Mt. Pleasant Council wants police department

to beef up reporting

 

By Rhett Wilkinsen

Staff writer

9-20-2020

 

MT. PLEASANT—The city council asked if the police department could report directly to them, the same as other city departments, at a meeting last week.

It would be good to have the police make a report to the council, said Councilman Russ Keisel near the end of the Tuesday, Aug. 11 city council meeting. “There’s a lot of stuff going on … here at night.”

Mayor Mike Olsen said that he would address the idea of police reporting at the council meetings to Police Chief Jim Wilberg.

“Your bad guys know,” when officers are out, said Public Works Superintendent Colter Allen.

“Accountability goes a long way,” Keisel said later.

Councilman Kevin Stallings pointed out that Olsen gets updates from the police, besides the fire chief.

“He lets me know when drug busts are going on,” Olsen said, referring to Wilberg.

Keisel then said that there is speeding on Main Street. Another councilman said there is speeding “everywhere,” as Keisel talked more about the issues.

“It is everywhere,” Allen confirmed.

Stallings then mentioned the role of the Utah Highway Patrol in stopping speeding drivers.

“We’ve got a new highway patrolman in town,” Olsen then said.

“I’m not asking [police] to have a quota … because that’s wrong,” Keisel said, stating that the UHP has a quota.

Keisel wants the police to “just come and report” at the council meetings, just before saying that he knows that the police report to Olsen – and that “a lot of it is confidential.”

“I don’t think it would hurt to have a report at least once a quarter,” Atkinson said.

“A report every once and a while wouldn’t be out of line,” Stallings said.

Keisel said the reports could be “a two-way deal,” where the police and council each tell each other what the other needs.

“Whenever you think,” Keisel said to Olsen about how often the police would report to the council. Keisel then noted again that other departments report to the council and said that having something set with the police would give Keisel something to say “when people ask [him] about it.”

Olsen responded by saying that the police want a detective.

Keisel also said that he wants police on his end of town. “Even if they park right in front of my house,” he said.

In other meeting action, Eric Petersen presented on Sewer Line Rapid Assessment tools. He explained that they test for stoppages in relatively small sewers that rely on gravity to get rid of undesirable water.