Township Trustee Assistance Down
Barb Griffith, Turkey Creek Township trustee, reported she was “very pleased” by January’s $3,000 payout of trustee assistance.
“This is very good,” she told the township advisory board Monday. “During the recession, we were paying up to $7,000 or $8,000 a month” she said after the meeting.
“The number has been steadily going down over the years,” she said, attributing the dip to “people going back to work.”
Fire Chief Mickey Scott reported his department is providing EMS standby for the girls basketball games at Wawasee High School, hosting the sectional tourney this week. Games are scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings.
In other business, Chief Scott reported:
- The department recently forwarded requested information about its worker’s compensation policy to its insurance carrier. The information will be used to adjust the policy premium as necessary.
- The department also forwarded information to its employee health insurance carrier to stay compliant with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. “It doesn’t change anything for us,” Scott said. “It doesn’t change anything we are doing.”
- The department is compliant with the minimum statutory requirement of maintaining $150,000 survivor benefits in case of a line-of-duty death. The members have $160,000 coverage under the department’s accident and sickness policy and another $3,000 through the Indiana Volunteer Firefighters Association.
The chief expressed thanks to the town’s public works department and the county highway department “for working with our department during the recent large snowfall in order to assure that we could respond to emergencies in a safe and timely manner.”
Noting the department had nine emergency runs during the two days of severest weather, Scott said, “The Syracuse Public Works Department diligently plowed the snow from the areas around Station 1 so that we could get our equipment and personnel out. The Kosciusko County Highway Department placed a plow at our Station 2 overnight on Sunday in order to assist us during any emergency runs. We were able to access the areas necessary for these responses.”
Scott finished his report with a public statement regarding smoke detectors.
“Our department often receives questions in regards to smoke detection device requirements in rental properties,” he said. “We would like to remind rental property owners that all rental properties are required by Indiana code to have functioning smoke detection devices in them when occupied and that violations of this law can result in criminal charges to the owner of the property.
“Each owner or manager or rental agent is responsible for the installation of a required smoke detector and the replacement and repair of a required smoke detector within seven working days after the owner, manager or rental agent is given written notification of the need to replace or repair the smoke detector.
“We are requesting that owners, managers and rental agents comply with this code in order to ensure the safety of everyone.”
The board next meets at 7:15 p.m. Monday, March 9, at Syracuse Town Hall.