March 19, 2024

Progress continuing to make Newton safe

Work progresses on the city’s goal of continuing to make Newton a safe community, which was identified as an essential purpose in the city’s action plan.

The city’s senior analyst Natalie Umsted started a monthly update last year to keep city council and community members current on work aimed on achieving the four essential purposes, and the newest update was provided to city council Monday.

“The city’s purpose is to protect the community and fairly enforce the law; to educate residents and to provide information on safety prevention; to be well prepared in order to promptly respond to emergencies and calls for service; to provide the protection of the environment and the lives of residents and visitors and provide a safe transportation network that is well-maintained,” Umsted said.

The goals within the purpose are divided into three sections — enforce the laws, public safety education and respond to all emergencies. The goals for the enforcement of the law include reducing traffic accidents and reoccurring thefts and burglaries as well as reducing crime in multi-unit housing complexes. Working to improve the quality of Newton’s rental housing, updating existing codes and reviewing the inclusion of other codes is also identified.

The city has taken steps forward to reduce crime in multi-unit housing complexes with the addition of the crime free multi-housing program. The program had its first landlord training class on Jan. 13, Umsted said, with more to come in the future.

To further public safety education, the city will create a public safety task force to promote safety education, respond to all emergencies and monitor, record and evaluate response times and case closures. The city will work to replace outdoor warning sirens, increase performance-based measurements at the fire department and create and implement employee emergency response.

“A wide variety of tasks have been completed in this area since the last update. From reviewing the international fire code to Shop with a Cop, and by assigning officers to different patrol routes that will hopefully create more security in our community,” Umsted said.

The city has also replaced two warning sirens which are currently being tested for future use.

For the goal of responding to all emergencies, the city will implement a community-wide master plan for traffic control, conduct an engineering study to evaluate downtown traffic and implement a five-year street maintenance program.

“It’s nice to see progress in one of our most important areas,” councilwoman Lin Chapé said.

Economic development will be the next essential purpose to be presented during a February city council meeting. High quality of life and effective, efficient democratic governance will follow in March and April, with the cycle starting over in May.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com