Mascoutah City Council – Officer Penet Receives Life Saving Award

Officer Penet receives Life Saving Award, presented by Police Chief Scott Waldrup

By Zachary Daum

Officer Brad Penet received a Life Saving award at the March 6 City Council meeting. Penet arrived at a residence to find a woman unresponsive and turning purple. He was alerted that she may have been choking on a bratwurst. He noted quickly that although not breathing, she had a pulse and quickly administered the heimlich maneuver several times to the woman, who began returning to a normal color. After the arrival of EMS and more attempts to dislodge the food, the bratwurst came free of her airway. Afterwards she was transported to a local hospital for further care. The city council thanked Officer Penet for his actions.

Mayor Pat McMahan attended the meeting via Zoom after coming down with COVID, but discussed supply chain issues and will discuss this more in a future meeting. “I went to the American Public Power Association meetings, which is basically a lobbying effort in Washington DC, and I learned a few things and got a different perspective on a couple of things that are very interesting.”

The council approved a contract bid from Meurer Brothers in the amount of $44,600 to provide all labor, materials and equipment for the 138KV Line 2 Right of Way Tree Trimming and Clearance and right of way that require tree and brush clearing for the installation of a new transmission line. Due to the Indiana Bat maternity colony migration patterns, these trees must be removed before March 31. The funding will be pulled from the Electric Phase II bank loan, used for the Electric Phase II project.

The council also approved a bid by UTILITRA paid for by funds originally allocated to resurface the police department floor lobby, but were decided to be put to better use by  project to purchase 4 LPR (License Plate Reader) cameras for the amount of $25,159.11. The LPR system would be able to transmit video via cellular data to a database that is able to read license plates and return information about the driver and vehicle to the police department. Used in nearby areas, this reader assists in the arrest of active warrants, outdated license plate stickers and other potential license plate assisted police activities.

The council approved the adoption of a resolution to commit local funds for the St. Clair County Program Year 2023 Community Development Block Grant. This grant, if awarded, would pay for the removal and replacing of the existing curb and storm sewer with a new curb, storm sewer lines and other structures. The cost for the city if this grant were awarded would be $40,000, with $100,000 awarded.

The council discussed a code ordinance change to add a two way stop to the intersection of W. State St. and S. 4th St. Mayor McMahan brought up the concern that nearby yield signs could possibly confuse drivers. Mascoutah Police Chief Scott Waldrup said that with the increased traffic from nearby businesses, he believed that the yield sign should still stay up. Al Paulson suggested that before moving forward they would look at changing the yield sign to a stop sign, to become a four-way stop. The council will continue this discussion in a future meeting.

Jack Wyant also wanted to point out that the fiber installation program is being headed by Frontier Communications and is not a city program. Those with concerns or issues should contact Frontier Communications by emailing them at FTRQACentral@ftr.com or by calling Frontier Communications at (309) 823-3927.

Mascoutah will hold their next city council meeting on Monday, March 20 at 7:00 PM.