Public Safety committee again discusses CPD chain of command
<span>CHESTER -- The Chester Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee met in regular session on Wednesday and had another round of discussion for a proposed chain of command within the Chester Police Department.</span>
<span>In previous statements to the Herald Tribune, Chester Police Chief Ryan Coffey said the rank of sergeant, which had stood as the department's chain of command, was removed several years ago.</span>
<span>The topic of restoring the rank was discussed during the Public Safety committee's March meeting, with the committee members going into executive session to discuss personnel.</span>
<span>No action was taken at that meeting.</span>
<span>"The ability to advance in the department would be a good retention tool," Coffey said during Wednesday's meeting.</span>
<span>Chester Alderman Robert Platt, who is a member of the committee, expressed a concern about the added financial cost of the rank.</span>
<span>"My only concern is the governor (Bruce Rauner) said he is going to cut money to the city and we should be careful about our monies," he said.</span>
<span>Coffey said the additional cost is minimal compared to the CPD's overall budget.</span>
<span>"I have a $1.1 million budget and I'm asking for $5,000 more," he said.</span>
<span>Coffey later asked that the topic be included on the agenda of an upcoming meeting of the Chester City Council.</span>
<span>The committee also expanded upon the issue of feral cats in the city. At its March 16 meeting, the Chester City Council voted 5-2 (with Alderwoman Nancy Crossland absent and aldermen Mike Blechle and Russ Rader voting "No") to euthanize the animals if they could not be placed into homes.</span>
<span>"Nothing's etched in stone," Coffey said on Wednesday, adding Animal Control would wait for complaints first and then respond. "What we're doing is evaluating things on a case-by-case basis and addressing problem areas first."</span>
<span>Coffey said he had received an email from a woman that included possible alternative programs to the euthanization method and said he would be looking into them.</span>
<span>Platt asked about residents who have outdoor pets.</span>
<span>"We'll do everything we can to release the cat back to its owner," Coffey said, who suggested a microchip or tagging process for pets.</span>
<span>Chester Fire Chief Marty Bert told the committee his department is in need of new airbags for auto extrications. The CFD's current ones are 15 years old with a liability of 10 and cost for replacement is $7,500.</span>
<span>The CFD has five airbags of varying sizes and weight limits and Bert said the final price may be under $7,000 after trade-in value of the current airbags is factored in.</span>
<span>"The more they lift, the more they cost," Bert said. "They were all purchased at the same time, so we're replacing them at the same time."</span>
<span>Bert also talked about the aging paging system at the Chester Grade School water tower, which still handles alarms for Red Bud and is used as the CFD's main paging system.</span>
<span>"Red Bud alarms are still paged through that transmitter," Bert said. "They are working on getting it switched over to Randolph County in Sparta."</span>
<span>Bert said it costs his department between $200 and $300 to maintain the system, which was originally maintained by Randolph County 911.</span>
<span>"We'll keep using it until it goes down," he said.</span>