dried."

How many of us have received email messages that appear to be from a legitimate source (such as Microsoft, FEDEX, or I have even received them from "FBI"), only to find out that someone was attempting a scam?

Wait for the trial, folks. Wait to see the defense. A "prima facie" case does not convict. It is a start, but wholly rebuttable.

I said in an earlier post that if Chief Devoy has engaged in wrongdoing of a serious nature, I will support the Board's ultimate decision. Some people don't want to hear that because it sounds like I'm not fully supporting Chief Devoy. The truth is that I WANT to support him. I truly do hope that he has indeed been framed or falsely accused. But I cannot in good conscience lose my objectivity.

I can not and will not excuse serious offenses - if they are proven - on the account that "everyone makes mistakes." A Chief of Police absolutely MUST keep his/her professional conduct to a very high standard. What may deserve a tongue lashing or written reprimand for a person in a private business can be a terminable offense for a Chief of Police. That is as it should - and MUST - be.

But, it also must be proven.

do you honestly think that someone planted all of the evidence on Devoy? past and present officers were also listed as sending and receiving inappropriate emails with Devoy. in due time that will be handled differently as well. i would like to know how any resident can support someone who spent our tax money doing these despicable things on our dime. you can want a change in power "new board members" and want to "re-organize" our pd. God be with you when you vote tomorrow, because if bringing back Devoy is your only reason for voting then you may be looking in the wrong direction.

First, to cornchild's concern about my "Just Wondering" post. I have no "sides" or perceived opposition. It seems clear to me that Mr. Metzner is embellishing his record. I know of only person who has truly "retired" from one career and will soon retire from a second. To claim that one is "retired" from multiple careers seems disingenuous to me. My first job was at K Mart in the early 80's, where I worked for three years. Can I legitimately claim to be retired from K Mart? I served several years on a governmental body that met once monthly. Am I retired from that now? I know of a few people who worked as a cop for a year or two but couldn't cut it and moved to a different career. Are they retired from law enforcement?

To me, retiring from a career means that one spent a good number of years in that field of employment, with some degree of success, and ended that career when it was time to draw on a pension, social security, etc.. Retirement carries with it a sense of satisfactory completion. Retirement is itself a sort of credit to one's character. So, to falsely claim to be "retired," especially from the field of public safety, is to me offensive. If Mr. Metzner truly did "retire" from multiple careers, then I apologize and stand corrected in my suspicion of embellishment. It's no different than falsely claiming to have a degree.

In all seriousness, if anyone here could put me in direct contact with DeVoy, it would be greatly appreciated. I have some info that I'd like to pass along to him. You or he can contact me by clicking on my name and sending me a message.

I find it truly amazing that the village of Darien can't come up with money for a sewer project but they can continue to spend money on things like this. They can also pay the former chiefs health insurance as a part-time employee for DPW (by the way, I heard a long time ago that when he was chief he was arrested by the WCSO for battery and disorderly conduct. Why didn’t he lose his job?)and give 34% wage increases to others. I guess that's where the current board’s priorities are. Vote responsibly tomorrow people! We need a BIG change and tomorrow is your chance.

It is to bad that everything that is written about DeVoy is all negative and ALL one sided. For all of you bloggers who think he is such a bad guy, have you ever thought about getting his side of the story. Seems kind of strange that the village board members have not called him in to have him present his side. Seriously, was he really that bad of a guy? After 20+ years of service and never written up and now they claim he just wasted village time! I am sure if anyone else who is blogging and was suspended wouldn't they want a chance to have their say?

Thank you for answering my question keepitrealnow. Does she still work for the department?

Every article that has been written goes on and on about the chief and each and every thing he has done wrong. Nothing positive in all the years he has worked in Darien so why was my comment removed immediately when i asked who was this girl he had an affair with??? That is all i read about in all the article's published by the Gazette.

I can't remember if I mentioned this before in another discussion or not. DeVoy really needs to hire an independent computer forensic expert and have him/her examine the hard drive in question. Someone that is truly competent will be able to determine EXACTLY what was done on that computer. Further, the evidence on the hard drive can often strongly indicate WHO did what on the computer. I have seen more than one case get turned upside down through the use of a competent expert.

