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EAST PALESTINE -- East Palestine Council tackled several pieces of legislation during its regular meeting Monday, including a second reading to adopt a wage scale and other updates to the whitebook (the personnel policy handbook) that would staff EMS in the village on a 24 hours a day, seven days a week basis.
"The proposed changes would be that we go to staffing 24 hours a day, seven days a week opposed to the current arrangement. The East Palestine Fire Chief Keith Drabrick explained. "Anything outside of that is done on an on-call basis, predominantly from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. Not only does that leave us a gap from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., but it doesn't guarantee us coverage and the way the current structure is you have to live in or close proximity to town to be able to run those on-calls. Switching to this 24-hour schedule, covering hour-to-hour, that would allow us the opportunity to hire from outside, people would be required to be on station. They wouldn't be coming from (out of town) and that cuts down our response time quite a bit."
Council also introduced and approved a resolution to allow City Manager Chad Edwards to draft incorporated documents to create a Community Improvement Corporation (CIC). The benefits of a CIC include the ability to borrow money, provide loans, buy and sell real estate and acquire the good will, business, rights, real and personal property, and other assets and apply for and administer grants.
"There are certain things that public agencies can't do and this organization will allow us to do some of those things," Edwards said. "What I am asking you to vote on tonight is to just submit this to the state so we can form it. It will be developed later as far as how it will be funded. Right now, we just want to establish it."
Council also approved a resolution to allow Edwards to issue a notice of termination for a consulting agreement with media consulting services and advance payment on terminating purposes.
A third reading was held for an ordinance granting consent to the Ohio Department of Transportation to maintain state roads within the village and provide winter maintenance for roads, a second for an ordinance to contract David Powers as the village attorney for one year and the first for an ordinance to amend the village income tax code to comply with Ohio House Bill 33.
In other matters, Street Committee Chair Mark Walker reported that barring any unforeseen circumstances or bad weather, the park bridge replacement project should be completed on Dec. 8, while Development Committee Chair Linda May reported that the Think Tank's Envision East Palestine event was a huge success with nearly 10 times more than usual the amount of people attending.
The East Palestine Firefighters Association's Fill-A-Fire-Truck Toy Drive is set for Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event, which benefits Social Concerns, is hosted by Gorby's. The truck will be located in the old Brittain Motors lot that was recently acquired by Norfolk Southern, located at 428 N. Market St. Those wishing to participate are asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy.
Mayor Trent Conaway utilized his time to remember longtime East Palestine Barbara Greaves, who passed away Oct. 16. Greaves was a 1971 graduate and salutatorian of East Palestine High School and served as an Advanced EMT with the East Palestine Fire Department for over 30 years.
"Last meeting, I spoke of losing Margo Zuch and Bev Doran, and I mistakenly forgot to mention Barb Greaves," Conaway said. "Barb was a 30-year member of our fire department, especially as an EMS. She was pivotal back when we had our training center. She has done a lot for our area and she was taken from us way too soon."