The Bellefontaine City Council took the first step at their Tuesday evening meeting, July 22, to adding nine new firefighters/paramedic positions to the Bellefontaine Fire Department, as well as nine new positions to the Bellefontaine Police Department.
Council members approved the two different ordinances on the first of three required readings.
In his report to the council, Fire Chief Brian Wilson said that the fire department has the same amount of firefighters now as it did in 1962 when the BFD averaged one to two runs per day. The Bellefontaine Fire Department nows averages eight to 10 runs per day, Chief Wilson continued, with the same number of personnel it had 63 years ago.
Chief Wilson went on to say that at least one firefighter/paramedic is on overtime for each shift and there are times that the BFD is unable to adequately respond when two or more calls are received in a short time period.
The Bellefontaine Police Department is facing similar staffing shortages and difficulties.
Chief Wilson’s concerns were echoed by Service Safety Director Wes Dodds, who noted that the city was incurring significant overtime expenditures in both these departments because of the lack of staffing.
This could be rectified by the passage of these two ordinances, Dodds said, as the city has the authority to employ a total of 30 firefighters and 40 police officers, neither of which the BFD or BPD are close to filling at this time.
Both ordinances sailed through on the first reading Tuesday without a dissenting vote and both measures must come back – and be passed by council – for two more readings before the BFD and the BPD may actively start seeking to fill those positions.
Three measures were passed and adopted on their final readings at Tuesday’s meeting.
One will allow supplemental appropriations for the tax department, while a second will authorize the city to enter into a repair and grant agreement with Skyhigh Investments, LLC regarding a city-owned building at 114 N. Detroit St. The ordinance will also authorize the transfer of the property from the city to Skyhigh Investments LLC, which seeks to rehabilitate the building. The council waived the third reading on both of those ordinances and both passed with a unanimous vote.
Also passed on its third reading, again without a dissenting vote, at Tuesday’s meeting was an ordinance allowing the city to grant power of attorney to Priority Power Management, LLC for natural gas aggregation services.
Up for a first reading Tuesday was an ordinance authorizing a $100,000 contribution from the city toward the new Logan County Animal Shelter.
Dodds told the council that when the county last had an operating animal shelter, the city was contributing approximately $23,000 a year for the housing of stray dogs and cats found in the city.
Over the last several years, Dodds continued, stray animals found in Bellefontaine have been taken out of county without any cost to the city, but this an arrangement that has become untenable. This ordinance, if passed, would represent five years of contributions from the city toward the new animal shelter, after which time representatives from the city and the animal shelter will meet to discuss an equitable agreement on the city’s future contributions to the animal shelter.
Bellefontaine also got one step closer to becoming about 46 acres larger in size as the council passed on its second reading an ordinance that would accept the annexation of the LeVan property adjacent to southeast section of Bellefontaine, parcels that are located south of Lake Avenue and east of Ludlow Road/County Road 1. The property is expected to be used to construct housing units.
This ordinance will be up for its third and final reading at the next council meeting.
In his report to council Tuesday, Mayor David Crissman reported that seven local students will be visiting Bellefontaine’s sister city of Suzuka, Japan, next week as part of a cultural exchange program. The students are expected to be in Japan for one week before returning home.
During the citizen comments portion of the meeting, Maple Street Avenue resident Barry Clayton vented his frustration at what he characterized as the city’s lack of response to a complaint he expressed at a previous meeting. At that time, Clayton reported that motorists entering south Main Street from Maple Avenue have their line of sight blocked by a large tree located approximately 125 feet north of the intersection.
Clayton made it clear that he is dissatisfied with the city’s administration efforts in response to his complaints, and in what was a heated statement, insisted that the issue is an accident waiting to happen.
“Shame on you,“ Clayton told the council and administration. “You ought to be hanging your heads.”
City council is scheduled to meet again in regular session at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12.
