Quincy City Council approves state mandated body cam purchase

QUINCY — The Quincy Police Department will go from 58 to 75 body cameras for all officers, following approval by the City Council at Monday night’s meeting.

Aldermen approved a five-year lease extension with BodyWorn by Utility Associates of Decatur, Ga., for body and in-car cameras. The contract totals $525,742, with the first-year cost being $88,466 and $109,000 in each of the remaining four years.

QPD Chief Adam Yates said the increase in cameras is due to mandates in the Illinois SAFE-T Act that requires body cameras for any officer who interacts with the public to wear a camera. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office is also adding cameras for all deputies as the department did not previously have them.

Yates said the department began implementing body cameras in 2018 and that 70 cameras will be active and five will be backups in case of technical issues with cameras in the field.

“We’ve seen tremendous success with them as we’ve gone through these five years,” Yates said. “This is our entry into another five year agreement with the same company to continue the service that we currently have. On January 1 of 2025, the SAFE-T Act requires that every law enforcement officer involved in investigations has to wear a body camera. So there’s been obviously an unfunded mandate by the state of Illinois. Obviously, it does good for our officers. It does good for the citizens and it’s great for the city of the city of Quincy, but it certainly is $109,000 bill that we have to pay every year that the state is not giving us any money for it.”

Yates said despite the unfunded mandate, the city has probably been saved from several lawsuits to do the presence of the cameras.

Aldermen also discussed the substantial weed growth (not cannabis) on city right-of-ways.

Public Works Director Jeffery Conte said if aldermen wanted more weeds whacked, other work would have to be put on the back burner because there are only two employees who handle nuisance abatement.

Alderman Jeff Bergman (R-2nd Ward) said there were 111 properties that needed attention from nuisance abatement, where there are citizen complaints about private properties who don’t maintain their yards.

In other action, aldermen approved:

• Recommending approval of a request for a Special Permit for Planned Development to allow for the
  ownership of more than one horse at 2102 Melview Road and a contiguous 5-acre property, with the
  following condition that the number of horses shall not exceed five.
• Recommending approval of a request for a Special Permit for Planned Development to allow for the
  operation of a hospitality house at 1300 Spruce St. with the following conditions: 1) That the Special
  Permit for Planned Development is non-transferrable. 2) That the Special Permit for Planned
  Development shall be null and void if the petitioner is no longer residing in the dwelling at 1300
  Spruce St. 3) That the petitioner must provide two off-St. parking stalls. 4) That the shared driveway shared by 1300 Spruce St. and 1306 Spruce St. shall not be blocked for extended periods of time.
• Recommending approval of a request to subdivide (one lot into two lots) property located at 100
  South 54th St.
• Recommending approval of a request to subdivide (two lots into four lots) property located at 3601
  Broadway St. and at 3701 Broadway St.
• Recommending approval of a request to rezone property commonly known as 621 North 36th St.,
  located at the southwest corner of 36th and College, from C3 (Planned Commercial) to C2
  (Commercial) to allow for the construction of a retail credit union branch and administrative offices.
• Recommending approval of a request to rezone property commonly known as 4704 Wismann Lane
  from RU1 (Rural) to M1 (Light Industrial) to allow for future industrial development.
• Resolution authorizing the sale of abandoned property at 1122 Monroe to Dustin Long for $5,100
  with plans to build a duplex on the lot within 24 months.
• Resolution authorizing the sale of abandoned property at 1233 N. 11th St to Grandview Church for
  $15,000 with plans to build a children’s play area for the church.
• Resolution authorizing the sale of abandoned property at 635 Spruce to the YWCA for $500 for each
  property with plans to build a three-plex on 635 Spruce within 24 months.
• Comptroller and Purchasing Agent recommending canceling the UMB Credit Card with a $10,000
  credit limit used exclusively for Amazon purchases and increase the credit limit on the Purchasing Credit
  Card from $2,000 to $5,000.
• Chief of Police recommending approval to pay the annual fee to STARCOM21-Motorola Solutions
  in the amount of $10,764 for a network contract.

Alderman Mike Troup also named Corey Dean as the city’s IT director.