Public Safety Minutes 2005 07-14-05 Page 1 of 2
APPROVED 9/8/05
PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
YORKVILLE CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM
Thursday,July 14,2005
Committee Chairman Wanda Ohare called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
Present
Alderwoman Wanda Ohare,Aldermen Dean Wolfer and Jason Leslie, and Lt. Don
Schwartzkopf.
1. Minutes for Approval/Correction--Minutes from the June 9, 2005 meeting were
approved.
2. Police Reports for June 2005—Ohare said she was pleased to see that seat belt
citations were issued in June and no warnings were given. She also was pleased to see the
number of training hours increased over the past year. She was glad to see a number of
other items in the report and commended the department on doing a great job.
3. 2004 Year End Analysis Report—Ohare said the report was very well done and
she'd impressed with the amount of education hours logged in.
She added the number of man-hours increased considerably over the past year,but said
some new officers were hired. She said the city is trying to stay ahead of the growth.
Wolfer said he's likes the part of the report where the city's officers are interacting with
the public at various events such as story hour at the library.
As an aside, Schwartzkopf said there had been a rash of thefts at construction sites around
town in recent weeks. The officers visited each site everyday and eventually the thefts
stopped or were dramatically reduced. Ohare said it might be prudent to install
surveillance cameras if the thefts continue. For now, she said it seems like the police
department has a handle on the issue.
4. Town Meeting for Parking Ordinance—Ohare said the meeting is scheduled for July
26. She told her fellow aldermen that if they get any calls about the meeting to refer the
callers to the police department.
She said the city will give warnings at first and the police department will put flyers on
the windshields of illegally parked cars for a while.
5. Fire Lane Parking—Tucker Contractors Agreement with the City—Ohare said the
crosswalks at the Jewel Shopping Center are very faded and she said that shouldn't go
unnoticed. She also said there should be no parking along the curb area because there
should be a fire lane there. Because the property is privately owned, the city doesn't have
Page 2 of 2
a say in the matter. However, Ohare said she'd talk to city code official Bill Dettmer
about it when he got back from vacation. Wolfer suggested that in future matters the city
add to its ordinance that fire lanes must be installed in front of larger commercial
buildings.
6. Generator and Air-Conditioning Enclosure—Ohare said there's nothing about the
issue in the packets,but she said the generator and air-conditioning units are exposed and
said they should be fenced in.
7. False Alarm Ordinance—A long time ago, the committee talked about creating fines
for those who consistently issue false alarms, Ohare said. Now, a draft ordinance has
been created to charge fines for false alarms. The draft ordinance would put a$50 fine on
premises where the police department responds four to nine times in a calendar year. The
fines go up to $1000 for 10 to 19 responses and are raised to $250 for 20 or more
responses in a calendar year.
Lt. Schwartzkopf said most cities don't have fines quite to high. But,he added there is a
need for the ordinance. Sometimes the police department is called to the same place twice
a day.
Leslie suggested the proposed ordinance be forwarded to the Committee of the Whole.
8. Additional Business—Wolfer brought up the idea of starting a 911 Camp in Yorkville
to inform school age children about the emergency service and how to use it. He said
helped work on a similar camp in Morris and it was a big success.
Ohare said it sounds like a great idea and encourage Wolfer to pursue it.
Also, Wolfer asked if roadblocks could be set up on weekends on Route 126 near the
PNA Camp. He said that road is very dangerous on weekends with drunk drivers coming
from the camp. Lt. Schwartzkopf said the department would look into it and is aware
there is a problem.
The next meeting was scheduled for Aug. 11.
The meeting adjourned at 7:20 p.m.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Dina Gipe