HARRISON NEWS-HERALD | AREA
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Saturday, November 2, 2019
Commissioners updated on 911 service By JD LONG
jim@harrisonnewsherald.com
CADIZ – The Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Eric Wilson appeared before the Harrison County Commissioners Wednesday for the purpose of updating the board on recent 911 services. Wilson said a recent state audit resulted in 100 percent compliance for the 911 center, “as far as training we met all the requirements.” Regarding a 911 committee meeting Wilson presented results of a 2014 Operations Assessment Report
with numerous recommendations for the 911 center. He said all of the recommendations have been met except for a “backup 911 center.” Some of the recommendations met were the training program and training policy; new employee orientation manual; training officer for the 911 center; emergency medical dispatch protocol system utilized to process emergency medical calls and State of Ohio specific training requirements. Wilson said the backup plan involves calls that are rolled over
to Carroll and Columbiana counties. Where dispatch is concerned, he said the sheriff’s office has a Memorandum of Understanding with the “Buckeye State’s Sheriff’s Association to provide a communication ban from either Cambridge, or from Stark County.” He called these good temporary solutions but he referred to the 2014 report stating they needed something more long term. “Because we might actually have a situation where the 911 center could be down for a week, or a month or something
like that,” Wilson explained. He added that there was a recommendation to have the EMA office act as back up but since Next Gen 911 hadn’t become operational, so the idea was tabled. But now that it has been placed into operation the 911 committee has approved for the obtaining of quotes for the cost to have that done. “Then once we determine the total cost of that project we’ll bring it back to the committee and we’ll get a recommendation from the committee on whether to move forward or keep our plan as it exists today,” Wilson told the board. He said there were a lot of positives to have a back up center run by the county that is handicap accessible that is close by. Wilson also produced a pamphlet full of charts where the system can now spit out reports on the various types of calls that come in to the center. He said there are calls shown by the day, week, month, by the hour and even how many calls a particular dispatcher takes.
“We know that the majority of phone calls coming in to 911 are from wireless phones…” he said. Even answer times are being tracked with state standards having calls answered within 20 seconds, Harrison County calls “are being answered within 10 seconds.” He said 100 percent of their calls were answered within the 20-second time frame. Wilson called the charts a good analytical tool and said the sheriff could use them to determine staff needs, for example. Along those same lines, Wilson reminded the board that previously Harrison was part of a six-county test with General Dynamics calling it a “success in all six counties” as a pilot project. He said there are now grants available in order to make upgrades for the 911 system. “One of the things that we are going to pursue as a county, is the software needed to receive texts by 911,” he explained. He said as of now, they have the hardware for that but not the
software. He said the grant would make obtaining the software possible. “So we’ll have the ability again, to receive texts, video and things like that from 911 however, the infrastructure may not support it. As you’re all aware there’s not a lot of coverage areas in Harrison County,” Wilson explained. He said the grant would be at “little or not cost to the county” for obtaining the software. Wilson also announced an unexpected take of $6,130 in funding he was able to obtain for EMA services. He also said the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) increased from last year’s amount of $35,000 to $39,000 this year. He said this was due in part to their reporting along with “eligible expenses” they recouped every year, which resulted in the increase. He said the surrounding counties actually received a decrease in their EMPG whereas Harrison County saw that increase.
Ohio’s Seneca Lake not seeing HAB results By JD LONG
jim@harrisonnewsherald.com The Cadiz Lions Club had a local veteran who is in charge of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, Roger Sliva, past commander of the Adena American Legion Post 525 and a Vietnam veteran. Pictured from left, front: Ed Moore, Carole Bates, Terri and Tom Mizer, Donna Sliva, Leonard Ferraro, John Tabacchi, (100-year-old member who as held many of the Lion offices) and George Bedway. Back: Scott Blackburn, John Meadows, Sliva (speaker), Ken Mason and new member Tony Martinelli. The club is campaigning for new members to the organization that was established in 1919.
Vietnam veteran delivers speech at Lions Club dinner meeting BY ESTHER MCCOY NH Contributor
CADIZ — Roger Sliva was the guest speaker during the Cadiz Lions Club dinner meeting held on Oct. 10 at the Harrison Community Hospital cafeteria. Roger is from Adena and currently the Department of Defense 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War chairman, a charter and life member of the VFW Post 7477 of Hopedale, served in the village’s Adena American Legion Post 525 for 42 years and 11 years as their post commander. He is a life member of the VFW Post 7477 of Hopedale, a life member of AMVETS and a Jefferson County Veterans Association of Smithfield. Sliva served in Vietnam from
1968-1970 and has truly dedicated his life to being a patriot and sharing the history of the war where he played a big part. His wife, Donna, accompanied him to the dinner meeting. Sliva spoke of being in Vietnam from 1968-70 and coming home to find America less than happy about its war involvement. It was difficult for those returning, who tried to put aside the horrors and images of war to go on with their lives. Sliva has been bringing the Department of Defense 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War Commemorative Partner Committee programs to the area for about two years. He honored Cadiz Lions members and sons in attendance with a
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50-year pin celebrating the 50th anniversary of the war. Tony Martinelli, Harrison Community Hospital administrator, was welcomed into the Lions Club as its newest member. The club works to serve the community by giving to the Harrison County Cancer Crusaders, Cadiz Vision Center, Cadiz Baseball Association, Food Pantry, Hopedale Baseball Association, Harrison County Tourism Council, Harrison Regional CIC, and the Salvation Army. They support the Pilot Dogs, Newsreel magazine for the blind, Ohio Lions Eye Bank and Ohio Lions Foundation. Meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month. Sam Bates is president.
