City of Watseka Public Safety Committee met Jan. 13.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
PRESENT: Aldermen Muench, Garfield, Dewitt, Miller, Pence, Petersen, Brault, Alderwoman Rohlfs and Mayor Marcier
GUESTS: Fire Chief Ken Baier, Nita Dubble with the Fire & Police Commission and Deputy Police Chief Mark Harris
Alderman Muench opened the meeting at 6:30 pm. There was no public comment. Fire Chief Ken Baier stated his department had 2 first responder calls, 28 ambulance calls, 4 MVA’s calls, 3 automatic alarm calls, and 3 miscellaneous calls for the month of December. Training for December consisted of ice rescue suite review, and SCBA maze. Tom Sandeno has completed his incident safety officer 40-hour course and a 120-hour course for fire investigator. The department once again participated in keeping the wreath red for the holidays, meaning if they didn’t have any fire they didn’t need to change the bulbs. The department also gave the coloring contest winners a ride in the fire truck to school. Chief Baier then discussed his year end report by saying that they had a 40-call increase from 2024 to 2025 and the response time was 1 minute better. EMS department had 50 more calls than the previous year, but this year was a whole year.
Nita Dubble with the Fire and Police Commission stated the commission had 10 applications, 7 are first time officers and 3 are lateral. There will be a power test on Wednesday and after that the written test will be held here at city hall for 4 of the applicants. February 2nd interviews will be held here at city hall, and after that a list will be made.
Deputy Chief Mark Harris stated the police department had 197 calls for service, 11 stops and 4 arrests. The new squad is here and is getting striped, the other 2 squads are getting the equipment removed and will be given to Ford. The city received $14,000 for trade ins. The K9 squad is needing a new transmission, but it has 95,000 miles on it and it will cost $6500 for the new transmission. Deputy Chief Harris stated in March he will need to be recertified as a state K9 handler. If the city purchased a new squad for the K9 a new portable kennel will also need to be purchased. Tucker has not been at work since the squad went down. Deputy Chief Harris also stated there will probably be another officer
leaving in February. There will also be some training coming up for some officers in March and April. Deputy Chief Harris stated he has graduated with an associates degree. There was some discussion about purchasing another vehicle but staffing needs to be filled also.
Alderman Miller makes a motion to adjourn at 6:53 pm and Alderman Brault seconded. Roll call carried 9-0.
https://www.watsekacity.org/media/4781
