The installation of three electric car chargers downtown was discussed at Monday’s Macomb City Council Committee of the Whole meeting.
The low bidder was AMP of Galesburg at $23,485. The second bidder was Cox Electric of Macomb at $44,800. City Administrator Scott Coker recommended that the vehicle chargers be located at the A.L. Kuper city parking lot at the corner of West Jackson and Madison streets, the city lot at East Jackson and Calhoun streets behind Gelsosomo’s Pizza and the City Center bus drop-off across from the Carper Amtrak Station.
In other business, city department heads gave their quarterly reports for November through January. City Attorney Lisa Scalf collected $20,742 fees and fines during the period. She said she has filed $7,703 in liens for those owing delinquent water bills, and $2.885 in liens for those owing delinquent fines for unmown grass. Scalf said Macomb’s number one offense is careless driving and the next highest is minors in taverns. She said that she processed 182 Freedom of Information Act requests, 155 for the police department.
“They continue to rise,” she said, “and are very time-consuming.”
Marketing and Downtown Development Director Savannah Ballard reported that the downtown occupancy rate remains at 90 percent, with seven buildings for sale or rent. She said the five-year investment in the downtown now totals $688,047. Ballard said 957 new events were added to the communitywide calendar during the quarter with 16,000 visits. She said there were 222,159 quarterly views of the Downtown Facebook Page.
Macomb Grant Supervisor Jessica Biddenstadt said 21 grants totalling $4,230,308 were awarded to the city during the quarter and 12 grants have been implemented. She said another $$367,000 in grants were applied for and she has applied for five more next quarter with another four grant applications being developed.
Interim Police Chief Todd Tedrow said his department spent $10,000 in December to take 100 children on the Annual Shop With a Cop outing. Officer Eli Gerard graduated from the police institute Dec. 18, and the department has three officers in training, and one detective vacancy. Tedrow said there were 3,752 calls for service during the quarter with 584 arrests and 213 traffic citations, 41 vehicle impoundments and $22,050 in fees collected.
The chief said 225 hours of bodycam video was reviewed during the quarter, and laser lights were deployed eight times from taser units and that taser darts were deployed from one unit to stop a person who was resisting arrest. Tedrow said a shot was fired on Dec. 3 from a stolen gun into an apartment above but no injuries occurred.There were 26 mental health calls during the quarter and 11 suicidal subjects. K9 Jax was deployed five times and made four arrests.
Macomb Fire Chief Dan Meyer reported 571 calls for service during the quarter, including 81 emergency medical services calls. In 2025, there were 71 fires, one explosion and 3,115 calls for emergency medical services. Meyer said he has one vacancy as a five-year firefighter has resigned to join the Galesburg Fire Department. He said there have been 38 smoke alarms installed, 105 building inspections and 1,309 hours of firefighter training during the recent quarter.
Public Works Director Alice Ohrtmann said street crews completed 661 hours of snow removal. The second round of testing for lead content in sewer lines has been completed.
