ThisWeek CW 12/27/2014
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2014/12/26/madison-township-outreach-programs-play-vital-part-in-2015-plans.html
Madison Township officials are looking to continue improving communication with residents in 2015.
Trustees and Administrator Susan Brobst said the township will continue growing the community involvement that really took hold in 2014, implementing additional communication options between staff and residents, and looking for new cost savings and new grant options to offset state funding cuts.
“Community involvement with residents working with police officers and the administration will continue to be important this year,” Brobst said.
To facilitate that community involvement, trustee Victor Paini has requested that a new direct media relations system be installed, which Police Chief Ken Braden and his staff will use to provide community updates, emergency alerts and traffic information. The system, available to residents who sign up for it, will provide free alerts about such things as public safety situations and missing children.
“We know maintaining the level of service similar to the past year will be a challenge,” Brobst said. “Each department encourages employees to find additional cost-savings opportunities on a daily basis and the township is very fortunate to have employees with a variety of skills that enable a majority of the work to be done in house.”
Trustee Gary McDonald said he also believes maintaining service levels is critical and is directly related to community involvement.
“Maintaining the present level of personnel and services will need to include even more community service involvement to help with crime-prevention and intervention,” McDonald said. “I forecast a community being more involved due to crime and social and economic issues, but communication and teamwork will be important for a positive outcome.”
McDonald also said he hopes the township might secure some federal crime-prevention grants so it can hire another police officer in 2015.
“I see hiring an additional police officer and seeking additional grant funding for all departments, along with more community interaction to reduce drug activity and complaints as major goals for 2015,” McDonald said.
As for 2015 investments, Brobst said officials hope to be able to continue holding off on replacing vehicles in the fire and road departments in order to adjust to reduced revenue that resulted from state funding cuts and reduced property tax collections.
Madison Township Fire Chief Robert Bates said the department may seek a 4-mill fire levy, which, if approved, would cost taxpayers about $140 more per $100,000 worth of property valuation. He presented his arguments in favor of a levy to Canal Winchester City Council in September.
“We need to take a look at how we want to finance everything, so this is still in discussion,” Bates said. “But we want to implement the purchase recommendations, and as part of the levy, there would be the construction and equipment costs for a new facility on Noe Bixby Road with staffing for a three-person medic unit.”
He estimated the new facility and medic unit would cost about $4 million, with annual operating costs of $1.6 million.
“This is more expensive than replacing one of our old medic vehicles because a new medic needs all new equipment, like defibrillators, etc., instead of just swapping that out between an old truck and its replacement,” Bates said.