Board Tables Vehicle Policy, Bans Fake Drugs

Wishing for more time to consider their options, the Village Board voted Monday night to table talks on an employee vehicle policy.

It’s been a bumpy road for that policy. Trustees began looking at employee vehicles and vehicle allowances in July, believing they could save money by cutting or reducing them. Montgomery spends roughly $6,072 per year on four take-home vehicles for employees, according to Finance Director Jeff Zoephel.

The village also pays to insure and maintain those vehicles, and spends an additional $9,600 on vehicle allowances for three other staff members who use their own cars to drive to work.

After initially agreeing to a proposal that would grandfather in all existing employees and allow the board to consider new hires on a case by case basis, trustees voted it down 4-2 earlier this month. On Monday, a new draft of the proposal—one that limits take-home vehicles to members of the police department and sets a specific 20-mile radius within which employees driving cars home must live—came before the board.

Before talks started, Village Manager Anne Marie Gaura requested that if trustees were to pass a new policy that would result in take-home vehicles being taken away from employees (specifically Director Mike Pubentz, who lives in Ottowa, 45 miles from Montgomery), that they implement that change no earlier than Jan. 1.

But trustees did not move forward. Trustees Bill Keck, Matt Brolley and Stan Bond, in that order, asked for more time to review the new ordinance, and the board voted 5-1 to table the issue.

Brolley cast the no vote, and said he did so because he wanted the discussion to continue Monday night.

The board did take action on a ban of synthetic drugs in the village, unanimously approving it as part of the consent agenda.

The new law was patterned on Aurora’s, and makes it illegal to sell, use or possess any product containing synthetic cannabis, stimulants or psychedelics and hallucinogens. The focus, however, is on fake marijuana, sometimes referred to as K2 or Spice, which is sold as potpourri (and marked not for human consumption) and then smoked.

The synthetic substances provide a more intense high than genuine marijuana, but are made with chemicals that could have terrible side effects.

Police Chief Daniel Meyers said fake marijuana can be purchased at gas stations and convenience stores, and he knows of about four places in the village that currently sell it. Meyers said police will visit those locations and educate owners about the new law, and the dangers of synthetic drugs.

Trustees will next convene for a Committee of the Whole meeting on Nov. 9.