Public Safety Chair Steve Kluethe introduces Ken Rearden of the Gillespie Police Department during Monday night’s regular meeting of the Gillespie City Council.

Members of the Gillespie City Council on Monday appointed a new police sergeant, hired a full-time police officer and reviewed the first bids relating to the police department’s new location on Pine Street. Also during the council’s regular meeting, members approved a three-year contract with the union representing the city’s Public Works Department employees.

Concurring with the recommendation of the Public Safety Committee, the council voted unanimously to appoint Gillespie Police Officer Ken Rearden to the position of police sergeant to serve as second in command for the Police Department. Committee Chair Steve Kluethe said Police Chief Jared DePoppe has been taking on the duties of the sergeant’s position since former Sgt. Jeremy Bradford resigned to accept a position with the Staunton Police Department about six months ago. DePoppe reportedly asked the committee to recommend the appointment of a replacement.

Rearden, a resident of Girard, joined the Gillespie Police Department as a part-time officer in April 2014, according to Kluethe, and was promoted to full-time status four months later.

Also acting on the recommendation of the Public Safety Committee, council members unanimously agreed to promote part-time Officer Thomas Miller of Carlinville to full-time status. Miller will fill a vacancy created at the end of December when Ryan Parker resigned to accept a position with the Alton Police Department. Miller joined the Carlinville Police Department in October 2014, where he completed his training, and joined the Gillespie Police Department in July 2015. His promotion presumably creates a vacancy in the city’s part-time police force, but there was no immediate discussion about the possibility of filling that vacancy.

PROGRESS OF NEW POLICE STATION

Council members agreed to give the Public Safety Committee power to review and act upon several bids opened Monday night for goods and services needed in connection with moving the Police Department from its current location on Walnut Street to a newly acquired building on Pine Street.

Two bids were received for supplying and installing a power generator at the new facility. Reid Services, Gillespie, offered a bid of $5,576 for a 16-kilowatt, natural gas powered generator. C.K. Power of O’Fallon provided a bid of $5,200 for a 20-kilowatt, natural gas generator. Kluethe said either generator would be adequate to power the building in the event of a power outage.

Carpani Consulting, Gillespie, provided the sole bid for installing seven security camera and computer systems for the new building. Kluethe said Carpani’s price of $4,570.50 should be less if the city uses existing cameras from the older facility as planned.

Thomas Miller, who was promoted to full-time status as a Gillespie Police Officer.

The city received two bids for moving and installing radio equipment, including the radio antenna tower. Whiteside Communications offered a bid of $9,600 for that work, while Datatronics, Godfrey, offered a bid of $11,297.45.

Also related to the Police Department, Kluethe reported that the Public Safety Committee currently is working on a proposal to use local resources to facilitate training opportunities for city officers. “We have a lot of people in the area who have police experience,” Kluethe noted. Additionally, he said the committee plans to propose changes in the application process, which will be presented to the council at a later date, to attract local applicants for police positions.

The council tabled action on the sale of a surplus police car, having received only one bid in the amount of $500. Mayor John Hicks said Ald. Gus Ottersburg, who was absent Monday night, had indicated the car is in operable condition and should be worth more.

PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACT

Following a 20-minute executive session to discuss collective bargaining and personnel, the council voted unanimously to approve a three-year contract with Laborers International of North America Local 338, the union representing the city’s Public Works employees. The contract calls for three annual wage hikes of three percent each over the course of the contract.

The council left open the issue of specific contract language regarding foremen, essentially agreeing to concur with the union’s position on that language in an addendum to the contract.

BATTING CAGE PROPOSAL

The council tabled action on converting one of two tennis courts for use as a batting cage, agreeing to consider the action after Ald. Barrett has had time to determine whether or not he can find a donor for the steel superstructure to hold netting for the cage. If a donor for the framework can be found, it the city will need to spend about $1,000 for the netting. Barrett said the cage would be in place during the spring and summer and would be taken down shortly after the start of the school year.

