7/18/2012 - West Side Leader
     

Cuyahoga Falls Councilwoman Diane Colavecchio (D-Ward 5) is pleased the city’s fire department and the community it serves will benefit soon from federal funding.

“I am sure we will put it to good use,” she said.

Colavecchio announced at the July 16 City Council meeting the city is being awarded resources for staffing by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency SAFER grant program.

Mayor Don Robart confirmed the city will receive $489,704 to hire firefighters through the SAFER program, which supports the hiring of firefighters and the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) announced the Falls’ award July 12, Robart said.

“Firefighters put their lives on the line each day to keep our communities safe. These new federal resources will help ensure that Cuyahoga Falls has the skilled responders needed,” Brown said in a press release. “With so many communities already facing budget shortfalls, critical federal efforts like SAFER are pivotal in keeping our Ohio cities, towns and villages safe.”

Before firefighters are hired, a study must be completed, Robart explained to Council.

He said research is being done to determine how many new firefighters the city truly could afford to bring on board.

Robart doesn’t want to bring in new employees only to have to let them go a few years down the line due to financial restraints.

“We are doing an analysis to see if we can sustain employment,” he explained.

Robart said he would be able to better tell Council in a week just how the grant money would be used by the department.

Also during the meeting, Council approved a resolution urging Summit County Council to reject Boston Township’s request to vacate portions of Wetmore and Oak Hill roads.

Boston trustees requested County Council vacate 6,831 feet of Wetmore Road from Akron-Peninsula Road to the north corporate line of the Falls, and 1,596 feet of Oak Hill Road from Everett Road to the covered bridge, according to city officials.

A landslide has eroded a portion of Oak Hill, making it unsafe for traffic, and the Summit County Engineer’s Office has closed the road to car traffic because of that.

The closing of Wetmore Road would require the fire department to redirect response routes to other roads, which could increase emergency response times to portions of the Falls, according to city officials. In addition, the portion of Oak Hill Road within the Falls is populated with numerous homes that would be cut off from the fire department’s most direct access route, if the road closed, city officials reported.

The Summit County Engineer’s Office has recommended the Falls annex portions of Wetmore and Oak Hill to allow the city to keep the roads open and provide the maintenance and improvements to keep the roads in good repair, at its own expense, according to the resolution.

The Engineer’s Office said the township is unable to fund the $560,000 of repairs needed to keep Wetmore open and $1.3 million of repairs needed for Oak Hill.

Council also approved legislation supporting the Summit County Land Reutilization Corp. and Summit County’s application for funding from the Moving Ohio Forward grant program and pledging matching funds for the program.

Several pieces of new legislation were introduced during the meeting, including ordinances providing for the issuances and sales of notes and expressing support for Issue No. 5, the Woodridge Local School District’s five-year, 6.83-mill levy on the Aug. 7 Special Election ballot.

Council will gather for committee meetings to discuss new legislation July 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the Cuyahoga Falls Natatorium, 2345 Fourth St., and for a regular meeting July 30 at 6:30 p.m., also at the Natatorium.

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