Last week during the Plymouth Board of Public Works and Safety meeting, Police Chief Dave Bacon was granted approval to extend a conditional offer of employment to Richard Ayala. The chief said, “He’s an officer on another department in the county and would be a great asset to our department.”
The Board of Public Works & Safety unanimously approved the request. Officer Ayala has been working for the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department.
City Street Superintendent Jim Marquardt said the Tactical Urbanism project that the Complete Streets Committee wanted to do at the intersection of Michigan and Garro Streets was approved by INDOT. He said MACOG is currently using the materials used to create the temporary restrictions in another city. It restricted project is still planned for this fall.
City Councilman Duane Culp did question Marquardt on possible issues with semi-trucks trying to turn at the intersection and Marquardt said it would make it tighter.
City Councilman Jeff Houin also serves on the Complete Streets Committee and said the project fits in the state’s standards and the materials used are made of plastic to they wouldn’t damage the vehicle if there were hit.
Marquardt said the products being delivered in the area by truck could be accomplished using another route if the business would talk to their drivers.
These temporary Tactical Urbanism projects are a test to see what may work for future road improvement projects without spending money to find out afterward that the plan doesn’t work.
The Plymouth Board of Public Works and Safety also heard from City Attorney Sean Surrisi. He presented a couple of updated job descriptions for consideration. The attorney said the first is a new position called a Civilian EMT-B position and this is a workaround for a new law that went into effect the first of July that doesn’t allow civilian firefighters or no new firefighters after July 1st who can’t quality for the 1977 pension fund. Surrisi said this is a permittable use on the medical side, like the Civilian Paramedic position the city now has.
Surrisi said Fire Chief Holm has an individual who is eager and ready to join the department in this new position.
The second job description was a modification of the requirements for the Aviation Assistant Manager position. The proposal was to remove the requirement to hold a commercial driver’s license (CDL). Surrisi said the requirement isn’t really necessary for the job.
Airport Manager Bill Sheley said the Street Department has gotten rid of the equipment we had been borrowing for years. Bill said he still has his CDL but if they are using a piece of equipment that requires a CDL, they are only driving on the runway or taxiway and wouldn’t be on the roadway so a license wouldn’t be necessary.
The Plymouth Board of Public Works and Safety approved both the new Civilian EMT-B job description and the modification to the Aviation Assistant Manager’s requirements.
