Heated Debate With Fire Dept. At Syracuse Council Meeting
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jude Strieby-Raska-
Included in the budget was $50,000 to complete the upstairs of Station 2, $130,000 for improving Station 1, $31,000 for required training, $275,000 for replacement of tanker and $30,000 for breathing apparatus.
Town Council President Larry Siegel noted that the way budgets have been drafted have been in violation of the agreement since its conception, based on one paragraph of the agreement. Scott brought attention to another paragraph of the agreement, which he stated allowed for the way the budgets are developed.
Scott claimed that the article talking about the delegation of the powers of the executive board superseded the first draft of the agreement, while Siegel claimed that there was no language in the contract that negated provisions of the first draft.
Vern Landis, town attorney, said the agreement was inconsistent in its verbiage.
Bill Musser, council member, asked what the problem was with sitting with the town council to develop the fire department budget before presentation.
Siegel said the fire department was not providing the council suitable information or time for scrutiny of expenses, which did not allow the council the opportunity to responsibly make their decision.
Repeatedly through the meeting, Scott mentioned that he was happy to answer or explain any concerns the council had about budget needs. Siegel noted that 2016’s inclusion of a fire department representative to town council meetings was a step toward healing the rift created by the lack of information and collaboration between the council and the fire department.
Siegel said his main concern was knowing where the taxpayers’ money was going. He said his questions had nothing to do with the quality, skill level or service provided by the fire department. He said there needed to be more discussion of the surrounding issues of the fire department budget, and he suggested a budget workshop with the council and the fire board once yearly to talk about projects.
Musser concurred and asked that the fire department sit down with the town council and explain proposed expenses before the budget is developed.
In other fire news, Scott reported the Syracuse Fire Territory responded in June to a total of 130 calls. At the end of June, there were 701 emergency responses for 2016, up 79 responses for the same period last year. There were no injuries or fires reported as a result of the July 4th fireworks display on Lake Wawasee and Syracuse Lake.
The fire territory has so far spent 325.5 hours on fire and EMS training in 2016, and taught a free CPR course to the public. Their next CPR course is scheduled for July 28. Interested parties may call 574-457-6917 to sign up for the course.
Batteries were replaced in the outdoor warning sirens June 23, at which time it was discovered that a battery recharger needed to be replaced.
Overhead garage doors and openers are slated to be installed in the first to middle of August.
A fire department key to the water tower was requested due to there not being a key readily accessible. Public Works Superintendent Rob Merchant agreed to work with Scott in order to come up with a suitable solution to the accessibility problem.
Town Manager Henry DeJulia reported the town is waiting on a letter from the Elkhart County Commissioners Office in regard to the resolution for the annexation of the tech park.
A house at 305 Pearl St. was demolished, removed and cleaned up, and the salt barn was finished.
The trail system crossing Ind. 13 was mentioned, mainly to express that more discussion was needed on how to make it safe for both pedestrians and cars.
Syracuse Police Chief Jim Layne requested appropriation for nine tasers, one for each full-time officer, with the two currently in use going to the reserve officers as needed. Total cost of the appropriation is $10,024.96, which include $499 for holsters. The council approved the appropriation.
Tyler McLead, program director of the Parks Department, reported a busy month with Mudtastic Classic boasting 150 runners, up 96 from last year, and the Tour de Lakes bike ride having 308 participants, up from 217 in 2015. It was mentioned that the Tour de Lakes has gained 301 local and out-of-county participants in the last six years.
Merchant reported some problems with equipment replaced under the recently approved wastewater improvement project change order with Triad. Siegel expressed concern about whether work would be done in time for the approved extension. Merchant said he believed it would be. The change order needed to be signed by the town council before the next council meeting, so DeJulia was approved to sign the change order as the council’s representative.
Clerk-Treasurer Paula Kehr-Wicker presented the TIF financial report to the fiscal body.
Public input came from Robert Mayhew, owner of Chatterbox Food Truck. He questioned the prices of the food permit ordinance for Syracuse, saying that $600 per year for the town is excessive. The council responded that they believed the fee was appropriate.
Mayhew then asked why he needed to pay an extra event fee to park events. The council responded that the park was a separate entity from the town and set their own fees. Siegel asked the council if any felt there needed to be a change, and the sentiment was to keep the ordinance the same.
Proposed 2017 budgets for fire, town, park, street, police and clerk were presented to the council for review.