Oplease - A circuit court judge made a determination that DeVoy is a department head, not an employee...there is a big difference. He is supposed to be leading that department and demostrating the behavior that is, in turn, expected of the employees.

cornchild-

I would apreciate it if you would leave my good name(even if it is a screen name)out of your negative and jugdemental comments. I don't believe it is your place to jugde me.

Thank you! On with the day!

i agree we need a change in Darien; new board members and a new president. however i too have seen the evidence and i don't want someone who spends my tax dollars sending crude images on property of the village. there is a policy that the chief was full aware of and he broke it. a complete change in power needs to happen. if there are other people in the departments who are guilty, changes need to be made. i have been following the "blogs" for some time and am very unhappy with the attitude of both "sides" in this matter. there is a lot more at stake than just the pd. the infiltration problem could very well bankrupt the village, money has to be spent. i don't want my tax dollars or water bill to go up but how are you going to pay for improvements and repairs. many ideas are good and not everyone is going to see that.

Cornchild: Well said and I agree with you.

Oplease: How is it that you and the others you mentioned are what you call "open minded"? And how is it that you can compare what Devoy himself did to Putnam and his granddaughter? They are not even comparable, Devoy himself is the one who did wrong and Putnam himself did not, it was is granddaughter. Are you trying to hold him responsible for her actions? You and your other "supporters" wouldn't be able to see that Devoy did anything wrong even if it hit you in the face. Besides he is not even admitting what he did was wrong. Why should everyone forgive him when he can't even admit he did something wrong and is trying to blame it on everyone else.

oplease, Oh Please!! The bloggers you list as concerned citizens are among the worst for not being open to other viewpoints. Copperguy isn't too bad, but I was disappointed to read his "just wondering" questions about Bob Metzner's past career experiences, which were nothing but a stab at the percieved opposition.
I too, have seen the evidence. I guess you can call me vindictive if I feel that someone who has ripped off the village for years like Steve DeVoy has done doesn't deserve to be employed anymore.
The gang of four - Etten, McCue, Kenyon, and Olmstead, are supporting bringing back DeVoy despite the evidence. Too bad DeVoy didn't manage to block the release of the records until after the election. I had my doubts, but was still open to the possibilities some of the four had to offer, but now I don't see how any voter could support them if their stated position is to support DeVoy. The four drew the lines, made it an "us versus them" election, and now are caught on the wrong side of the issue. And while I wouldn't vote for Phil Putman's granddaughter for trustee, I still trust Phil's judgement and commitment to the people of Darien over any of the gang of four.

My dictionary has words "slightly" stronger, such as disturbance, uproar, tumult, clamor; with clamor being continual uproar. I'm sad that this is describing the village right now in certain areas.

YUP......In the dictionary!!!

hul·la·ba·loo

hul·la·ba·loo [hùlləbə l]
(plural hul·la·ba·loos) or hul·la·bal·loo [hùlləbə l] (plural hul·la·bal·loos)
n
hubbub: noisy excitement or fuss (informal)

[Mid-18th century. Alteration of hollo-ballo < holla, early variant of hello ]
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

It is hard to believe how some people are attacking others with such disrespect without checking out "hearsay" comments, not only on this article, but on other articles, too. Many times this is about people they have never even met or talked to in person, let alone the ones they know or are face to face with in all of this hullabaloo (it's in the dictionary) that is going on in the village. We should be working together for the good of the Village of Darien, not tearing it apart. Granted, I haven't served on a village board or committee, but I have served on a school board and we were not discourteous and disrespectful at our board meetings or at the public meetings that I can remember. If something was discussed, it was done decently until whatever the concern or problem was about had been resolved. Maybe I am just a dreamer, too, but this is how I feel village, township and city business should be handled.

citizenofdarien
Apr 5, 2009 at 5:20 p.m.
I wonder how much said here is false!!!

CONTACT ME...LET ME KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND I WILL SHOW YOU EVIDENCE!!!

I wonder how much said here is false!!!

