Kankakee Times

City of Watseka Public Safety Committee met Oct. 14.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

PRESENT: Aldermen Muench, Garfield, Miller, Petersen, Pence, Brault, Alderwoman Rohlfs and Mayor Marcier

ABSENT: Alderman Garfield

GUESTS: Eric Raymond with ICOM. Fire Chief Ken Baier, Police Chief Eric Starkey

Alderman Muench opened the meeting at 7:01 pm. Eric Raymond with ICOM spoke first regarding the county’s budget for 911. Mr. Raymond explained to the committee where the money comes from to run the 911 dispatch center. He stated the Telecommunicators union contract is up soon, and his budget reflects a 3% increase for those employees. Mr. Raymond was going to ask the city to pay $222,000, but after talking to the county board they backed the city’s portion off to $162,500 and the additional will come from the public safety tax. Mr. Raymond went on to say he is short-staffed and because of that a lot of overtime is being had. This will all be discussed again at a later date.

Fire Chief Ken Baier stated his department had 8 fires, 5 first responder calls, 34 ambulance calls, 4 MVA’s calls, 1 automatic alarm call, and 17 other miscellaneous calls for the month of September. Training for September consisted of company operation 1410 drills, wind mill training, combine operations with corn heads at Hogan Walker, and multiple company operations at the training cans. Lt. Sandeno has finished this 40-hour water operation class. The department had their annual flow testing completed. And the department is busy going to schools and daycare to talk about fire prevention. Chief Baier stated there is someone interested in the old rescue truck that is at the impound lot, and he has gotten an offer of $2500.00. This person will come and tow it at his own expense. This piece of equipment was already listed as surplus several months ago. The committee is ok with selling it. Chief stated his department finished the ISO inspection last week and they are working on some documentation to be sent in, so it’s still a work in progress but he is hoping for a rate of 3 maybe 2. He stated the lower the number the better insurance rated for the residents.

Police Chief Eric Starkey stated his department had 401 calls for the month of September with 52 of those being traffic stops. The new squad has been ordered with a delivery date

expected in 2026. The department will trade in the Auxiliary vehicle and squad 1. Chief Starkey stated the department will be doing critical incident training in December at the high school. Lt. Marcott was at the meeting and put on a short taser presentation.

Alderman Brault makes a motion to adjourn at 7:45 pm and Alderwoman Rohlfs seconded. Roll call carried 8-0.

https://www.watsekacity.org/media/4556