MOUNT VERNON – Topics discussed at the May 23 Mount Vernon City Council meeting included a report on the city police force, relocating the courthouse and recognition for city employees.
Police Chief Robert Morgan told City Council that his department was fully staffed, cutting overtime pay enough to help drop payroll expenses by $21,000 compared to this time last year.
One officer is on injury leave from a patrol position but has been able to do light administrative work to help the department during recovery.
Morgan said the department has designated a dedicated traffic officer who works during the high traffic periods and when most traffic complaints are made. He patrols school zones for speeding and works to get trucks back onto truck routes.
In the 11 days he’s worked, the traffic officer has issued almost 40 speed violations, both citations and warnings, and 14 of those were in school speed zones, Morgan said. He’s stopped six trucks that were off state routes. He’s handled one OVI (operating vehicle impaired), 12 accidents and 22 other violations, for almost 100 interactions during the 11 days he’s worked the position.
The community advocate has reviewed 11,166 cases since November, Morgan said. Of those, he’s had active involvement in 491 cases. He has responded to incident scenes 226 times and had 117 total interventions.
“He's probably had well over 1,000 phone calls from officers and citizens and follow-ups and so forth,” Morgan said. “We've also sent him to several training classes, including advanced critical illness and training.”
The department has had 36 felony drug cases. But the turnaround for lab results from the Attorney General’s crime lab rose from two to three months up to eight months plus.
Officers have seized 188 grams of methamphetamine, 1,800 grams of marijuana, 19 grams of fentanyl and 6 grams of cocaine. Fentanyl and methamphetamine both are on the rise. Ten firearms were confiscated.
Grants are being sought for a license plate reader and for support of the community advocate position. The department also applied for an American Rescue Plan First Responder Recruitment Retention and Resilience Program grant.
“So far this year, we've had 4,710 calls for service to Mount Vernon Police Department, that's up 217 calls for service over this period last year,” he said.
Officers responded to 203 accidents and had 679 total arrests this year, up 137 from last year. The 1,168 official reports made were 118 higher than this period of time last year.
Community residents oppose new courthouse location
Several community residents spoke out against the decision to build a new courthouse on the northeast quadrant of the Public Square.
Vickie Kinney-Adams of Martinsburg Road was concerned that the city was taking over the entire quadrant and demolishing it.
“I'm passionate about keeping the historical buildings intact and bringing new businesses to the downtown and not destroying them,” she said.
Adams said she had aerial pictures of downtown that showed whole city blocks that no longer exist because people have bought them, tearing them down.
“We're losing our heritage left and right,” she said.
Broeren told the local residents the city cannot enter into long-term financial commitments like lease payments or fees at Cooper Progress Park. The city doesn’t own that property, he said.
“Let me start by saying that I'm in full agreement and support that we need a new building for the Municipal Court and police station,” Vicky Fitzgerald of East High Street said. “But I'm not in support of tearing down historic buildings to keep the court at the same location.”
She suggested locations including the vacant lot on West Chestnut and North Adams streets, where the old CES service center once stood. The city block across from the fire station was another suggestion, as was the CES Siemens office building on the corner of Sandusky and West Chestnut.
“What better way to promote how serious Mount Vernon is to redeveloping that complex and then for the city to invest in it?” Fitzgerald asked.
More construction downtown will destroy the small local businesses that remain, she said. Many historic buildings already have been torn down, she said.
Recognizing city employees
City Council will consider spending $2,000 for two employee recognition events and up to $8,000 on cups, T-shirts and other “swag” to recognize employee service, such as work anniversaries and hirings.
“We want to be able to do a couple of events for employees and their families. One would be at the end of the summer where we can just use the Hiawatha Water Park,” Mayor Matt Starr said.
The other would be a holiday luncheon in December.
“It'd be nice to be able to give them some type of milestone achievement that they've been here, especially those that have been here 25 or 30 years,” Human Resources Director Maurine Perry said.
