City of Belleville Police & Fire Committee met April 10
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
Dennis Weygandt
Carmen Duco
Kara Osthoff
Mary Stiehl
Department Head/Staff:
Treasurer Sarah Biermann
City Clerk Jenny Gain Meyer
Police Chief Matt Eiskant
Fire Chief Lloyd Stinson
Excused:
Scott Ferguson
Guest:
Michael Hagberg
Minutes:
Alderman Weygandt motioned to accept the minutes of the March 13, 2023, meeting as presented, second by Alderwoman Schaefer. All members present voted – Aye. Motion passed.
Public Comments:
None
Staff Report:
Police Department:
Police Chief Eiskant:
1) Staffing/Academy: Two individuals are in the Police Academy now, they will be graduating April 28, 2023. They will then start out on the Field Training which is about three to three and one-half months long. We are looking to hire two more for the next academy which is May 2, 2023 that will put our numbers up to seventy-five officers. We are budgeted for seventy-four right now and we do have some retirements and possibly a resignation coming down, that will drop our numbers back a little bit. We have three more left on the list, we will need to do background checks on them. We will get them into the next academy unless they don’t make it then we will start a new list and test again. For the next budget we are asking for seventy-eight officers.
2) Crime Statistics: These are the numbers we report to the FBI each year, the statistics for the first three months of this year compared to the first three months of last year, January, February, and March. Our crimes against persons are down 24%, burglaries are down 34%, and crimes against society were down 31%. Every category of crimes were down at least 24% in each category.
Fire Department:
Fire Chief Stinson:
1) Monthly Fire Update: Calls were up due to the storms that came through and took down power lines. We are pretty much trendy with the previous year a little bit up, but nothing too crazy. All our ladder trucks are out of service, we have the three Ladder 99 is being refurbed up at Banner, Ladder 49 the L-Brackets which hold the hydraulic lines so that when the ladder extends out or in are sheared and busted off. The Truck is still out and around but the ladder is not being used. Ladder 29 the bearings on the end of the monitor on the end of the thick are all jammed up, so we get up and down, but not right or left. This truck is looking at a refurb from Banner as well. We do have Mutual Aid on standby, they do know about our situation so if we need them, they all said they can help, but they also know that we cannot help them.
Staffing, we have a recruit that will graduate from the Fire Academy on Friday. I went up last Friday to see night burns and I will say that is pretty intense training.
Following up on Illinois American Water, I have an appointment tomorrow to get that information on when they test our hydrants and what our flow rates are.
Opticom, we have order four, we are waiting for those to come in. And the radio for Truck 31 just came in this morning so we are waiting to get that installed.
Alderwoman Schaefer made a motion second by Alderman Weygandt to go into Executive session to discuss the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees (5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1)).
All members voted aye.
New Business:
Old Business:
None.
Adjournment:
Alderman Whitaker made a motion second by Alderman Weygandt to adjourn the meeting at 6:33 p.m.
All members present voted - Aye. Motion passed.
https://www.belleville.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_04102023-2982
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