DeKalb Times

DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes has provided other city officials and residents with an update on all of his recent excursions with the various departments of the city during a September 12 City Council meeting. 

In a video of the meeting posted on YouTube by The Official City Of DeKalb, Illinois Municipal Government Video Channel, Barnes said the city hosted a community meeting on violent crime. 

"The city manager and I met with quite a few organizations: religious leaders, community leaders, landlords. In light of all the different issues that we have right now when it comes to violent crime, I wanted to call a quick meeting," Barnes said in the video. "We had the alderpersons show up as well to start the discussion on what are we going to do?"

During the meeting, Barnes briefly talked about his meeting with city manager Bill Nicklas, the superintendent of the school district, the school board president, and the financial director in order to discuss plans for the increased tax revenues that the governing bodies will receive. They wanted to make sure residents would feel the benefits from the increase.

The mayor also talked about how he served as a facilitator for one of Congresswoman Lauren Underwood's (D-IL) public meetings. DeKalb will be a part of Underwood's district once the redistricting of the area is complete. Barnes said he was grateful to have her represent DeKalb citizens at the federal level because she's always been an advocate for the city. 

Barnes also talked at length about his recent police ride along during the night shift and praised the patience and understanding of DeKalb's officers while admiring their dedication to the city. This was his third time tagging along with police officers and shadowing them from 8:00 pm to 3:00 am. He said he felt it was important to be able to see what the offers are dealing with such as shots fired, fights, and other high-stress calls firsthand.