The City of Danville is exploring possibly starting a Community Service Work Program. Corporation Counsel David Wesner says preliminary plans are to have city code enforcement staff to oversee the program. And Wesner says he appreciates their willingness to help.
And Wesner cautioned his office is ‘’in the very, very initial stages of discussion on how to structure it.’’ And Wesner says it will likely be many months, and maybe a year before the program is ready to launch. He says one of the things that will have to be considered is whether participants will be able to get to job sites. And Wesner adds that is why participants would likely be assigned to do community service work in their own ward, so they could actually walk to the site. He says crews could perhaps help with not only cleaning up the city, but also placing boards over windows of vacant structures.
The program would only involve ordinance cases which are processed through Danville’s Municipal Court. Wesner says it would not involve other cases — such as someone getting a speeding ticket.
The City previously used Vermilion County Probation Department crews for such things as clean-up work. And Wesner says the City ‘’lost a lot’’ when it lost those crews. He says there currently is no way to do public service work in Danville.
