Concludes Tree Limb Pickup

On Friday, August 13th members of the Street Department completed the limb collection and yard waste dumpster program for the City. During the last week approximately 300 loads were picked up which was less than expected.

Receives “Congratulations”

City Staff has received a congratulatory note from Nancy Berry, Executive Director of the St. John’s Home and Community Care Center on the City receiving the ICMA Certificate of Excellence and the GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, stating:

“It takes a lot of energy, perseverance, and dedication to excellence to meet those standards. Thanks for your leadership and the great work done by our city employees.”

Conducts Brief Survey

During the recent First Day Event, City Staff conducted a brief survey on some of the communication tools the City uses to inform residents of City activities. A total of 167 participants took the survey with 77% being City residents. Of the City residents, 87% (111) read “The Scoop” and 34% (43) were a fan on Facebook.

Of the 167, 122 (73%) had visited the City’s website with 20% having visited it more than 10 times. One-third of the responders have watched a City Council meeting with only 4% having watched more than 10 times.

An interesting note was that when asked how they learned about the event, 40% learned about it through the “School Reach” program, the automatic dialer system the School uses to notify parents of events. This is similar to the City’s reverse-911 system that is currently not in use.

Receives Operating Grant

Karen Szegedy, Interim Shuttle Bus Director, has announced that the City has received a $24,275 Title 20 operating grant from the Illinois Department of Human Services. This is the same funding the City has received in the past for the operations of the busses. The Grant will run from July 1, 2010 through June 2011.

Teaches Local Government Class

In July Assistant City Manager Pam Hylton hosted 16 students from the Local Government Class at the University of Missouri St. Louis. Along with Ms. Hylton, the Assistant City Manager of Richmond Heights taught the class on Human Resources. The class is an overview of personnel practices including recruitment/retention, diversity, nepotism, succession planning, supervision and discipline, collective bargaining, changes due to the economy, social networking and performance evaluations.

Appoints Assistant Fire Chief

James Anderson, retired Fire Captain with the Edwardsville Fire Department, has accepted the Assistant Fire Chief position with the City of Collinsville. Mr. Anderson has 26 years experience with Edwardsville serving in all areas of the Department and specializing in the fire and life safety code enforcement program.

In addition, Mr. Anderson is a Paramedic, has certifications as Fire Prevention Officer, Fire Fighter III, Hazardous Materials Awareness and Operations, Fire Apparatus Engineer, Level II in the Fire Protection Engineer Technology, Fire Inspector I and II and is certified with the Illinois State Board of Education Fire Code Inspector. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography with a Specialization in Planning.

Assistant Chief Anderson will begin his duties on Monday, August 30th.

Response Time Matters

Recently Fire Chief Pete Stehman reported on a response to a near drowning of a 6-month old infant.  The mother was giving the baby a bath when she left and answered the phone and returned to find the child face down in the water.

Fire Department personnel were on the scene within three minutes and had transported the child to Anderson Hospital within 15 minutes.

Chief Stehman reported last week that he had spoken to the father and the child was home doing well. Chief Stehman stated: “hats off to our EMS crew FF Matt Giles and Lt. Eric Schrage and to the CPD Telecommunicators involved in the call. Response time was very low given the call location (2-3 minutes). Our medics aggressively treated the patient and raised spontaneous respirations from an agonal rate to near normal parameters prior to arrival at Anderson.

I believe CPD Telecommunicators promptly dispatched the call and gave pre-arrival instructions to the mother, who performed CPR and/or respirations prior to EMS arrival...Good job everyone. You make us proud.”

Begins Police AC Installation

Contractors Brewer-Garret has begun the work at the Police Department with the installation of the new air conditioning unit. As a part of the energy conservation grant and project a new energy efficient unit will be installed as part of the $379,721 project. The project is expected to be completed by the end of September.

The City is in the process of receiving a grant from the Public Sector Electric Efficiency Program to assist in this energy conservation program for lighting through out the organization and heating and air conditioning system at the Police Department. The total cost of the conservation program for the City was $379,721, with a guaranteed savings of $461,339.

Begins Scheduling Environmental Scan

As a part of the 2011-2012 Strategic Plan update, City Staff has begun looking at, and developing, the schedule for conducting the “Environmental Scan.” The first phase of the update will be our effort at monitoring our current conditions and gathering information on those things that will affect our future efforts.

The Environmental Scan will consist of our SWOT Analysis, use of the National Citizen Survey, the recently completed Business Survey and the Citizens Advisory Forum. This gathering of information will then be shared with the City Council in its preparation of the updating of the Plan.

The process will begin in November and December with an overall view of the process and ways it can be improved. Assistant City Manager Pam Hylton will lead the main effort between the months of January and March with a final report scheduled to be given to the City Council in April. The City Council will conduct a workshop in May and adopt the Plan in June.

The Strategic Plan will lead to the work by the Council and Staff in developing the City’s Services and Operations Strategy, the Financial Plan and the City’s Community Investment Plan. These are the components of the City’s Business Plan. All of this will be completed by December of 2011.

DUI Enforcement

The following Press Release was sent from the Police Department on Thursday.

”On August 20, 2010, the Collinsville Police Department will be stepping up traffic enforcement in an effort to reduce Driving Under the Influence (DUI)-related incidents and accidents. With the assistance of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), the Collinsville Police Department will enforce DUI and DUI-related offenses with a zero tolerance approach.

The Collinsville Police Department plans on conducting at least two DUI roadblocks during this campaign in various locations within the City limits of Collinsville. The first DUI roadblock is scheduled for Friday, August 27, 2010. The hours of the operation will be from 9:00 pm on 08/27/10 until 4:00 am on 08/28/10. The Collinsville Police Department, in conjunction with IDOT, wants to reduce the number of injuries and deaths related to accidents and incidents involving motorists driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Please fasten your safety belts and don’t drink and drive.”

Announces New Academy

Beginning on Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 the Collinsville Police Department will be hosting its 10th Citizens Police Academy. The program, which will be taught by Officers from the Collinsville Police Department along with guest speakers from other agencies, is designed to give Collinsville residents a realistic view of police work by providing instruction on different aspects of Law Enforcement.

Academy classes will be held on Tuesday evenings from 6:30pm – 9:00pm, starting Tuesday evening October 5th, 2010 through Tuesday November 23rd, 2010 at the Collinsville Police Department Training Room. A minimum enrollment of 15 students will be required to hold the Academy, and a maximum class size will be limited to 25 students.

Enrollment is free. Priority will be given to citizens 18 years of age or older who live or work in the Collinsville area.

Applications are due NO later than Friday October 1st, 2010. Interested persons are encouraged to come to the Collinsville Police Department and pick up an application. If you have any questions regarding the Citizens Academy class please contact Major David Roth or Sergeant Brett Boerm at (618) 344-2131.

*Note: Due to the nature of the course and curriculum, individuals with prior felony charges or convictions will be declined.

Upcoming Meetings & Events:

City Council - Strategic Session – August 23 - 6:00pm. (Please note, this meeting will be held in the Council Chambers)

City Council - Regular Meeting – August 23 – 7:30pm