Wellsville Holds Special Village Council Meeting

Thursday – August 25: Wellsville Village Council held a special meeting yesterday to act on five items of business. Present at the meetng was Council Pro-Tem Randy Allmon, Council members Susan Haugh, Rosie Goss, Joe Soldano, John McMahon and Tony Cataldo. Also attending was Fiscal Officer Dale Davis, Village Administrator Jim Saracco and WPD Chief Joe Scarabino.

The first order of business was passing a motion to accept the resignation of WPD Officer Justin Wright effective at 11:59 PM on September 3. Wright recently accepted a full time position as an officer with the Liverpool Township Police Dept.

Next Council approved the appointment of paid, call-out fire fighter Brian Keith Taylor as recommended by WFD Chief Bill Smith. Taylor is a certified para-medic with additional certifications in other emergency skills.

Council also approved a motion allowing WFD Chief Smith to apply for a FEMA grant for the purchase of a new fire truck. The grant is a 5% matching grant with FEMA picking up 95% of the cost. Councilwoman Haugh questioned whether there would be sufficient funds to even match the 5% if Wellsville was awarded the grant. The Fire Department runs on a very tight budget. It was noted that there are no figures available on the cost of a new truck by Councilman Cataldo. However, the motion was just approval to apply for the grant.

Next item on the agenda was giving approval to the Wellsville Nazarene Church's Impact Youth Ministries to block off Maple Avenue from 16th to 17th Street for their third annual Back to School Bash, pending completion of necessary paperwork. The street will be blocked from 11 AM until 6 PM. The event will be held Saturday, August 27.

Council then retired to a 25 minute Executive Session with Chief Scarabino to discuss personnel wages and compensation. Upon returning, and with Scarabino's recommendation, Council approved hiring Salineville Police Officer Luke Skidmore to a full time position on the force, replacing Justin Wright. Council also approved hiring Stow, Ohio resident Joseph Saraniti as a part-time officer.

Skidmore is a graduate of Jefferson Community College. His new duties begin September 4 and advises he will be resigning his position on the Salinville force. With Mayor Surace out of town he was sworn in by Pro-Tem Allmon. He is pictured above with Allmon to his left and Scarabino on the right. Saraniti has been working as a volunteer auxiliary officer in Wellsville. This is his first job as a police officer.

The meeting adjourned at 1:35 PM. The next regularly scheduled Council meeting is Tuesday, September 6 at 6 PM. There will be a Property Committee meeting this coming Monday, August 29 at 1 PM. That meeting is to discuss property easements for the forced main project. Both meetings will be held at Village Hall, 1200 Main St.

ole nib