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Chester City Council approves budget, residency expansion

Posted July 07, 2015 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler The Herald Tribune

CHESTER -- With little discussion, the Chester City Council approved new residency boundaries for part-time dispatchers and full-time officers at the city's police department during its meeting on Monday.

In a pair of unanimous decisions, the council passed an ordinance expanding the residency of dispatchers to the Randolph County border and approved expansion of residency for full-time officers to the Chester District 139 school district.

Both topics had been previously discussed during meetings of the Chester Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee. Residence for full-time officers was previously established as within a four-mile radius of Chester City Hall.

"The idea behind changing residency is to give us a little more leniency when recruiting or filling positions," Coffey said during the meeting.

In a Wednesday news release regarding the residency change, Coffey said that on the standpoint of recruitment, he feels his department is missing out on "a number of excellent area people."

"I feel that our local interest could improve, and so I am looking at options that might generate more interest from the immediate area," Coffey said in the release. "I am confident that there are plenty of high quality potential police officers and telecommunicators in this area."

In the release, Coffey said he does not feel that the change will adversely affect department operations.

"We've looked at emergency response and how this change might impact our daily operations and we have concluded that operations will not be affected.," Coffey said.

The residency topic wasn't the only significant item on the agenda, as the council also approved the city's proposed fiscal year 2016 budget. The $12.7 million budget has $20.1 million in appropriations (setting money aside for a specific purpose), including $1.1 million in motor fuel tax funds for the engineering services of several road projects.

One of those projects is the proposed turn lane at the intersection of Opdyke and State streets. The council took the next step in that process during the meeting by approving turning over a 0.58 acre, pie-shaped section of Opdyke Street to the Illinois Department of Transportation for use for the project.

The council later approved appropriating $12,500 of motor fuel tax funds to the oil and chip program for a project to oil and chip High Street and Maple Lane for the cost of $11,833.70.

The council also approved an estimate from American Asphalt Sealing to sealcoat Prairie Lane for $3,003 and High Street from German Street to Knapp Avenue for $2,011.

The prices include a double seal and a double coat, opposed to a single coat.

Roundup

The council approved a recreation agreement between the City of Chester and City of Perryville that will see Chester residents pay resident rates at the Perry Park Center.

The council approved TIF accounting for Quality Vending and Distribution, Inc. The agreement between the city and the company states Quality Vending and Distribution will be reimbursed $1,768.04 (75 percent) in TIF property tax funds from $2,357.38 that was received by the city.

The $1,768.04 reimbursement will be credited toward Quality Vending and Distribution project cost of $123,837.45.

An agenda item relating to the replacement of filter valves at the Chester Water Treatment Plant was removed as Plant Superintendent Tim Crow was able to make adjustments to avoid the $20,000 purchase.

The council set a hearing date of July 20 at 6:30 p.m. for an appropriation ordinance.

Finally, the council decided to neither make available to the public nor destroy previous executive session and closed session records.

Committee Reports

The council approved the payment of $73,216.08 to Red Dot Construction and Equipment Rental for emergency gas main repair near Kaskaskia River and Modoc.

The council approved a $8,014.80 change order for the water line project from Route 3 south to the water tower at Chester Grade School.

The council approved a $69,467.57 payment to Haier Plumbing and Heating, Inc. for the water line project.

The council approved a $7,301.25 invoice from J.T. Blankinship, Inc. for the water line project.

Department Heads

Police Department

Chester Police Chief Ryan Coffey reported to the council on a prescription drug disposal program officers participated in at the Chester Senior Center on June 18.

Coffey also reported he has reserved two spots in a leadership training seminar in the fall for the department's to-be-determined sergeants.

Fire Department

Chester Fire Chief Marty Bert reported his department had six calls for service in June and have had 55 for the year thus far.

Bert also reported he had been receiving pages with no voice. He stated that the paging equipment was taken out and reprogrammed and that fixed the issue.

Other

The council approved raffle licenses for the Knights of Columbus and Chester Country Club. Mayor Tom Page wished to publicly thank Alderman Mike Blechle for representing him at the recent Kaskaskia Patriotic Ceremony.

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