After a message left on my answering machine I stand corrected on the fact that all 7 Board members were in possession of the Email sample packet...only 5 trustees actually asked for copies. 2 trustees did not ask for a copy...they only need to ask and a copy will be ready for them. For the record I have copies of a few of the emails and there are some dated in 2007 & 2008 as well.

Oplease - You have obviously not seen all of the records then nor have you talked to any of the board members who were presented all of the information by the computer expert. DeVoy did forward e-mails (and yes...on and on and on) plain and simple and not just to his wife. Regarding the security problem with his computer, is he (and are you) trying to say that someone else had these lengthy e-mail conversations with this employee using his computer and e-mail? Really? You obviously haven't been informed of the content of these e-mail conversations then either.

oplease- Thank you for answering my question!

huh? devoy? what happened to the hoppi family? joe brickner for president!!

when did he correct the computer security issue???

Teacher; Your thinking and all of the other people who think the same way you do are part of the problem with politics not only at the local level but at the national level as well. There should not be an "us vs. them" mentality. Members should be voting on what they feel is right and fair, not to vote one way because someone else does or wants them to. Maybe you should see the documents. As far as I know anyone can see them now that they are open to the public so I don't know where you got the idea that only 5 of them have them.
Everyone does make mistakes but I wouldn't want Devoy to be a police officer let alone in charge of other officers after the types of things he was doing on a government computer. How long has he been doing it for?
Oplease; You're only seeing one side of the story. Of course he isn't going to admit to what he has done. What else can he say but it wasn't me, I wasn't there. I am sure they took into consideration the fact that he was recorded as working that day and didn't do any work. Also, it's one thing to get an email but to forward it on is another. If he couldn't help it, why didn't he just delete them? Oh, he tried to do some of that after he got caught.

And...it's one thing to say "I love you" to a friend, but that coupled with e-mails regarding their sexual relationship...ummmm...really? There are still some questioning that? As if there's some ethical explanation for that? Oh, yeah, but someone else created that...I forgot. Open your eyes Darien.

Oplease - Have you seen the records? It's one thing to receive unwanted e-mails...it's another to forward them on and on and on, wouldn't you agree? Also, after "catching" an employee on his computer, according to his own augmentation, he resolved the computer security problem himself.

No one should be judging Chief DeVoy.. You know the saying "Those in glass houses..." I am sure every one of the "Fab 5" has things in their past that they aren't proud of... Whether it's a relative that abuses drugs, a failed tax business, a relative that had kids out of wedlock, drunk driving tickets..etc etc... There are many examples of things we are not proud of...
**
Did the Chief use bad judgment... yes, but no different than any ONE of us..I do not know what the records contain, but why is it only the "Fab 5" and CK that have them?? I do know the chief personally, and HE is an honorable man.. He has led this department for 20+ years, people respect him...
It's not like he did drugs and was around kids or had kiddie porn! People grow up!
This man and his family have been through enough public scrutiny...
*****
VOTE April 7th! Let's break the 5-2 segregation!

Seriously??? You people still support this guy? Obviously, you haven't seen the records then. Even his augmentation...really? Does anyone really buy those excuses? Before anyone else comments on this, I hope you educate yourself first. Most of you seem to have no clue. Talk to one of the "5" (as they're not so affectionately referred to on here) board members. I'm sure they'll be happy to share the info now that they finally can.

Did someone call me. I think the bad people are bashing others to get the heat off them. I don!t think Chief made remarks about people because he told Metzner to shut up calling me N.Lover.This was long before I knew him.Oh well spell my name backwards. C,C what the heck going on? Kid got hit on bike. It just p.p. him off. Just waiting.We don!t have cops to watch. Heck you don!t even have to have D.L. to drive in this town now.County came and moved some trash cans off 14 yesterday. I!m glad it was not something bad took them 20 min to get here. They are real busy they don!t have time to babysit this town.

bigmama This article has nothing to do with the election. Could you write in complete sentences so one can understand the points you are making. Have you changed your user name. You use an ! instead of an ' like Blacktaz did.

"The e-mails went between the two computers from June to November of 2006, although it is unclear how long the relationship lasted, Williams said."
When was Maltese hired & Metzner elected?

