Committee Reviews Status Of Law Enforcement In Fairbury

By Gordon HopkinsThe Law Enforcement Committee met on Tuesday, October 25, 2022, at the Fairbury City offices to discuss the status of law enforcement in the City of Fairbury.Among the topics discussed were changes to the law enforcement contract between the city and Jefferson County. The committee is part of the contract between the city and county. County Commissioners were scheduled to sign the new contract between Jefferson County and the City of Fairbury for law enforcement services on Tuesday, November 1, 2022.The new contract is the result of months of negotiations and contains several changes. The original 10-year contract first came into effect in 2018 when the city opted to disband the Fairbury City Police Department and turn law enforcement duties over to the county. The primary driver for the contract changes is cost. Commissioners have noted that costs for serving the city have proven to be far more expensive than originally anticipated during the original contract negotiations. Those increasing costs have been exacerbated by ongoing inflation, supply chain issues and staffing shortages. The current contract allows for up to a three percent increase in payment by the city every year. The city has agreed to an increase of up to six percent a year for the next three years. Sheriff Nick Georgi said at the meeting, “The remaining three years is back to the three which was originally negotiated.”Another change to the contract is moving the date of renewal from July to November, because budgets are not completed in July.“The way it was now, it ran a fiscal year, July 1 to June 30. So, we’re moving it around November 1 to October 31,” said Sheriff Georgi. “If we want to change or negotiate an increase, it has to be done a month before the year end. So, we didn’t have numbers by then. The county doesn’t get their health insurance rate until August. So, we moved it.” Traffic ControlSome members of the Fairbury City Council have been critical of the law enforcement contract and the Sheriff’s Office, particularly when it comes to traffic control. At a meeting of the City Council earlier this year, Councilperson Kelly Davis said at a previous, “Personally gentlemen, I think we shot ourselves in the foot by getting involved in this contract with them and getting rid of our police department. I don’t think we’re getting our money’s worth the way it is and now they want more. If you watch the paper when they put the sheriff’s department’s activities in there. It’s been averaging about 1.1 traffic stops a day, countywide. I could make more than that driving 10 blocks from my house to work. We’re not…I don’t think we’re getting what we’re paying for. The Highway Patrol stops more people in Fairbury than the Sheriff’s Department does. And most of them I could write a ticket to would be the Sheriff’s Department, rolling through stop signs. You know, I’m not in favor of this at all.”The Sheriff’s office has been working to increase traffic citations.“Last quarter, we had 84 traffic stops,” Sheriff Georgi told the committee. “As of five o’clock tonight, they got it up to 174. So, they doubled it.” StaffingOne of the primary causes of the increased expenses is the staffing shortages that have plagued both the public and private sectors, which have required employers to increase wages and benefits to attract and retain workers.On June 28, 2022, Jefferson County Commissioners and Sheriff Nick Georgi signed a contract with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) establishing a union for the Sheriff’s Department in Jefferson County.Georgi indicated there are two open positions with the Sheriff’s Office. SROA new School Resources Officer (SRO), Deputy Matthew Veit, is now serving Fairbury Public Schools. According to the United States Department of Justice, SROs are, “Sworn law enforcement officers responsible for safety and crime prevention in schools.”The Sheriff said, “The staff and administration have excellent things to say about it so far. So, it’s working out really well in there.”Another SRO, Nathan Van Anne, is serving both Meridian and Tri County Public Schools. Deputy Van Anne is also a D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) instructor. Georgi said, “He’s doing D.A.R.E. at Meridian, Tri County, Plymouth Lutheran, Fairbury and Diller this year. Code EnforcementWhen the original contract was implemented, the city hired a Code Enforcement Officer to deal with certain complains outside the purview of the Sheriff’s Office, such as animal complaints or overgrown grass and junked cars parked inappropriately.While the Sherriff’s office does not officially deal with code violations, resources are still required to handle the various calls that come in after hours.The city is therefore looking into hiring a second Code Enforcement Officer and those officers will now be able to write citations and violations will be prosecuted by the County Attorney. Public CommentsThe Law Enforcement Committee meets quarterly and those meetings are open to the public. Comments by the public are allowed. It is rare that members of the public appear at these meetings. However, at a recent meeting, some citizens spoke at length and the committee suggested in the future limiting the time the public is allowed to speak. City Councilperson Bradley Kuzelka, who is also on the Law Enforcement committee, said, “I really don’t have a problem with public comment and if they want to do it during meeting, it would be okay, but they can’t take a half hour.”John Ebke, another member of both the committee and City Council, said, “We’re not going to hold it like we’re sitting there with a stopwatch, but if you feel like we’re now circling back around through it the third and fourth time, let’s keep it on topic.”

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