January 23 Special Council Meeting

Yesterday they held a Special Council Meeting to take care of two orders of business. It's called special because it was not a regularly scheduled meeting. It was announced in Friday's MJ. All members were present except for Joe Soldano. Nothing was said but I'm presuming he's still hurting from his unfortunate fall the other night. By a vote of those present Soldano was excused. With the mayor being out of town John McMahon got his first taste of being Pro-tem. He appeared to me to be a little nervous at first but settled in and did well.

The first order of business was the consideration and voting on the mayor's selection for the new Animal Control Officer. By a vote of 4 - 1 Leslie Dean was approved for the job. Don Brown cast the only negative vote stating he still feels the animal control duties should be given to the County Office. Mr. Brown voted the same way and for the same reasons the last time this job was on the agenda.

From this morning's papers it was reported that Ms. Dean was later sworn in and hit the ground running. When she was leaving Village Hall yesterday she saw a small dog running loose. She returned it to its home across the street and advised the owners the dog needed to be confined. Afterward she checked in at the village dog pound and conferred with the St. Francis Animal folks that maintain the place on a volunteer basis. She even pitched in unloading some donated pet food before leaving. From what I understand she already has established a working relationship with the St. Francis folks that will be a big benefit in her job performance. Ms. Dean has a cell phone that was reported as saying she will have with her at all times. If you have any animal control problems you can contact her at 330-383-0225.

The other order of business taken care of yesterday was a request from WFD Chief Bill Smith to re-instate veteran firefighter Greg Stanley as a paid per call volunteer for the WVFD. That was approved by a vote of 5 - 0.

It was announced there will a Personnel Committee meeting next Thursday, January 29, at 11 A.M. pertaining to the new police manual.

The committees for the new year are as follows: Finance - Cataldo, Allmon & McMahon; Personnel - Allmon, Goss & Cataldo; Streets, Lights, Parking - Soldano, Goss & McMahon; Claims, Rules Ordinances - Goss, Soldano & Brown; Sewage - Allmon, Cataldo & Brown; Property, Equipment, Cemetery - McMahon, Brown & Soldano; Liason for Police & Fire Departments - Brown & Allmon; Fire Dependency Board - McMahon & Cataldo and EMS - Soldano, Brown & McMahon. The first person named for each committee is the chairperson for that committee. No chairs were listed for Police & Fire Liason, Fire Dependency & EMS. This list was provided by John McMahon.

Next regularly scheduled meeting is February 3.

ole nib