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MANTENO – Nothing has been planned or close to becoming a reality, but the talk of a possible police gun range in Manteno spurred debate at Monday’s village board meeting.
Residents, who learned that an outdoor police gun range was discussed at a recent public safety committee meeting, spoke during the public participation portion of the board meeting.
Greg Olejarz, of Manteno, lives adjacent to the Manteno Public Works building on North Maple Street, and he voiced opposition to the police gun range being built at the site.
“We didn’t move next to a police range,” he said. “... It’s in our backyard. There has to be a better place than our backyard.”
Olejarz was also upset that no one from the village notified him of the possibility of a gun range being built.
“Where’s the miscommunication?” he asked. “Where’s the disconnect? That is something that is 100% negatively affecting that neighborhood, and not one person had made the effort [to notify me]. ‘We’re thinking about this firing range. We’d like to get the residents [input].' Not one person.”
Linda Jansma lives in Sunny Acres mobile home park near Legacy Park and the proposed gun range site.
“As a licensed gun owner myself, I’m all for range, for our officers, for gun safety and training, just not in that location,” she said. “... Myself and other residents do not feel that this location for a range is safe or fair to us. It is very close to residential homes and one of our largest parks in town, where children and families come from all over to enjoy time outside.”
Village Administrator Chris LaRocque said the police gun range is just in the discussion stage. The village learned it was going to have some leftover dirt from digging out the pond at Legacy Park for a fishing facility.
It was suggested that the dirt could be taken to the Public Works facility.
“It kind of came up that if we’re going to do that, maybe would could build berms,” LaRocque said.
Police Chief Alan Swinford suggested it would be nice to have a firing range in Manteno so his officers don’t have to drive to Bradley, Kankakee or Peotone to do their mandatory gun certification training.
Currently, Manteno police officers are paid overtime to travel to do their training while on duty.
Manteno has been without a police gun range for several years after the old site at the sewer facility which was sold to Aqua Illinois.
LaRocque said there are no formal plans drawn up for a police gun range. The closest residential property is 160 yards from the potential gun range.
“They’ve kind of looked at various things, they’ve done some dimensions,” he said. “Our engineers kind of looked at it, but there’s nothing definitive yet. Nobody has put together a cost of it. They’re exploring the idea.”
Any further discussion would likely be at the next public safety meeting at 7 a.m. on March 12.
“We are doing it at the recommendation of the chief for the improvement of the department training,” Mayor Tim Nugent said. “He was the one that brought it up to us. We’ve got the property. He thought it was a good idea, and we’ll be able to use all the dirt we’re taking from the pond project. It was an opportune time.”
Swinford said the department has 22 police officers, and they have to do gun certification quarterly. All the training would be done by the officers at the same time four times each year.
“Everybody comes the same day because we’ve got our instructors there,” he said. “Typically, it would be four or five times a year.”
Swinford said the noise would be minimal.
“I think with the 50-foot berms and shooting in an easterly direction, I don’t think they would hear much,” he said. “I guarantee it, I don’t think Legacy [Park] would hear anything. The wind would have something to do with it but with the Interstate-[57] noise out there, you could barely hear it.”