Video gaming revenue proposal rejected

An amendment that would have allocated the city’s video gaming revenue to the O’Fallon public safety and public work departments failed Monday by one vote on the City Council floor.

Ward 3 Alderman Kevin Hagarty’s proposed amendment failed after the City Council voted 7-7.

The amendment would have needed a simple majority of the vote to pass.

Mayor Gary Graham was absent from the meeting, which lasted about 45 minutes.

Hagarty recommended putting 25 percent of the city’s video gaming revenue into the public safety department’s budget for training, body cameras, solar lit stop signs (like the stop sign currently installed at Third and Lincoln) and crosswalks.

The remaining 75 percent would have been given to the public works department and be used to fund stormwater testing, he said.

According to the Illinois Gaming Board Video Gaming Report, the city received $45,202 in additional revenue from January 2015-February 2016 from 51 video gaming machines located in O’Fallon.

Ward 1’s Richie Meile, Ward 2’s Robert Kueker, Ward 3’s Jerry Mouser, who served as mayor pro tem, Ward 4’s Herb Roach, Ward 4’s Matthew Smallheer and Ward 6’s Ned Drolet supported Hagarty’s proposal.

But Ward 1’s Gene McCoskey, Ward 2’s Jerry Albrecht, Ward 5’s Mike Bennett, Ward 5’s Courtney Marsh, Ward 6’s Ray Holden, Ward 7’s David Cozad and Ward 7’s Harlan Gerrish opposed taking the video gaming revenue out of the city’s Strategic Planning Budget.

Roach said the Strategic Planning Budget was added as a line item to the city’s General Fund budget about three years ago, and now has over $750,000.

“And this money is not allocated to any intended uses,” Roach said.

Albrecht opposed the amendment, saying it would have “started a terrible precedence.”

“We (the City Council) are here to set policy,” he said.

“From a philosophical standpoint, (Hagarty) has a good idea. But, this is the wrong way to do it. This could start a bad precedence, and we could spend hours from now on instructing staff where we want that $50,000, this $30,000 and this $100,000 to go.”

On March 28, the city’s Finance and Administrative Committee voted 4-3 in favor of Hagarty’s amendment. At that meeting, Sandy Evans,O’Fallon’s Director of Finance, said the video gaming revenue was already in the General Fund, and that the Police and Streets budgets were already included the general fund.

Alderman McCoskey said Hagarty’s proposal would also be micro-managing the city’s staff.

“I do believe the staff puts together a good budget,” he said.

Hagarty said he does not like to micromanage.

But he opposes the video gaming revenue being put in the city’s General Fund.

“While I was campaigning last year, I received a number of questions from Ward 3 residents about video gaming and the revenue it generates,” he said. “A number of residents then expressed an interest in that video gaming revenue be placed into the public works and public safety budgets.”

O’Fallon Police Chief Eric Van Hook said he was surprised to learn that Hagarty’s amendment would be used to buy body cameras for his police officers.

“That’s news to me,” he said.

Last August, Governor Bruce Rauner a measure that set standards for how police officer-worn body cameras can be used amid recent cries for more police accountability following officer-involved shootings and deaths. Van Hook opposes the law, saying it is poorly written.

Van Hook said Hagarty’s proposal would also not come close to funding a body camera program for his department.

“We would need a person full time who is dedicated to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act requests and IT( information technology),” he said.

Van Hook said he also is not interested in the body camera program until the state restructures the law.

“I would rather see lighted stop signs before body cameras,” he said.

Under the law, the state would add $5 onto traffic tickets to pay for the equipment, expand police officer training on use of force and create a database to track officers who commit misconduct.

Additionally, the law would require an independent investigation of all officer-involved deaths and would make investigation reports part of the public record if an officer involved in a death is not charged with a crime. The law came after a series of officer-involved deaths generated momentum around efforts to change the way police interact with the communities they serve.

The law would not require police departments to use body cameras, but it would set guidelines for those that choose to do so including requiring cameras be turned on when conducting law enforcement activities or turning them off at the request of a victim or witness. Recordings wouldn't be considered public record, unless they contained potential evidence in a use-of-force incident, the discharge of a weapon or a death.

On April 17, the City Council is expected to adopt the $67.7 million budget, which will represent an 11 percent decrease compared to the previous year.

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 1:58 PM with the headline "Video gaming revenue proposal rejected."