“We don’t have a lot of people who use the tennis courts,” Mayor Hicks commented, “but we do have some people who play quite a bit, even in the fall when its cooler. We don’t want to do away with them completely.”

BACKHOE PURCHASE

The council also deferred action on the purchase of a new backhoe to replace one currently in use by the Public Works Department until next month’s meeting. Ald. Jerry Dolliger said the Public Works Committee has one bid for replacing the equipment with a John Deere backhoe. Further research is needed to determine whether any other bidder can meet the specifications for the equipment.

In the meantime, Dolliger said the existing backhoe has become a hazard for workers. There have been instances when the bucket suddenly dropped to the street while the machine was in transit, and there have been times when the machine has started to move “on its own.” One worker recently was hit by the machine, although there were no injuries, Dolliger said. Since then, he has instructed workers to stay out of trenches while the backhoe is in use.

Anticipating the purchase of a replacement, he said the city will need to declare the old backhoe as surplus property and offer it for sale via a bidding process.

The Public Works Committee also reported it has secured pricing of about $400 to sandblast dump trucks in preparation for them to be repainted by city workers. City workers cannot do the sandblasting because of possible hazardous materials in the paint.

Dolliger also reported the committee may ask to promote a part-time worker to full-time status in the near future, primarily to deal with extra workloads, including nearly 22 hours per week needed to transport recyclables to the recycling center in Carlinville. The recycling job requires a worker with CDL certification and one of the part-timers currently has that certification.

Council members also agreed to allow city workers to perform snow removal duties for the Village of East Gillespie at a “fair price to be determined.” Dolliger said East Gillespie needs Gillespie to do the work after the retirement of it the village’s street commissioner. Dolliger said he expects city workers will have to commit no more than an hour to 90 minutes per snow event.

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING INSPECTIONS

City Building Inspector Bob Lancaster appeared before the council regarding what he identified as discrepancies or gray areas in the city’s ordinance on building inspections for rental residences. The ordinance, which was amended in November, requires annual inspections for residential rental properties where the landlord keeps the water service in his or her name, and inspections between tenants when tenants have water service in their names. Lancaster said the discrepancies occur in provisions of the ordinance regarding fees charged to property owners for the inspections.

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Ald. Janice Weidner said the issues have come up since the city sent letters to landlords advising them of the new provisions. One landlord apparently sought to have his property inspected at 11 months instead of 12 to meet the annual inspection requirement while taking advantage of a discount for having the property inspected twice within the same calendar year.

City Attorney Kevin Polo said some of the language was carried over from the previous ordinance and has been in place for at least 12 years. He agreed that new language may need to be written to clarify the city’s intent but he cautioned against trying to enact a “fix” during the meeting Monday night.

“There are a lot of moving parts here to consider on the run,” he said. “We could make it worse by trying to make quick changes here in five minutes.”

He recommended referring the issue to committee with the expectation of having a revised ordinance ready for action in February.

ILLINOIS COAL MUSEUM PROPERTY

Council members unanimously voted to adopt an ordinance declaring property associated with the proposed Illinois Coal Museum at Gillespie as surplus property and to transfer the property to the museum board. Late last year, the council voted to dissolve the Illinois Coal Museum Commission, which was organized under the auspices of the city, and create a museum board to administer the development and management of the museum.

Property transferred to the museum includes a banner, signage, photographs, apparel, presentation materials and the museum website.

In other action, the council accepted bids for supplying water plant chemicals for the coming year. For 2016, the city will pay $399 per ton for liquid alum, 31.09 cents per pound for chlorine, 17 cents per pound for lime, 36.9 cents per pound for flouride, $2.40 per pound for potassium permanate, 58 cents per pound for polymer, $1.25 and 91 cents per pound for two types of carbon, and 38 cents per pound for ammonium sulfate. Water Plant Operator Don Shuey said that except for chlorine the chemical prices are all down somewhat from the previous year.

The council also agreed to pay expenses for Shuey to attend an annual recertification conference in February in Effingham.

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