Glen Carbon Approves Police Equipment Donations, Dispatch Agreement

GLEN CARBON – The Glen Carbon Police Department is donating extra equipment to other Illinois law enforcement agencies after recent Village Board approval of the donations and two agreements regarding dispatch services and phone systems.

Village Board members approved multiple police-related items at their April 28, 2026 meeting, including:

• The donation of five Paraclete rifle plates to the Alton Police Department

• The donation of eight Paraclete rifle vest and two Point Blank vests to the Meredosia, Ill. Police Department

• The donation of eight Paraclete rifle plates to the Washington County, Ill. Sheriff’s Department

• The execution of a service agreement with NEXTIVA

• A new intergovernmental agreement for dispatch services

Police Chief Todd Link explained the department has no need for certain equipment after trustees approved the purchase of new body armor for all 28 Glen Carbon Police officers.

“With the recent purchase of our Angel Vest 3 body armor systems, we now no longer need to keep our rifle plates,” Link said. “We have 23 total rifle plates – with your approval, I would like to donate these and declare them surplus property.”

“Rifle plates” are individual pieces of body armor specifically designed to protect the wearer from rifle caliber bullets, and are usually worn within a vest or plate carrier. Each of the equipment donations were approved unanimously.

The service agreement with NEXTIVA concerns updating the village’s phone system for telecommunications. Coleen Greenlee, the village’s director of Administration and Technology, said the village’s current phone system is over 10 years old and “in dire need of replacement.”

“We looked into a couple of different bids, a couple of different phone companies, and found that we could eliminate our POTS [Plain Old Telephone Service] lines and reduce our bill by almost $500 a month, and get a brand-new phone system at no cost to the village,” Greenlee said, adding the agreement is good for the next three years.

Link said the intergovernmental agreement regarding dispatch services is a continuation of a previous intergovernmental agreement from 2015 and makes a few significant changes from the previous agreement.

The agreement previously had a term of 10 years; the new agreement will carry a term of 12 years, remaining valid until 2038. The prior agreement also included both capital improvement and operating costs, but Link said capital improvement costs have been taken care of this year, leaving only operational costs going forward. However, he said these operating costs will be higher due to increased call volume and additional dispatchers.

The county-wide agreement also lists operating costs for multiple Madison County emergency response agencies, including the Glen Carbon Fire Protection District and Police Department, Long Lake Volunteer Fire Department, the Maryville Fire and Police Departments, and the Mitchell and Troy Fire Protection Districts.

Link said each agency’s share of operating costs is based on their call volume. For 2024 and 2025, the Glen Carbon Police Department represented 76% of the total operating costs for all listed agencies, as they fielded 76% of calls made. This amounted to $624,344.87 in operational costs for the Glen Carbon Police Department out of a $822,015.23 total for all agencies over the two-year period.

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