Champion fire chief seeks pay boost for part-timers
CHAMPION — Fire Chief Tom Dempsey is planning to meet with township officials to look at ways to increase the pay of part-time firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics to boost its ranks.
Dempsey said the township is paying $13 to $14 per hour for part-timers, which is among the lowest pay in the area. He said he wants to see what can be done to increase the pay despite tight budgets and equipment needs.
Dempsey said it is important to retain the current part-timers, but he also would like to attract more. He said there are 22 part-time firefighters on the roster, but many are not able to always work because of other full-time jobs.
He said one position has been cut in the fire department. That person handled inputting data into the computer and EMS billing — work that he said now will be handled by the fire captain and him.
Dempsey said not filling the position will save $20,000.
Fiscal Officer Laurie-Jo Miller said she agrees with Dempsey on the need for a pay increase, but finances need to be reviewed to see how it would be funded.
Dempsey said the Woodland Meadows development smoke detector program has started.
COMMUNITY CLEANUP
Trustees also are reviewing whether to host a spring community cleanup after numerous problems occurred last year, including people dropping off garbage and debris, companies dropping off huge amounts of tires and traffic jams at the township garage, which was the dropoff site.
Trustee Rex Fee said the cleanup needs to be reviewed on what will or will not be accepted, limits on what can be dropped off and a possible new dropoff location.
“It was crazy, some of the stuff being dropped off. People were dropping garbage from their kitchen,” Fee said.
He said companies also were bringing in huge truckloads of tires.
Trustee Rick York said traffic was crazy at times.
Trustee Doug Emerine suggested having a dropoff site by the Trumbull Career and Technical Center with people accessing the location via Educational Highway, which is a long road.
He said the township has received grants for the service, but it still costs money for employees and other expenses, with some years costing more than $8,000.
Emerine said he was concerned that if people do not drop off tires at a collection, they will dump them in parts of the township. The cleanup day was tabled for further review.
In other business, trustees have scheduled two public informational meetings to explain the need for a police levy, which would be passed on the May ballot. The meetings were set for 6 p.m. March 27 and 2 p.m. March 29, both at the township administration building.
Emerine said residents are encouraged to attend to ask questions about the levy.
Also, a garage sale weekend was set May 22 to 25, with permits and registration required to have a sale but no cost for the permit.