Kankakee Times

City of Watseka Public Safety Committee met Aug. 13.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

PRESENT: Aldermen Barragree, Cahoe, Marcier, Anderson, Miller, Muench, Alderwomen Rohlfs and DeLahr and Mayor Allhands

GUESTS: Auxiliary Officer Erik Buikema, Fireman Duane Brose, Police Chief Jeremy Douglas

Alderman Barragree opened the meeting at 6:30 pm. There was no public comment. Erik Buikema with the Auxiliary Department stated the meeting was held August 6th with all but one in attendance, they discussed the turnout of the 4th of July parade as well as the storm preparation, they also discussed the needs of the upcoming Family Festival. They set expectations and assigned officers according to the requests of the festival committee, and also started the generator on the boat. July 15th detail they prepared for a possible large storm approaching and arranged for 4 officers including Erik Buikema to be in the city for possible storm damage but there was none.

Fireman Duane Brose reported the fire department had 4 fires, 9 first responder calls, 31 ambulance calls, 4 MVA’s calls, 3 automatic alarms and 3 other miscellaneous calls for the month of July. Training for July was tower ladder operations, forceable entry, rapid intervention training, FSVO course and preplan/walk through with Sheldon Fire, and Lucas CRP device demo by a representative. Equipment repairs: 2991 basket cylinder and out rigger cylinder repaired and the bay doors at fire station 1 are being installed. The department was in the 4th of July parade and helped with the fireworks. They were also at the Iroquois County Fair and helped with an extrication demonstration and they have installed 2 smoke detectors.

Police Jeremy Douglas stated his department had 445 calls for the month of July which was 100 more than June. Chief stated he has 2 squads that are 7 years old and have 100,000 miles on the, he stated he has talked to Dralle’s about ordering, and he could order but would not be obliged to purchase a vehicle that would come in April 2025. The committee is ok with this. Chief then talked about the traffic enforcement detail they held: 30 stops were made, and 1 warrant arrest happened and one for marijuana. The department also had a large drug arrest on Brown St. that had a 10-year child in the house. The department

also assisted in find a missing juvenile by using the flock cameras. Office Corriveau spent 1 ½ days looking at footage from those cameras to find the vehicle and they were able to locate the vehicle and the juvenile. Chief then discussed a tent city that is happening at a residence on W Hickory St. He would like to talk to Attorney Cainkar about getting an ordinance in place for these. The committee is ok with this. Chief stated a tabletop meeting was held with EMA in reference to an active shooter drill. There was some discussion about the foot patrols the department is doing. Chief stated when those are done, they are calling into ICOM and getting them on record.

Alderman Barragree makes a motion to adjourn at 6:49 and Alderman Marcier seconded. Roll call carried 9-0.

https://www.watsekacity.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/public-safety-8-13-24.pdf