Collinsville PD to get new hardware for patrol cars
By Devese “Dee” Ursery
Collinsville city council members during the June 13 meeting approved new mobile data terminals for the police fleet.
An ordinance was approved allowing Mayor Jeff Stehman to enter a contract with Midwest Public Safety, LLC for the acquisition of Mobile Data Terminals, vehicle docks and associated hardware.
Director of IT Sean Seckler said the IT department has been trying to keep the devices on a five-year replacement schedule in order to avoid service issues that could impact officers in the field.
“Most of the police department’s Mobile Data Terminals are at or near the end of their service life of five years,” Seckler said. “These devices live in cars and experience high heat, so we’re trying to keep their replacement schedule a little bit more frequent than some of our other devices.”
The total cost of the project is $40,000 and includes 11 MDTs, vehicle docks, and associated hardware for installation for emergency response vehicles. This purchase was part of the city’s Capital Improvement Plan, according to official reports.
Seckler said there were substantial price increases from the manufacturer when they received the budgetary numbers in November of 2022.
“We factored in a pretty good percentage increase, but it exceeded what we thought it would go to,” Seckler said. “We’re still within that five-percent margin, so we shouldn’t have to go back for re-approval.”
Another ordinance that was approved authorized an agreement for the emergency removal and replacement of filter media at the wastewater treatment plant. The ordinance allows for necessary repairs of wastewater filter No. 4 with All Service Contracting Corporation in the amount of $104,751.
William “Billy” Jones, utility superintendent stated the wastewater plant has a tertiary filter and it is made of rock, sand and coal. This method filters out the effluent water so that the wastewater plant can meet their permit requirements. Filter No.4 has an internal failure beneath the media that requires the media to be removed to identify and repair the problem, according to official reports.
“Due to the uncertainty of the extent of the needed repairs, the actual repairs will be completed on time and material basis by the ASCC,” Jones stated.
Jones listed total suspended solids, biochemical oxygen demand and phosphorus in the wastewater effluent as some of the parameters controlled by the permit.
“Without the effective use of the filter it could cause us to violate the permit and we would run into issues with the Environmental Protection Agency,” Jones said.
All Service Contracting Corporation is a company that specializes in filter media replacement and filter repair. The city has utilized the services of ASCC on numerous occasions over the past two decades at the water and wastewater plants. The ASCC replaced the media in filters one and two at the wastewater plant in 2011 for $110,000.
Jones said the outside diameter of the filter is about 10 feet by 35 feet long. So it’s 350-square-feet of surface area with different levels of media.
“It’s needed to filter out the final effluent water going out of the wastewater plant to meet our permit regulations,” Jones said. “We have three other filters, each one of those are designed to handle 2.5 million gallons a day.”
Another ordinance was approved to award the bid and allow a contract with Charles E. Mahoney Company for work related to the 2023 Street Resurfacing Program in the amount of $819,172.
According to city documents, the project includes milling and overlaying of St. Clair Avenue, Ostle Drive, East Johnson Street and the northbound lane of South Combs Avenue. The resurfacing project will reconstruct the southbound lane of South Combs Avenue and change Watt Street from an oil and chip street to an asphalt pavement street.
The project calls for the removal or construction of curbs, gutters, sidewalk and driveway approaches as needed throughout all streets included in the resurfacing program. The streets included in this project were based on a condition assessment done after the cold winter months. Approximately 50 percent of the project cost is for concrete work that needs to be completed in conjunction with the mill and overlay.
Mayor Stehman will sign a one-year agreement between Collinsville and the Great River and Route Tourism Bureau for the promotion of tourism for Collinsvile. The length of the contract is from May 1 to April 30, 2024, with the total amount $150,000 being divided into four quarterly payments of $37,500.
According to documents, the partnership between Collinsville and GRRTB has been advantageous to the City by combining tourism efforts – including restaurants, hospitality, hotels and sports tourism.
In the consent agenda, motions were approved to pay bills for the period ending June 2, in the amount of over $2.2 million. Over $1.7 million was approved for payroll for the month ending May 26.
During the meeting two senior advisors from the International City Managers Association led a refresher discussion about the council-manager form of government. Steve Carter and John Phillips explain the role of the mayor, city manager and council members as well as the role of staff.
Interim City Manager Derek Jackson calls the ICMA “allies” and believes this is a good opportunity and time to have a refresher discussion on the council-manager form of government.
Carter and Phillips explained the responsibilities of each local city government official and staff. They said the council-manager is the most popular among the other forms of city government, like council-manager and commission.
Phillips said the council-manager form of government started in the 1920s, when a lot of communities went in that direction because of corruption. He said there was an interest for a more ethical approach to giving important services to citizens – something transparent, effective and accountable.
Phillips said the council-manager form of government follows along the lines of a corporate structure.
“No matter what the form of government every community needs and strives for good political leadership,” Phillips said. “Elected officials who are devoted to the best interest of their community and their citizens as well as effective policy development.”
