Polo partners with other Ogle County towns to provide public works aid

POLO – Polo and several other Ogle County municipalities are partnering to support each other’s public works departments during emergencies.

On Monday, Polo City Council members unanimously voted to join the Illinois Public Works Mutual Aid Network program. Aldermen Joey Kochsmeier and Tommy Bardell were absent.

The program provides a way for public works-related agencies to request and/or provide aid to other members of the program in the form of personnel, equipment, materials and other associated services, according to the IPWMAN agreement.

“In a disaster, we help each other with equipment,” Mayor Doug Knapp said. “This company has a reasonable rate, and they coordinate.”

The other Ogle County municipalities that joined are Oregon, Stillman Valley, Mount Morris and Byron, he said.

Polo Public Works Director Kendall Kyker will make a list of all the equipment the city has available, as will his counterparts in the other municipalities, Knapp said. That way, everyone will know who has what and, in the case of an emergency, equipment can be shared, he said.

IPWMAN members can choose to not provide aid or assistance at any time for any reason and will not suffer any penalties for doing so, according to the agreement.