Kankakee Times

City of Watseka Public Safety Committee met June 14.

Here are the minutes provided by the Committee:

PRESENT: Aldermen Barragree, Cahoe, Marcier, Garfield, Miller, Alderwoman Musk 

ABSENT: Mayor Allhands, Alderman Rushbrook, Alderwoman Ulfers 

GUESTS: Fire Chief Ken Baier, Police Chief Jeremy Douglas 

Alderman Barragree opened the meeting at 7:05 pm. There was no public comment.  Alderman Garfield reported the Auxiliary department meeting for the month was spent  preparing for the 4th of July Parade and they will also be working at the Watseka Family Festival  event that is being held on July 2nd in front of the Elks Club. Mark also stated the department  went to the shooting range to get familiar with the rifle. Mark also stated the department will be  getting new uniform shirts, as the current ones need to be updated.  

Fire Chief Ken Baier spoke next. He stated the department had 3 fires, 1 EMS assist, 4  automatic alarms, 1 CO Alarm, and 1 burnt food alarm. Training for May consisted of hand on  ventilation at the training cans, dry hydrant pumping with relaying pumping to tower, pumping  with 2932, fit testing with Scott Air packs demo, and airpack training under smoke and fire  conditions at training cans. Chief Baier stated he has completed his arson training and is now  certified through the office of the State Fire Marshall, Andrew Douglas and Hayden Peters are  now instruction 1 certified through the office of the State Fire Marshall- this was a 40-hour  course. Chief Baier also stated the new radios are in and in service and the vent saw was  received and it is also in service, and the new lockers are finished at station 1. Chief Baier  reported the cadet program is up and running, there were 27 kids that signed up and 7 of those  are coming to meetings. Shannon Woods and Zack Tobeck are 2 cadets that graduated from  high school and are now officially Watseka Firefighters. Chief Baier stated he just heard from  the State and the department will have an inspection done June 24th to become a 1st Responder, this is the last step in getting this done.  

Police Chief Jeremy Douglas stated his department had 373 calls for the month of May. He  stated the Charger is down with engine trouble and will cost about $5100 to get it repaired and  is should be back in about 1 week. Chief stated the department had their annual OSHA training  and there are a few officers that need to do this yet but Fire Chief Baier can do the training for  the ones that weren’t able to attend the first session. Chief also stated the department has  been working on getting all the officers qualified at the range and there are only 2 left and they  will be done yet this week. Chief Douglas reported he has ordered the ballistic shields. He  ordered 4 total, 2 are full size 24x51 and 2 shorter ones. He contacted Miner Charitable  Foundation to see if they would help with the purchase and he was told they are working on  some details behind the scenes and he should try back in a couple of months. Chief stated he is  working on having a round table discussion with the Sheriffs department to discuss active  shooter drills. Chief stated he has talked to Unit 9 and they are willing to let them use Nettie 

Davis School for this active shooter drill. Chief stated Sgt Stanley and Detective Marcott are  certified in active shooters and more officers will be getting certified soon.  Chief Douglas stated the Run for the Wall bike rally went well with no troubles and there will be  another bike rally called Gold Star that will be coming through the middle of July with about 75- 100 bikes. Chief stated due to new laws some of the Aldermen that had access to the police  department side have been deactivated due to those laws. If an employee needs access without  an officer present then they will need to be fingerprinted.  

Alderman Barragree makes a motion to adjourn at 7:17 pm and Alderman Garfield seconded.  Roll call carried 6-0. 

 http://www.watsekacity.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/public-safety-6-14-22.pdf