City of Belleville Police & Fire Committee met Nov. 14.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
Committee Chair Alderman Johnnie Anthony called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
Committee Members Present:
Johnnie Anthony Bryan Whitaker
Shelley Schaefer Carmen Duco
Dennis Weygandt Scott Ferguson
Kara Osthoff
Department Head/Staff:
Chief Matt Eiskant
Lt. Col. Mark Heffernan
Asst. Chief Rick Wangelin
Guest: Michael Hagberg
Excused: Mary Stiehl
Minutes:
Alderwoman Schaefer motioned to accept the minutes of the September 12, 2022, meeting as presented, second by Alderman Weygandt. All members present voted – Aye. Motion passed.
Public Comments:
Michael Hagberg asked if all Police Officers and vehicles were equipped with body cams or dash cams and if so, do they have GPS to be able to locate the officers or cars.
Staff Report:
Police Department:
Body Cams: Chief Eiskant began by stating that all officers are now equipped with body cams. The mandated date is 2025; Belleville chose to initiate the program earlier. The software that is being used is Omnigo and it also supports a Records Management System. As with all new equipment, things must be tweaked to best match the department needs. Lt. Col. Heffernan stated a committee of officers has been formed to work through these issues.
Hiring: The current budget supports 72 officers. The Department has established a hiring list of 16 applicants. Officer Beth Ferry has recently retired, and they will be hiring Jarae Weatherby as her replacement. Chief Eiskant would like to increase the Police Department to 82 officers during the next budget period. With that number, specialized patrols could be formed to target areas of concern. It takes 8 ½ months of training for a new hire, a lateral hire takes about 3 1/2 months. Chief Eiskant has applied for a grant to hire more officers as well.
Festivals: Chief Eiskant stated that Mayor Gregory had formed a committee to help solve the issues that have been occurring at downtown festivals; their first meeting will be in November. He continued by stating the Police Department wants an earlier closing time of 9:00 p.m. He stated how everyone loves the downtown festivals and that the Police Department only wants to preserve these events.
Fire Department:
Interim Fire Chief Wangelin ran through several items happening in the Fire Department. Interim Fire Chief Wangelin presented to the committee the option to purchase the 2000 E-One Pumper.
Alderwoman Schaefer made the motion second by Alderman Ferguson to purchase the 2000 E-One customer pumper that is currently on lease from Banner Fire Equipment for a purchase price of $30,000.00.
Members voting aye on roll call: Whitaker, Ferguson, Schaefer, Weygandt, Duco, Anthony, Osthoff. (7) Motion passed.
Interim Fire Chief Wangelin mentioned that the new 2022 E-One Pumper is ahead of schedule being built and that delivery will be in December. This pumper will be placed in service at Station 3.
New Business:
Alderwoman Osthoff asked if the committee had ever considered Red Light cameras. She has done some research stating that the City of Chicago, between the years 2008-2018, collected one billion dollars in revenue from Red Light cameras. Each camera would cost between $40-$50,000 and she would like to see them at the intersections that have the most problems like West Main and North Belt West. Chairman Anthony stated that cameras had been discussed previously, however, the legal issues prevented the committee from going forward. Police Chief Eiskant added that there are a lot of variables with these cameras; you must be able to identify the driver and that the company that they are purchased from receives a percentage of the fines collected. He feels this would be something that would need to be presented to the citizens.
Old Business:
Alderwoman Schaefer asked if the Fire Department had gotten anywhere with the Lift Assist. Interim Fire Chief Wangelin stated no.
Adjournment:
Alderwoman Schaefer made a motion second by Alderman Ferguson to adjourn the meeting at 6:54 p.m.
All members present voted - Aye. Motion passed.
https://www.belleville.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_11142022-2890
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