The proposed 2017 total budget for the town is $4,106,133.
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Included in the budget was $50,000 to complete the upstairs of Station 2, $130,000 for improving Station 1, $31,000 for required training, $275,000 for replacement of tanker and $30,000 for breathing apparatus.
Town Council President Larry Siegel noted that the way budgets have been drafted have been in violation of the agreement since its conception, based on one paragraph of the agreement. Scott brought attention to another paragraph of the agreement, which he stated allowed for the way the budgets are developed.
Scott claimed that the article talking about the delegation of the powers of the executive board superseded the first draft of the agreement, while Siegel claimed that there was no language in the contract that negated provisions of the first draft.
Vern Landis, town attorney, said the agreement was inconsistent in its verbiage.
Bill Musser, council member, asked what the problem was with sitting with the town council to develop the fire department budget before presentation.
Siegel said the fire department was not providing the council suitable information or time for scrutiny of expenses, which did not allow the council the opportunity to responsibly make their decision.
Repeatedly through the meeting, Scott mentioned that he was happy to answer or explain any concerns the council had about budget needs. Siegel noted that 2016’s inclusion of a fire department representative to town council meetings was a step toward healing the rift created by the lack of information and collaboration between the council and the fire department.
Siegel said his main concern was knowing where the taxpayers’ money was going. He said his questions had nothing to do with the quality, skill level or service provided by the fire department. He said there needed to be more discussion of the surrounding issues of the fire department budget, and he suggested a budget workshop with the council and the fire board once yearly to talk about projects.
Musser concurred and asked that the fire department sit down with the town council and explain proposed expenses before the budget is developed.
In other fire news, Scott reported the Syracuse Fire Territory responded in June to a total of 130 calls. At the end of June, there were 701 emergency responses for 2016, up 79 responses for the same period last year. There were no injuries or fires reported as a result of the July 4th fireworks display on Lake Wawasee and Syracuse Lake.
The fire territory has so far spent 325.5 hours on fire and EMS training in 2016, and taught a free CPR course to the public. Their next CPR course is scheduled for July 28. Interested parties may call 574-457-6917 to sign up for the course.
Batteries were replaced in the outdoor warning sirens June 23, at which time it was discovered that a battery recharger needed to be replaced.
Overhead garage doors and openers are slated to be installed in the first to middle of August.
A fire department key to the water tower was requested due to there not being a key readily accessible. Public Works Superintendent Rob Merchant agreed to work with Scott in order to come up with a suitable solution to the accessibility problem.
Town Manager Henry DeJulia reported the town is waiting on a letter from the Elkhart County Commissioners Office in regard to the resolution for the annexation of the tech park.
A house at 305 Pearl St. was demolished, removed and cleaned up, and the salt barn was finished.
The trail system crossing Ind. 13 was mentioned, mainly to express that more discussion was needed on how to make it safe for both pedestrians and cars.
Syracuse Police Chief Jim Layne requested appropriation for nine tasers, one for each full-time officer, with the two currently in use going to the reserve officers as needed. Total cost of the appropriation is $10,024.96, which include $499 for holsters. The council approved the appropriation.
Tyler McLead, program director of the Parks Department, reported a busy month with Mudtastic Classic boasting 150 runners, up 96 from last year, and the Tour de Lakes bike ride having 308 participants, up from 217 in 2015. It was mentioned that the Tour de Lakes has gained 301 local and out-of-county participants in the last six years.
Merchant reported some problems with equipment replaced under the recently approved wastewater improvement project change order with Triad. Siegel expressed concern about whether work would be done in time for the approved extension. Merchant said he believed it would be. The change order needed to be signed by the town council before the next council meeting, so DeJulia was approved to sign the change order as the council’s representative.
Clerk-Treasurer Paula Kehr-Wicker presented the TIF financial report to the fiscal body.
Public input came from Robert Mayhew, owner of Chatterbox Food Truck. He questioned the prices of the food permit ordinance for Syracuse, saying that $600 per year for the town is excessive. The council responded that they believed the fee was appropriate.
Mayhew then asked why he needed to pay an extra event fee to park events. The council responded that the park was a separate entity from the town and set their own fees. Siegel asked the council if any felt there needed to be a change, and the sentiment was to keep the ordinance the same.
Proposed 2017 budgets for fire, town, park, street, police and clerk were presented to the council for review.
The proposed 2017 total budget for the town is $4,106,133.
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