Mt. Pleasant Council votes down speed trafficking system

The Mt. Pleasant City Council voted down the proposed LIDAR speed trafficking system Wednesday evening.

The meeting was the second reading of the proposed ordinance.

The ordinance would have allowed the Mt. Pleasant Police Department to work alongside a company called Blue Line Solutions. The company would also provide the LIDAR equipment.

LIDAR stands for “light detection and ranging,” and is a method for determining ranges by targeting an object with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver.

Blue Line Solutions would have provided the LIDAR-based automated photo speed enforcement technology, while also handling the collection of data and billing.

The equipment provided was planned to be a handheld device and a mobile speed sensor that would have sat along the road.

Mt. Pleasant Chief of Police Lyle Murray would have been the one to oversee the use and placement of the equipment.

Murray said that the equipment would be shifted locations every week, moving on Fridays. Citizens would be given a heads up to where the location of the sensor is on Monday mornings.

According to Murray, Blue Line would have received 40% of the money collected from fines, while the rest would have gone into public safety.

The speed enforcement idea first came from Blue Line. They were the ones to approach Murray with the proposal.

One of the main arguments against the ordinance was that it would only fix the problem in an area for the week it was placed there.

Others felt that the face-to-face interaction between citizens and police officers is important, and they felt the equipment was moving away from that.

Jeff Batty, Steve Engberg, Matthew Crull, and Kent White all voted against the ordinance.

Bob Griffith and Terry McWilliams were both in favor.

With the ordinance being defeated, there will not be a third reading.

Comments: hunter.moeller@southeastiowaunion.com