PORT JEFFERSON — Those travelling through the village of Port Jefferson should keep an eye on their speedometers if they want to avoid getting a speeding ticket. Port Jefferson Village Council was updated on the police department during Monday night’s meeting.
The village has a new police chief and is adding two part-time auxiliary officers to patrol the streets for the purpose of enforcing the speed limits and providing general law enforcement. The auxiliary officers, Austin Knight and Logan Laux, will serve at no cost to the village. Prior to current operations the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office provided police services for a fee. Village officials felt the village’s need for law enforcement could be better met if a regular police department was in place.
Council approved a request for the funding needed to fully equip the police department with the items needed for the day-to-day operations. Police Chief Mark Bell said all the necessary upgrades and repairs have been made in getting the village cruiser ready to roll and that someone is donating $300 towards the purchase of uniforms; he will personally set up the village police department website.
Among the additional items discussed were new police badges, a measuring wheel to document information about traffic accidents, a throw-rope used in water-related emergencies and orange safety cones and temporary stop lights to be used in case of power failure or other emergencies.
Bell also requested funding to purchase a Taser unit to subdue lawbreakers in the event of a physical confrontation.
“The liability insurance should be less for the village as the Taser is considered non-lethal and lowers the risk of personal injury when compared to alternative ways of bringing someone under control,” said Bell. “We hope we never have to use it but it’s good to have if we need it.”
Bell said a new Taser is about $1,200 but that he found a refurbished unit available with a holster and a charging unit for $515. Emergency stoplights are $180 each with a minimum order of three required ($540 plus shipping) and the safety cones (10) are $8.62 each.
“The department will also need two new police badges at $100 each as Mayor (Steve) Butterfield was unable to locate the old ones.” Bell said.
Council voted to approve payment for the necessary safety equipment including the refurbished Taser unit, new badges, and pants and polo shirts for the auxiliary officers.
Bell submitted information about the costs for a new police computer system and a new laser fax-printer-copier for department use. He intends to build the computer system himself with provisions for future upgrades as needed.
“This will save the village a lot of money over time as the upgrades are a lot less expensive than buying a totally new system when upgrades are needed,” Bell said.
Council approved funding for the computer system for $1,077 and the copier at $350. Butterfield noted the need to keep a monthly tally of expenditures to make sure the police department remains in the projected budget.
In other business council approved a five-year lease for the fire department building at 1.00 per year from Jan. 1, 2107, until Dec. 31, 2022. The fire department is responsible for maintenance and upkeep of the village-owned building and providing liability insurance. Matt Bertsch, fire department trustee, is currently working on replacing some broken vinyl siding in the east side of the safety building.
“Evidently someone side-swiped the building in the winter and broke two places in the siding, I have been to several home improvement stores but as of yet have not been able to match the style and color of the siding.” Bertsch said. He said he will travel to Dayton where there is an 84 Lumber store as he suspects that is where the siding came from.
Council also passed a resolution to pay for street re-construction on Spring and Wall streets. Ninety percent of the upgrade will be paid by a State of Ohio grant leaving the village to pay $13,873.28 (10 percent of the initial $148,822.75) plus $23,963.28 to Choice One Engineering for their services in handling the project.
“The project will not begin for quite so time as the project needs to go through the proper channels.” said Butterfield. “We eliminated the four inch thick sidewalks included in the estimate to save costs as there are no sidewalks on the street at present, and it will save about $44,000”
The following issues were also recapped by Butterfield to bring council members who have not been to recent meetings up to date before the meeting ended:
• Adding the police car and officer to village insurance at $240
• An increase in sewage rates due to increases for services provided by the city of Sidney.
• Replacement of fuel oil tank at the Community Hall after it was determined almost all of the fuel oil had leaked out on the ground behind the building.
• A $1.50 per per quarter increase in garbage collection fees.
• Plans to change banking services to accommodate requirements for village operations.
• Plans to sell old village lawnmower. Bids are currently being accepted (with the minimum being $!00)
• Village disbursement of monies from the former Canal Fest: $1,444 donated to the police fund and $7,000 to be used by the village to enhance the village for everyone.
• Heard plans for a Chicken Dinner/Gun Raffle on June 4 hosted by the Port Jefferson Village Fire Department as a fundraising event. Tickets are available at the fire department when someone is there or from any member of the fire department.