Maybe the reason the chief put the cameras up in the first place was he knew someone was using his computer trying to set him up??? Little Mikey was right in the middle of the chief of Orfordville getting fired. Not sure who you spoke to, but they were dead wrong.

I have some news for you...look into the real reasons Chief Terri Morris was fired...it has nothing to do with Maltese. Chief Morris had a lot of things he liked to do while on the clock...like work the family gas station...check it out before you make judgment. I would take any of the existing board members over Metzner any day...I agree he does not belong in office but he did not have the computer...THE LAW FIRM HAD IT...AND THEY HIRED THE IT GUY NOT THE VILLAGE. If you honestly think that 4 other Board members would stand by and let Metzner push Devoy out over a vendetta alone you are sorrily mistaken. We have some good trustees up on the dais and they deserve more than that from the people. And before you go blabbing off about the Sheriff's Department costing more than our own PD look into it...Time management can be done to lower our costs more effectively than it has been done in the past.

They had the guy's computer for 3 months. They had motive to want him out (Barney).
He's already done this to at least one chief in the past to advance his own self to become chief.
Duh.
ResponsibleCitizen probably thinks Metzner walks on water too, when in fact he and the 'acting chief' are birds of a crooked feather....

p.s. -- on top of it all he didn't have enough time to commit to a full work day on top of it all.

after reading that...do you think that Ann Marie Ames was "Bought & Sold" too? I think that she has done a fine job at reporting this storyline that has continued for long enough in Darien. It is my opinion that the man you so whole-hearted embrace as your savior is nothing more than a Philandering Racist Bigot. Try that one on for size. oh yeah...

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

http://gazettextra.com/news/2009/apr/04/...

zeemax I have not seen the evidence the village has that supported the firing of the chief have you? I don't know if the board members are in possession of the documents. I do know the judge ordered them to be released yesterday. I am not saying he's guilty or not guilty. I don't believe he did nothing wrong and got fired. How is it that you feel the village president got him fired when four other board members decided to fire him? Are you trying to say that all of them are crooked as well? Just because someone has had a career for 24 years without a problem does not mean nothing was done wrong, it could be he just wasn't caught. How many times have you and even myself have been speeding and never got caught? I bet almost every time you drive does it make it o.k.? I would think that after 24 years the chief should have known he needed a warrant to install the cameras.

Responsible - doesn't the "sheer quantity of it all" represent 24 YEARS of service without incident by DeVoy?

I want to know where you got your info, as you clearly are a supporter of the underhanded and crooked government in this village, since YOU got a copy of documents that Village Board Members did NOT! (I know first-hand this is a FACT), so this is clearly a conspiracy, and GOOD OLD BOY politics.

So who supplied you with the false info? Come on, TELL us!

And what is your so-important info?

I hope the Sheriffs will take note, and investigate your illegal knowledge next.

Responsesiblecitizen: Or should I call you Josh, did you also get the augmented response that DeVoy supplied? His response was that that all the emails in question were not generated by him and in some cases he was not even at work the days they allege he opened and viewed the emails in question. It appears that you are too quick to pass judgment. Furthermore he augmented that an employee was caught viewing and or using his computer without his knowledge. As far as a threat to an employee, let’s see what you’ve got! I hope to hell you’ve got your facts straight or DeVoy sues you and the Kaufenbergs for defamation!

I cannot believe this "Witch Hunt" going on in this town!

I think that the board should get ALL village employee's e-mails off the server and see how many and what other employees have been sending and receiving!

ResponsibleCitizen, if you got a 'packet' when board members did not, you better seek an attourney or question who gave you that.

Seems you got sucked into something you don't even realize that could cost you dearly...

And your broadcast of the contents will require you to name who you got that from unless you want to go to jail. IMHO

UNlevelheaded the police chief was here for 24 years. Good guy, no problems. Not ONE.
Then you got a weirdo village president who claims he's been the police chief for the last 20 years and is investigated for impersonating an officer. He is suing the village he WORKS for.
Yup, the police chief has been fired, But he's STILL being paid - because he was WRONGFULLY fired.
I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes local politicians are crooked and only in pursuit of their own personal gain.
Maybe you should do some investigating of your own before YOU make comments.

