South Central Reporter

Macoupin County Board Public Safety Committee met Aug. 5.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Members Present: Aaron Stayton, Mark Dragovich, Leann Barr, Ross Adden, Jim Ibberson, Jon Payne, and Harry Starr

Members Absent:

Officials and Department Heads Present: Larry Schmidt, Aaron Bishop, Anthony Kravanya, Emily Gerl, Pete Duncan, Shawn Kahl, and Susan Lewis

1. Call to Order

1.1 Roll Call

There were 7 members present with Barr remote.

2. Updates

2.1 911

Ibberson said that they had hired a new administrator, Scott Rodgers, who started on August 4th. Lewis said that Bishop was helping train him this week then would be taking vacation before his last day on August 31st. 

2.2 EMA 

Lewis said that Tyler Link and Derrick Tiburzi were the cochairs of the new Local Emergency Planning committee that were meeting for emergency planning purposes. There were 18 members present representing multiple different types of agencies like fire departments, hospitals, police, newspapers, etc. In October, there will be a committee meeting to hopefully finalizing the hazard mitigation plan now that FEMA funding is back going. Lewis also discussed working with TextMyGov notification system to get emergency notifications in place but she wanted to invite them to the next meeting to discuss it more as there would be an additional cost. 

2.3 Sheriff's Department

The Sheriff was not in attendance.

2.4 Animal Control Report

3.1 Tranquilizer Projectile Device Purchase 

Gerl said they offer different packages through different companies. They have one that is $2,000. They have a capture one that is about $395.94. There capture was least expensive but the new dart does not charge per dart, where as capture does. The charge is what pushes the chemical into the animal. She did not think the device would be used very often. 

Motion to recommend the purchase of the Cap-tur device.

Moved by: Ross Adden

Seconded by: Jon Payne

Carried

3.2 Animal Control Ordinance Revisions/Updates

The committee wanted the policy regarding the the use of the tranquilizer projectile device incorporated into the ordinance. Gerl also requested that the ordinance be amended to adjust fees for dogs running at large from $25 to $50 for the first offense and $50 to $75 for the second. She also wanted to update an rabies tag discrepancy showing the fee at the correct rate of $12.

Motion to update the ordinance.

Moved by: Ross Adden

Seconded by: Jim Ibberson

Carried

4. New Business

4.1 Animal Control Staffing

Barr said she wanted to discuss the staffing levels at the department. Gerl wanted to move Cooke to full time officer as she felt he could be trained into the position. There was also a discussion about how many part time cleaners to have out there. As the General Fund is now going to be paying the Animal Control salaries, there is currently the budget for the administrator, a full time officer, and 3 part time cleaners and different levels of hours. If changes were to be made, more money would need to be found. It was decided to leave things as is. 

4.2 Rabies Tag Mailing Cost Increase 

Gerl said she went to mail out rabies tags and found out postage and increased and it now costs up to $6.85 an envelope to mail a tag and she can not afford that. The committee discussed perhaps trying to partner with city halls throughout the county to have them have tags available for pickup there to cut down on postage costs. 

5. Adjournment 

5.1 Adjourn Meeting 

Motion by Ibberson, seconded by Stayton to adjourn at 5:44 pm. All in favor. Motion carried. 

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