‘Tell them thank you face to face’: Troup lauds work of Quincy Police Department in Bliefnick case

QUINCY — Before Monday’s Quincy City Council meeting started, Mayor Mike Troup thanked the Quincy Police Department for its work in the recently completed Tim Bliefnick case.

A jury of six men and six women found Bliefnick guilty last Wednesday on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of home invasion in the Feb. 23 shooting death of his estranged wife, Rebecca Bliefnick. Sentencing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Aug. 11 before Judge Robert Adrian. Tim Bliefnick could get up to life in prison on any of the charges because a firearm was used. 

“We need to recognize Chief (Adam) Yates and the entire Quincy Police Department — all the officers and detectives,” Troup said. “They are not at full staff. They only had 90 days from the arrest until file to pull everything together. Now granted, they don’t manage the trial, but the (Adams County) State’s Attorney’s office doesn’t have anything to take to trial without having the great police work. To do the intensive investigation that QPD has (done) in the past 90 days that ended up with the conviction is really just an awesome project.”

After leading the aldermen is giving the Quincy Police Department a round of applause, Troup continued.

“Chief Yates and his department, they don’t get recognized as often as they should,” the mayor said. “We take a lot for granted, but having things like this happen makes every one of us who are living in Quincy feel like, although bad things happen in our town, we’ve got a strong police force who does what’s right and completes investigations. 

“When you see the people in blue, tell them thank you face to face.”

Yates did not address the aldermen during the meeting. Afterward, he said he has no idea how many hours his staff worked on the Bliefnick case, only saying it was “countless.”

“It was a group effort,” Yates said. “I’m very proud of all the work they did and the timeframe in which they got it done. I’m very happy with the outcome. Obviously, it was a tragic event that we wish never would have happened. I feel like at least we might have been able to do our part to try to bring some closure for the family.

“(The department provided) a lot of evidence that took a lot of work, a lot of time and a lot of effort to locate, analyze and interpret. They just did a fantastic job. I couldn’t be prouder.”

Glen Brassfield and Jon Schinderling spoke to aldermen on Monday about the city mowing the grass in the right-of-way easement east of Cadbury Ridge from Harrison to Hampton Avenue. 

Brassfield said he presented information in May 2020 to John Mast, then a Fifth Ward aldermen, explaining that city crews had moved the area weekly for 7½ years. However, he said at the time he had learned the city no longer was going to maintain the property.

Brassfield, a retired city employee, said he has lived on Cadbury Ridge for 11 years. He said he and other neighbors have been mowing the property for the last two years. He also said no one has mowed either side of Harrison from 36th Street to Denman School “for the last four or five weeks.”

“Every time I called (the city), I was given different reasons why (the property isn’t) being mowed by the city,” he told aldermen. “There are new houses being built in this area. The citizens take pride in the homes and make sure they look nice. It does not seem fair for the city not to have to follow their own ordinance as far as how deep the grass is.”

Brassfield said the grass has grown as high as 15 inches.

“We don’t want to see the area get overgrown, because then you get animals and snakes, and we don’t want to go down that road,” Schinderling said. “We don’t think it’s an unreasonable ask to ask the city to mow the easement going forward.”

Troup said he would speak with city department heads and reach out to Brassfield and Schinderling this week.

In other action, aldermen approved:

• A request by Blessed Sacrament Parish to conduct a raffle from August 14 to Sept. 9.
• A special event application from the Quincy Notre Dame cross country team to hold the 21st annual Raider Challenge on Saturday, June 24, on the streets surrounding South Park and Indian Mounds Park.
• Troup’s appointment of Jason Traeder to the Plan Commission immediately for a one-year term.
• Spending $15,262.40 with Purvis Industries of Hannibal, Mo., for a new raw materials conveyor belt for the Waste Water Treatment Plant. 
• Buying one truckload of sodium permanganate at the rate of $3,000 per ton. from Carus Corporation of Peru, Ill.
• For the city to enter into an agreement with Brown Equipment Company of Evansville, Ind., for $25,736.00 for sewer cleaning and on-site training services.