Glen Carbon Board Approves Option to Encourage Police Officer Transfers
by Kathy Turner
Police officers in downstate Illinois often are part of the National Public Pension Fund Association (NPPFA) 401(a) retirement program. As such, departments such as Glen Carbon, which was previously not associated with the program, provided little incentive to lateral transfer officers when seeking replacement personnel as they could not rollover their retirement funds from other municipalities.
Lateral transfers, of course, benefit the hiring department in several ways. Most importantly, they do not require training for the officers who are already working as police officers, and they provide the opportunity to immediately enter the hiring force’s rotation. Their experience greatly benefits the department as well.
For those reasons, the Village of Glen Carbon on Tuesday, Feb. 11 approved a resolution incorporating the NPPFA pension solution into the Glen Carbon Police force offerings. Retroactive to Jan. 5 of 2025, the new plan will allow officers making a lateral transfer to continue with their existing retirement plan.
With the new plan, employer contributions will be equal to 7.5% of the officer’s base salary each pay period of the year. There is no required employee contribution. It also allows for immediate vesting and allows for contributions to be withdrawn at normal retirement age or beyond, which is 50 years of age for public safety employees, with no withdrawal penalties.
In other business, the Glen Carbon board approved two contracts with TWM for the engineering services on two major street projects this year. They include the main street storm sewer replacement project at a cost of $197,800 and the Forest Ridge Court reconstruction at a cost of $98,300. Both are planned for the summer with the Main Street project to start after the homecoming.
The approval of a joint funding agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation will move Phase 1 of the Shared Use Path project one step further. The project will be for the path from Schon Park to Lakewood Drive. The state will let bids for the project in March with anticipated work to start in early summer. Because a large portion of the project will be paid by federal grant, it is unknown if there may be delays if federal funding is delayed to the state.
The board also approved a resolution with Good Energy and an ordinance with Ampion PBC to include the Village in a cost-saving program for electrical services provided to the Village. The resolution includes Glen Carbon in a solar-sharing program that will reduce Village electrical costs by 10%. Good Energy and Ampion work together to manage the program for the Village.
Finally, the Board approved the painting of a new logo on Village water tower 1. Utility Services Company will include the logo in their painting job. It will be two colors – red and black – at a cost of $8,000.
The next meeting of the Board will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.
