Police want to be paid up front for Mumford & Sons concert

The Dixon Police Department is calculating how much extra overtime it and other departments it will bring in will incur because of the concert, which is expected to practically double the population of the town overnight, Police Chief Danny Langloss said.

“We have to have total compensation [up front] to get the necessary police officers to provide for the security,” he said. “We’re just not financially in a position to do it any other way.”

Public Safety Commissioner Dennis Considine said he also wants to make sure the city isn’t stuck holding the bill.

Langloss already has received the thumbs up on a total reimbursement, he said, but he has not obtained assurance that it will be paid up front.

Dixon Main Street Executive Director Josh Albrecht, who was behind the popular London-based band choosing Dixon as one of its four U.S. stopovers, attended Monday’s meeting to go over some of the special requests.

The council did not discuss the requests or vote on any of them.

Mayor Jim Burke wants it written up as an agreement between the city and either Mumford’s management or Jam Productions, the company handling the Dixon stop.

According to Albrecht, Main Street will request that:

– Downtown bars be allowed to stay open until 2 a.m., instead of the current 1 a.m., the night of the concert.

– The downtown area be cordoned off and the open container ordinance be suspended in that area.

– Numerous streets be closed from noon Friday to early Sunday.

– Visitors be allowed to camp and park at the city-owned Fargo Creek field off Chicago Avenue in exchange for a “nice donation.”

– Municipal lots be used for different public and merchant parking.

“We want to make sure this is as smooth and safe as possible for the city,” Albrecht said. “We know that bringing in 15,000 people is a big chunk, but we’re very confident that it’s going to be very smooth. We’re quite eager to amaze some people who don’t think so.”