Town Council Has Productive Evening
It was a productive night for the Syracuse Town Council Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Their accomplishments included approving wages for the new police chief and parks superintendent, swearing in two-year reservist Kyle Denton as a police officer, approving the purchase of a new ambulance and adopting the 2016 operating budget.
The $3,398,351 budget allots slightly less than $2 million for the general fund, just under $1 million for the motor vehicle highway line item and nearly $400,000 for parks. Another $42,000 was reserved for capital development.
The council also appropriated an additional $10,000 for the unsafe building fund, available immediately, and allocated $2,047.51 biweekly plus longevity to Jim Layne, the town’s new police chief.
Included in the salary ordinance are the park superintendent’s wages of $2,105.77 biweekly plus longevity.
Turkey Creek Fire Chief Mickey Scott requested approval to purchase a 2016 ambulance from the equipment replacement fund. The Turkey Creek Township advisory board and fire board previously approved the expenditure, which totals $177,207 for the vehicle and automated cot for transporting victims.
The residents of Syracuse will pay $24,780 of the total cost. The department has already ordered the diesel chassis for an additional $39,900.
The ambulance, which will replace the department’s 2002 model, is expected to be delivered by the end of July 2016.
The board also approved $66,778.20 for paving at both fire stations and sidewalk improvement at Station 1 in downtown Syracuse. Payment will come from the equipment replacement fund, which covers improvement of such tangible items as parking lots and sidewalks.
In other business, Town Manager Henry DeJulia announced all the scheduled road paving and striping has been completed for the season, and more than 1,000 linear feet of sidewalks have been remediated.
“We’ll try to do a little bit more of this as weather permits,” said DeJulia.
Layne requested and received $11,500 for the purchase of 14 ballistic vests, replacing the current supply deemed outdated by federal law.
“The new vests are thinner and offer more protection,” said Layne, “and modern technology makes them lighter and more comfortable.”
Many officers wear the vests over their uniforms for convenience, and the allocation includes sewing the officer’s name and a badge on the vest.
The public works department reported a manhole repair and a surprise IDEM inspection.
The street department has started leaf collection.
Public Works Superintendent Rob Merchant requested $15,000 for crack sealing, a first-time remediation of deteriorating streets, cheaper than repaving. The work can be done for $500 per block, according to Merchant, who plans to patch Main, Harkless, Pickwick, Harrison, Northshore and other streets.
The town will contract the work to a vendor who can perform the work for less than half the cost than the department’s outlay for materials, equipment rental and labor.
Work is expected to begin in two days.
During the public comment period, the council discussed amending leash laws in the city’s parks, public lake access for canoes and building code enforcement.
The council will next meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, at Syracuse Town Hall.