I meant my last comment to read "I guess they should rename" not "remain" as previously stated.
Also, you should know what you are talking about before you make comments.

I guess they should remain Darien from the Village of Darien to the Village of Idiots. It seems as though only the people who have absolutely no idea of what they are talking about are making comments on this blog day and night. Would the board vote in a majority to fire the chief if there wasn't a good reason to do so. Officials like police officers are held to a higher standard and should be dismissed if there is just cause to do so. I believe using the government owned property for inappropriate reasons and not doing the work they are paid to do is just cause.
Responsible it seems as if you are leveled headed as well from your past comments.
Turboguy you seem to not know what you are talking about.

you will be eating crow soon enough

I suppose the Gazette would be able to identify anyone of us here.

Responsible - you said "I will not put on my computer?" PUT UP OR SHUT UP!
You must be in possession of illegally shared info, dude. The board member I spoke to has NO such info, contrary to YOUR source. You've been sold up the river!
Why don't you SPILL who shared stuff with you - or SHARE what they gave you?
.
NO board members got the info you have!
.
I think you should be investigated because of the crooked person who shared that info with you. (It was NOT a Board Member)
Are you so righteous now? How about you get dragged into court and sued? You are now a person of interest because you know what NO other Board Members know!

VIOLATION!

GEE responsible ....that wasn't very nice. My feelings have been hurt.

Thank God,this will allmost be over on the 7th of April when the voters toss the bums out.

i will not put on my computer what I saw on paper this evening...ask a board member or get your own copy...I am sure that the Gazette will have some interesting articles to follow.

GEE DID YOU THINK OF COPY AND PASTE...

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

I think anyone in a state or local government job, who uses their computers at work for personel use-SHOULD BE FIRED! What a waste of taxpayers money.

I thought so, Responsible. You are comfortable in somebody's back pocket and are blowing smoke. There IS no information publicized as yet, other than what you have in your own mind - and the Gazette sees it's untrue so they removed your hysterical claims.

ok---what did responsible say. it was removed.

(This comment was removed by the site staff.)

Responsible so what's so offensive? If it's public, then share it.

The packets were presented to all 7 board members when Hazelbaker's IT guy presented the findings to the board. Craig McCue and Allen Kenyon both received packets. And Judge Kennedy allowed all information to be released TODAY.

ResponsibleCitizen if you have viewed something from a board member, then that info has not been shared with all board members. I am in contact with one of them so that is a lie.
Apparently, the "5" received the "packet" and the "2" have AGAIN been left out of the loop. But WHY? Perhaps because they know better, that this is a smokescreen?
So what you got? Asking YOU!

ask a Board Member to see their packet then come back and tell me you support him.

That may be all well and good; however I have seen nothing, and have only heard about other stuff. Until I have seen anything it can only be alledged, or blown out of proportion.

I encourage anyone who still supports Steve Devoy to contact one of the Village Board Members including Craig McCue & Allen Kenyon. Ask to see the packet that they were provided with a "SAMPLE" of the evidence against Steve Devoy. A very concerned Village Board Member visited me and let me see the packet now that it is open information. I viewed some things that are Hateful, Offensive and Vulgar. I viewed an email that was sent by Steve that showed something construed as a life threat against another Village Employee. If you still want this person as our Police Chief a man who took an oath that was betrayed...ASK TO SEE A COPY OF THE PACKET THAT OUR VILLAGE BOARD MEMBERS RECEIVED. There are things that could be construed as "jokes" of "humorous"...However with the sheer quantity of it all I would like to know how he found time to do ANY Police work at all. There are emails that were forwarded to the Chief "inappropriate in nature" by people who are currently running for Board and by other officers...some that many respected "including myself". It is appalling in nature that anyone would want their representatives and our police protection doing such things with OUR TAX DOLLARS. For the record the first email that I read was enough for me to NEVER want this man as our Chief. God help us and Vote with a thought for the future.

CCAP is at:

http://wcca.wicourts.gov/index.xsl

According to CCAP, the Court ruled against Chief Devoy today. I expect there will be a new story posted sometime soon, and that a more detailed description will follow.

This is getting like the other shoe that never drops.