May 28—EFFINGHAM — The Effingham Police Department is looking to cut down on the time it takes to file reports by purchasing new crash report software.

During the Effingham City Council meeting last week, Effingham Police Chief Jason McFarland asked the council to consider an agreement with Quicket Solutions Inc. for new crash report software at an annual cost of $6,000. The city would be locked into the annual rate for five years and would have to pay an initial training cost of $1,400.

“Quicket Solutions is a company that provides crash reporting to IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) through our mobile data computers,” McFarland said. “This is a new company based out of Illinois. They’ve been around for a few years.”

The Effingham Police Department has tried using a similar software program to file crash reports, but the free service made filing reports “much more time-consuming” for officers because the department had trouble automatically uploading information, according to McFarland.

“Approximately seven years ago, the city received a grant for about $100,000 to purchase new mobile computers for all the squad cars, with the caveat that we had to transition from paper 1050 forms or crash forms to online or digital,” he said. “There’s a very limited number of vendors that are authorized by IDOT to do this service.”

McFarland said he’s spoken to several other departments that have used the Quicket Solutions software, and they said it’s been working well for them.

“We handle many, many, many crashes a day, so I believe that this will repay itself in dividends in the years to come,” he said.

The council did not take any action during the meeting but is expected to revisit the request to purchase the software during its next meeting June 4.

Also during the meeting, the council heard from members of the Effingham Retired Volunteer Firefighters Association, which raised money to erect a statue of a nurse at HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital Healing Garden to memorialize the 75th anniversary of the St. Anthony Hospital fire. The statue was unveiled during a ceremony in April.

“It was a great presentation, and that statue really turned out beautiful,” Effingham Mayor Mike Schutzbach said.

On behalf of the Effingham Retired Volunteer Firefighters Association, members Jim Wolters and Nick Althoff presented council members with the association’s challenge coins to show their appreciation for the city’s $15,000 contribution toward the project.

“It was a great project,” Wolters said. “It made us feel good, and we couldn’t have done it without the city.”

In other matters, the council approved a second amendment to a real estate purchase agreement between the city and JGKW Holdings LLC, the company that owns Gabby Goat American Pub & Grill. Gabby Goat is purchasing property from the city as it prepares to sell a portion of its land and relocate due to the ongoing construction on Fayette Avenue.

“It extends the closing date for the Gabby Goat on the city’s property from on or before June 1 to on or before Oct. 31,” Effingham City Administrator Steve Miller said.

The amendment also extends the deadline for the termination of the agreement from April 1 to Aug. 1.

During the meeting, the council voted to rezone a property located at 1724 S. Willow St. from NU Nonurban District to R-2 Single-Family Residence District. The Effingham Plan Commission recommended rezoning the property during its May 14 meeting.

“This address is east of the creek on Route 33, so kind of leaving town across from the landfill,” Effingham City Engineer Luke Thoele said. “The property owner is looking to build a new house on the property and sell the existing house, and in order to do that, in order to split the property, they need to rezone from NU to R-2. That way, they can have a smaller parcel size.”

In other matters, the council:

—Approved a Class B liquor license for Wheat Penny LLC.

—Approved $20,000 for Effingham’s Fourth of July fireworks.

—Approved an agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation and Illinois Central Railroad for about $300,000 worth of federally funded railway-highway grade crossing improvements.

—Approved an agreement between the city and the state of Illinois for a Community Development Block Grant to extend McGrath Avenue.

—Approved a contract with Ascent Integrated Technology for tracking equipment for the Effingham Fire Department for $31,500.

—Approved an agreement with Milano & Grunloh Engineers for construction engineering and staking services in the amount of $60,000 for the Jaycee Avenue Storm Sewer Improvement Project.

—Approved an agreement with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the United States Department of Agriculture for an Urban and Community Forestry Assistance Grant for the city’s development of a forestry program.

—Approved a certificate of project completion and release of bonding for the second phase of the Ford Avenue Sanitary Sewer Project, which Effingham Asphalt completed in the amount of $124,396.

—Recognized Larry Thies as the city’s employee of the quarter and year.

Nick Taylor can be reached at nick.taylor@effinghamdailynews.com or by phone at 618-510-9226 or 217-347-7151 ext. 300132.