MOUNT VERNON—The Mount Vernon Fire Department held a swearing-in ceremony on Sept. 30 to promote three individuals and welcome three new hires.
Fire Chief Chad Christopher promoted Ben Harrod to captain and Brayden Kramp and Nate Hines to lieutenant. Hines is EMS training coordinator lieutenant.
Peyton Lester, Macie Bates, and Nathan Burghart took the oath of office as firefighter/paramedic.
“We’re proud of each one of their accomplishments, and look forward to them serving our community. They’ll do great,” Christopher said.
Christopher said the department responded to 556 service calls in September. The year-to-date total equals 4,674.
Oct. 6-12 is Fire Prevention Week. The department will host an open house on Thursday, Oct. 10, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the 200 W. Gambier St. station. Christopher encourages youngsters to come in costume.
All officers and one senior personnel completed the Incident Safety Officer class provided by the Ohio Fire Academy. They are now going through the hands-on assessment part of the Blue Card incident command system.
“With this round, all of our officers will have completed that course,” Christopher said. “That’s a three-day course.”
The open burn ban between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. is in effect for October and November.
Hose testing is underway, and hydrant flushing is complete. The department will flush Gambier’s hydrants on Oct. 7.
Mount Vernon Police Department
The MVPD responded to more than 1,300 calls in August, including the report of a shooting on Greenwood Avenue on Sept. 28.
Police Chief Robert Morgan said Leroy E. King remains in the Knox County Jail. Bond was set at $50,000.
“An additional charge of attempted felonious assault was added to the original charge of discharging a firearm into an occupied structure,” Morgan said. “Both of those are felony 2s.”
Morgan reiterated that per Ohio’s Marsy’s Law, the MVPD will not release the victim’s name at this time.
“Everybody wants to know the victim’s name, but we are still constrained by that requirement,” he said. “My understanding is the victim is still in the hospital, and that’s all I can release for that.
“My officers did a good job and were quick to respond,” he said. He noted that misinformation emerged about the individual being at large, and Knox Community Hospital went on lockdown.
“A lot of time that happens, things happen quick,” Morgan said. “They put themselves on lock-down for precautionary measures. In a case like this, it’s better safe than sorry, but the individual involved never left the scene.”
The department completed transitioning to the new portable radios and is up and running on MARCS (Multi-agency Radio Communication System).
Morgan said the old radios were nearing the end of their lives. The department plans to get new mobile car radios next year.
“Then we will have an updated radio system that will take us into probably into the next 10 to 15 years without replacement,” Morgan said.
The department will repurpose the old radios for other departments to use as backups.
Morgan acknowledged the accomplishments of Lt. Rex Young, who received a statewide award from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for Excellence in Training.
“This is a big deal for Mount Vernon and our department, especially Rex. He does an outstanding job, and we’re grateful to have him in the community,” he said.
Administration
Mayor Matt Starr said revenue stands at $15.1 million year-to-date, more than $319,000 higher than last year.
Employee income tax withholding is up over $602,000 year-to-date compared to last year. Although business taxes are down about $200,000, Starr anticipates that to rise as the deadline nears for those filed extensions.
“Financially, we’re looking good,” Starr said.
Newly elected Auditor Paul Mayville’s onboarding is underway, a process Starr said realistically takes six months.
“Part of what’s important is to surround Paul with people who are just a phone call away,” Starr said. “He’s doing a nice job and we’re making progress [in that office].”
New website launch
The city will launch its new website on Oct. 16 as part of its focus on upgraded infrastructure.
“When people say infrastructure, they think often think of water pipes and things like that. They don’t often think modern infrastructure is technology,” Safety-service Director Tanner Salyers said.
Salyers said the new site answers, “How do you contact your government?” and enables citizens to “interface with their government a lot more directly.”
The mountvernonohio.org domain will change to mountvernonohio.gov. MV alerts will still exist.
Staff is working on implementing OpenGov — companion software to NeoGov for human resources and payroll — for the utilities, engineering, and public works departments.
Edgewood Road
Starr said the scope, ballot language, and academic research documents relating to the Edgewood Road referendum are on the city’s website.
“We’ll continue to add information to that. We’re putting together a FAQ that we’ll upload as well,” he said. “There’s some information that’s going on that’s not correct.
“Nothing has been decided. We want to go to design. No decisions have been made,” he added.
Starr encouraged citizens to call his office if they have questions.
Signs
Salyers reminds residents that signs, including political ones, must stay out of road right-of-ways, tree lawns, and public parks. If the sign is on private property, you must have the property owner’s permission.
If there is no tree lawn, the sign must be 10 feet from the right-of-way. If a sign violates the regulations, the property maintenance enforcement officer will move it back into the yard.
For a second violation, the PMEO will take the sign. Staff will dispose of it if someone does not collect it within 14 days of the election.
