City Council welcomes two new aldermen, three new police officers

QUINCY — Quincy’s two newest aldermen said their focus is on “learning the process” after they completed their first meeting Monday night as members of the Quincy City Council.

City Clerk Laura Oakman swore in Glen Ebbing (R-5) and Jake Reed (R-6) before Monday’s meeting, officially giving Republicans a 10-4 advantage. Ebbing replaces John Mast, who chose not to run for re-election. Reed replaces Patty Maples, who lost decisively in the April election after she was appointed to the City Council last May.

“People need to learn we need to work through the process,” Ebbing said after his first meeting. “We all try to jump through the hurdles. If we work through the process, problems can be solved a lot faster and more harmoniously.”

“I’ve just got to get over a little learning curve.” Reed said afterward. “I think Richie (Reis, the Democratic alderman in the 6^th Ward) will be able to help me out with that.”

Ebbing said during his first public comments as an alderman at the end of Monday’s meeting that “it takes a leader to do this.”

“There’s those who lead by dictating how each other should be led, and others who inspire us to lead ourselves for the sake of others,” he said. “That’s the leadership I have chosen.”

Reed says he just wants to make the city of Quincy proud.

“I don’t ever want to make a decision just based off of what somebody wants me to do or what I feel that I really want to do,” he said. “I just want to vote, when I look at a situation, based off of goodness, truth, virtue and faith. Every vote I take will weigh heavy on me.”

Five returning aldermen — Eric Entrup (R-1), Jeff Bergman (R-2), Kelly Mays (R-3), Mike Farha (R-4) and Ben Uzelac (D-7) — also were sworn in by Oakman for four-year terms. Uzelac was the only alderman to win a contested race, edging Tim Siemer by three votes.

Three new police officers were sworn in by Adam Yates, chief of the Quincy Police Department, at the beginning of Monday’s meeting. 

Korbin Stratman, a 2018 Quincy High School graduate, worked in court security at the Adams County Sheriff’s Department for the past two years. Brandon Epley, a 2004 QHS graduate, has been a member of the U.S. Army Reserves since 2007 and has worked for JM Huber since 2011. Ethan Hansel, a 2020 graduate of Franklin High School, attended Lincoln Land Community College. He has been a dispatcher with the West Central Joint Dispatch Center since 2021.

The three police officers will attend the Police Training Institute in Champaign for 14 weeks of training and instruction starting Sunday. The Quincy Police Department now has 69 officers. It is budgeted for 73, and 10 of the officers are in training.

No major decisions were made by the City Council Monday night. Aldermen voted to:

• Waive liquor ordinances on Maine Street from Seventh to Eighth on Maine on May 20 for the American Downtown Classic Car and Art Show.
• Allow St. Peter Church to conduct a raffle from now until August 27. 
• Approve of an amendment to the existing special permit for 150 S. 48th to allow for the construction of an office building. The building may only be used by The Crossing Church. 
• Approved rezoning of a portion of 1537 N. 24th Street from R1C (single-family residential) to C2 (general commercial) to allow for Shottenkirk’s continued use as an automobile dealership. 
• Approved of the proposed development of property in the 1700 block of North 36th to allow for the operation of a body shop, a tow lot, a parking lot, and three self-storage facilities as requested by Kerry Tillitt of Tillitt Collision Center.
• Approve Troup’s appointment of Ebbing to the Utilities Committee and Mast as an at-large member, both for three-year terms.
• Approved spending $14,560 with Luby Equipment to buy an 18’ Cronkhite 3612 HD trailer, $9,716.16 for an annual maintenance contract renewal with SHI International Corp., $75,765.41 for an annual software services agreement with CentralSquare, $24,989 for an annual maintenance contract renewal with SecureData Technologies, $54,441.45 for the Microsoft Office 365 annual subscription renewal with Dell Technologies, $15,717.23 for an annual software services agreement with Smartsheet, Inc., and $62,453.86 for an annual software services agreement with Tyler Technologies.

Aldermen also met in executive session, pursuant to the Open Meetings Act, to discuss collective bargaining negotiations between the city and the Police Benevolent and Protective Association Labor Unit 12. Quincy Mayor Mike Troup said last week an arbitration hearing on the police contract was scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday. A final decision about arbitration isn’t expected to be made until August.

During an eight-minute sine die meeting held 90 minutes before the regularly scheduled City Council meeting, aldermen received a report about the Quincy Police pension fund for the 2022-23 fiscal year. City Treasurer Linda Moore reported $922,722.16 in Personal Property Replacement Tax and $501,951.86 in employee pension contributions withheld for a total of $1,424,674.02 transferred to the fund.

Moore also provided an annual report of the food and beverage tax, which collected $1,690,838.26 in 2023 compared to $1,532,955.32 in 2022 — a 10 percent increase. Moore noted the city collected $220,714 in March 2023. Only one month in the past two years (December 2022, which collected $179,897.22) had collected more than $145,000. Moore wrote in her report that March 2023 collections are an outlier that can be attributed, in part, to warmer weather. 

The average number of filers per month rose 4 percent.

Report of Food and Beverage Tax for Fiscal Year 2022 and Fiscal Year 2023