Galesburg Planet.com: The Monmouth City Council met in executive session to consider filling the position of Chief of Police then returned to the council chambers to vote 7–0 to employ William (Bill) Feithen for the position of Chief of Police at an annual salary of $75,000. In a press release following the council meeting city…
Tag: police department
Public Safety Costs & DeKalb’s Financial Health
In last Thursday’s post I shared some preliminary observations about the latest contract between the City of DeKalb and the firefighters’ union. Since then I’ve gotten a little feedback on it behind the scenes. The gist of the response is this: What’s the deal? Does yinn have something against well-compensated public employees? The short answer…
CCEC Disapproves of DeKalb’s New Police Cars
Citizens Community Enhancement Commission members are upset their logo was totally rejected as the new design for the police cars, so now they want a do-over: BUSINESS: 1. New Police Squads [Assistant City Manager Rudy] Espiritu distributed pictures of the new police cars. A survey was done with Police personnel, and the staff selected the…
The Vehicle Maintenance & Acquisition Fund That Isn’t
In “Council in the Twilight Zone,” I lauded 7th Ward Alderman Monica O’Leary for questioning this part of the July 11 meeting agenda: 2) APPROVAL OF A RECOMMENDATION TO AUTHORIZE THE POLICE DEPARTMENT TO PURCHASE TWO NEW SQUAD CARS THROUGH THE STATE PURCHASING PROGRAM. The Police Department was awarded a Grant through the Illinois Criminal…
Last in Line
As predicted in Sunday’s post, suddenly DEKALB’S FIRST RESPONDERS ARE #1 PRIORITY AND OMG WE MUST BUILD THE POLICE STATION RIGHT NOW, according to our city council. It offends me deeply, because the The NUMBER ONE PRIORITY statement is a BIG LIE. The people who really have made public safety the priority are the folks…
Special Meeting on Muni/Police Building & Financing
A special meeting Monday of the DeKalb City Council and the Financial Advisory Committee is set to examine two Municipal Building remodeling/building options with emphases on police station space needs and improved access for people with disabilities. The Good One of the options presented includes a proposal to sell off city property worth $2.2 million…
City Layoffs
Here is a comment that popped up in another post this afternoon: Well as of today start to look for your own way of provideing some city services. Twenty employees got laid off today, and 10 others were taking the early retirment package, and reportly 2 got terminated. So what does this mean no one…
City Budget: Mulling Over Police, Fire and More
In 2008, in the midst of a self-proclaimed fiscal crisis, City Council voted to allow the (former) Community Development Department to obtain a new SUV. This is symbolic, see? The Police and Fire departments have had to put off replacing vehicles and some equipment since then. The Police Department, in particular, is getting nickel-and-dimed on…
Renew Our Trash
Yes, that is a cat box. Sorry about that but the city started it by deciding that they think they know best on dictating how people take out their trash. Although called a “pilot” program at this point, as described in the Daily Chronicle article, my guess is the city will put this program in…
The First Step
One of the citizen commenters at the council meeting last night brought up the City of DeKalb’s Management Pay Plan. She was scandalized by the leap from Step 1 to Step 2. It is easy to see why. Grade One starting pay, for example, is $18.158 per hour but on the first anniversary it jumps…