COLCHESTER – During a recent session of the Committee of the Whole meeting, city officials decided to repurpose an older white Ford Explorer Police Cruiser as a general purpose city vehicle to be used by city employees.
The repurposing of an older police vehicle was brought up by city employee Justin Weber prior to the recent meeting to Mayor Mark Clark, who said the car is in good running condition and that insuring the older vehicle is not likely to cost very much, perhaps $175 or much less. The Colchester Police Department is already going to have two vehicles, a brand-new truck and a cruiser, the Police could use the older vehicle to travel to training without using an actual cruiser.
Discussion on what to do with the older police cruiser centered on the possibility of putting it up for auction, the car at the moment is not insured. The decision to recoup some of the costs of vehicle ownership by auctioning the older police cruiser has been turned down in favor of keeping and maintaining it as a general purpose city vehicle.
In other highlights from the Committee of the Whole meeting were the mayor’s encouragement to maintain and improve the integrity of city officials and city employees continuing their required training in the Illinois open meetings act, the cyber security, sexual harassment and freedom of information act.
Public security and safety are also concerns especially at both Friendway Park and the city park where there are public bathrooms which are sometimes subject to major or minor acts of vandalism. In an effort to curtail the security problems, city officials are moving forward with plans to potentially add heavy padlocks to the doors and perhaps even add security cameras which may help provide information on who is causing the damage.
The City of Colchester may soon have its own website and data hosting capabilities. A bid was presented to city officials for a company which would host a website and data storage capacity for about $1200 a year with various options which would alter the price accordingly. While the name of the company who might potentially host the website and the data storage was not mentioned because negotiations are ongoing, the mater has been referred to the Finance/Legislative Committee chaired by Donna Wetzel for further deliberation before a vote by the city council.
The establishment of a city website is part of Mayor Mark Clark’s stated vision of improving city transparency and integrity with the public, particularly in the area of publishing the book of city ordinances.
Alderman Kim Limkeman has championed this initiative for many years, but until now, there has been no effective way to disseminate that information to the public in an efficient manner.
No votes were taken at the Committee of the Whole meeting; the next City Council meeting is on the first Monday of the month, at 6 pm in the City Hall building located at 500 E. Roberts Street.
