Colby-Abbotsford Police to purchase ballistic shields

Council members at the Abbotsford City Council meeting on March 15 approved a motion to allow the Colby-Abbotsford Police Department to purchase two ballistic shields to be placed in squad vehicles.

The shields will be purchased using money from a drug bust a couple of months ago. According to trustee Sarah Diedrich, who resides on the police commission, the significant other of the person who was busted with a substantial amount of money forfeited the money back to the police department. Diedrich said the department was allowed to use the money obtained in the bust for anything it might need.

Mayor Jim Weix confirmed the department secured around $12,000 in the drug bust. Out of that money, the shields will cost $8,099.96, leaving about $4,000 for other expenses.

Councilman Mason Rachu, who also resides on the police commission, said the shields will allow police to be more aggressive in saving people in need.

“If there’s an armed gunman, they usually have to wait in certain situations until the county gets there. Now, in certain circumstances, they could go right in,” Rachu said.

Diedrich said the department felt that they could have used them in the past so they said now would be a good time to purchase them.

The two shields will be placed in the two squad vehicles that will be used the most.

The motion passed, unanimously to purchase the shields.

Seventh Street project

The city council voted to approve a plan to resurface Seventh Street as a supplemental street project.

“That road has never been paved. It’s just a chip seal surface,” Public Works Director Craig Stuttgen said. “It needs ditching and resurfacing but there’s only two people living down there so it’s been pushed off for years.”

Stuttgen said he and Soyk worked to find a smaller job that was available so the city could use money from its capital improvement fund which stands at around $200,000. The project is estimated to cost $82,510.

The money was available after the city was able to use TIF district five revenue to cover a portion of another street project.

“We had to pick some jobs that were smaller, quick to do and didn’t take a lot of engineering,” Stuttgen said. “It needs to be done. It’s been on the fiveyear plan for ten years. It’s one of those projects that never quite fit in.”

The council voted unanimously to approve the project to be done this year.