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NEW PHILADELPHIA – It could be called the tale of two Senecas when during the October meeting of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) it was revealed that some area locals were confusing Seneca Lake in New York with Seneca in Ohio. During the Conservation report discussion led to a mix up in names and testing for bacteria. Board Member Robert Morehead stated that he’s been hearing from some customers regarding the water at Seneca Lake and whether it’s safe. He said they have been confusing their lake with Seneca, New York. “There’s some confusion that’s been created as a result of the Seneca Lake, New York, which has been undergoing constant HAB (Harmful Algal Bloom testing),” Executive Director John Hoopingarner explained. He told the board that they have been dealing with Google searches that come up HAB problems at Seneca Lake, New York where people are confusing it with Seneca Lake, Ohio.
ERDOS
From PG | 1 Ohio, describing improvements as “significant,” but OSMRE does not oversee that part of the business of coal. He said he is going to follow the OSMRE mission, which is to enforce the Surface Mining Control Reclamation Act of
SCIO
From PG | 1 - The village will be contacted regarding the “disposition” of the ODOT building in Scio by ODOT. -The park has been winterized with the sanitation pump placed
“Unfortunately, they do have some HAB problems that we haven’t been experiencing at Seneca (Ohio),” Hoopingarner told the board. Brad Janssen, chief of conservation said results of testing is posted on a website called “BeachGuard,” which is run by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). “The monitoring is done in cooperation with many local health departments where the beaches are located. Water samples are collected at the beaches and the results are reported to the public,” according to the ODH website. Janssen said not every part of their lakes are tested considering how large they are, “it’s just not feasible.” He said their recreational beaches are tested and one of their main goals is to educate the public on what it all means. “So, you may see results posted [and] it may give you a general idea [but] what we’re working on is trying to educate folks on what these things mean and what they are in a better way, in that way we’re not telling ‘yes you can or no you can’t,’ it’s up to you at the end of the day…” Janssen told the board regarding being in the water.
Janssen said pamphlets and brochures are available to the public and signs are posted at their beaches and marinas with the board’s earlier approval. “We’re doing what we can but ultimately if somebody still has questions then I would encourage them to reach out to us so that we could help answer them,” Janssen said. Chief Engineer Boris Slogar reported on their dredging and shoreline work with Leesville and Piedmont jobs’ being advertised for bids by the end of October. “So that will get the ball rolling for that work during the next drawn down,” Slogar explained. For the Utica Royalty Revenue report Janssen told the board they’ve seen a decline of 26 percent due to a lack of production. He said rigs are staying “somewhat steady” but efficiency in work and frugalness has aided in that decline as well. “It’s you know, not the rates we saw a few years back, we’ll see if it comes back,” Janssen stated. He said it likely would based on the “cyclical nature of commodity prices.”
1977 and regulate the coal industry as it was meant to be. “So, we’re going to continue to make sure that happens at the state level as we work with our state partners that have primacy as regulatory authority. And we’ll do the same in regard to the tribes where we are the regulatory authority,” Erdos explained. “I want to thank the president
and secretary for allowing me to have this opportunity,” Erdos stated. “I’m very excited about being here in D.C. [and] I’m very excited about working with the office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. There’s a lot of work to do, there’s certainly a lot of activity in the coal industry today and I’m looking forward to those challenges.”
in winter storage. - The village’s part time employee will be “on call” until March of 2020. Also, Tubaugh has been in contact with the youth jobs and family services representative for the area and the response was sent to the mayor. And on Oct. 23 the third draft to the
committee regarding the water and waste water rates for 2020 for discussion. October also brought to an end of hydrant flushing for the year. Also, the second cycle in 2019 for copper and lead testing per the EPA, has been done. A testing procedure that was required had not been completed in September resulting in a violation. “The village will receive a violation letter from the Ohio EPA in the coming days,” Tubaugh wrote in his report. The issue has been corrected and the corrective action letter will be sent to the OEPA.” A first reading of the new water/wastewater rates were conducted with area being the “Customer Requested” water shut off. The charge will be $40 if it’s not an emergency and the account is not delinquent. If the account is delinquent then the amount would be $100. The charge would be $40 to turn off and another $40 to back on for delinquent water accounts. “No limits on the amount… An after-hours shut off that is not an emergency will be billed at the village’s cost (1.5 times the hourly rate of person doing the work).” The amounts to raise costs are as follows: 3,000 gallons: $6; 2,000 gallons: $4 and 1,000 gallons: $2.
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