By Crystal McGough
ARGO – Argo Police Sgt. Jack Como gave the monthly police report at the regular city council meeting on Monday, June 13, where he said that May was a particularly interesting month for the police department.
“Felony arrests are up, and they are up significantly from what they have been,” Como said. “We had eight felony arrests last month, and six of those we can attribute to our police dog, Argo. Argo, on traffic stops, was able to locate narcotics in at least six of those occasions. He’s an outstanding dog.”
Como also said that the department has seen an increase in DUIs since school has been out. Traffic accidents, however, were down for the month of May, he said.
The Argo City Council unanimously passed a motion during the meeting to approve a lease agreement with the Argo Food Bank for a walk-in freezer inside of the municipal complex. The exact location where the freezer will be built has not yet been determined, but the council previously considered either offering an unused office at city hall or making room for it to be built closer to the food bank.
Mike King, with the Argo Community Food Bank, addressed the council on May 25 to request space for the walk-in freezer.
“The food bank has been doing really good; we’ve really been blessed over the last year,” he said. “We really need more freezer space, so what we would like y’all to do is consider donating one of these offices for us to turn into a walk-in freezer.”
King said that the food bank will cover the costs of converting the space into a freezer. The only thing they needed from the city was approval to do so.
In other news, the council approved a motion to purchase unlimited digital storage space for the police department’s body camera footage through Axon, as well as a motion to hire Sabre Tech as the city’s new IT service provider.
Argo Fire Department Chief Scott Payne informed the council that the fire department’s dryer had stopped working and needed replacing. The council approved up to $1,000 of rescue plan act funds to purchase the new dryer for the fire department.
Mayor Betty Bradley said that the city had been approved for a $3,900 tourism grant and will be putting those funds toward a Picnic in the Park event, tentatively scheduled for Oct. 8, 2022.
The next meeting of the Argo City Council will be Monday, June 27, and will begin immediately following a 5 p.m. work session.