Turkey Creek Fire Board members Corky Wong, left, Cindy Kaiser, Larry Martindale, Dennis Darr and John Heckaman listen to Fire Chief Mickey Scott’s monthly report at their Monday, March 14, meeting. Photo by Ray Balogh.

By Ray Balogh
InkFreeNews

TURKEY CREEK TOWNSHIP — Turkey Creek fire advisory and township boards Monday, March 14, passed two appropriation requests from Fire Chief Mickey Scott.

The township board also passed two resolutions to button up administrative details for the fire territory.

Fire Board

The meeting began with the swearing in of three department personnel: Erik Cox and Spencer Miller, who recently completed their respective probation periods as full-time firefighter/paramedics; and Joshua Taylor, who was promoted to fire captain.

Scott issued his monthly report for February:

• Annual maintenance for all department apparatus has been completed, except for one ladder truck, whose maintenance is being scheduled.

• The department responded to 14 fire calls and 102 EMS calls during the month. The territory suffered property loss of $512,000 from a structure fire.

• Department personnel completed 343 hours of fire and EMS training. Topics included operational checks, driving skills, on-scene fire size-ups, draft and pump operations, medical and trauma charts, advanced airway management, IV fluid maintenance, hypothermia control, water emergencies and pharmacology review of medic unit medication inventories.

• The department replaced its gasoline-powered ventilation fans with battery-powered units. Scott said the gasoline units and related equipment will likely be sold.

Scott reported, “John VandeReyden has been offered and accepted the position of a full-time probationary firefighter/EMT to fill a recent opening due to a resignation. His first shift will be on Tuesday, March 15.”

Scott also thanked the community for “stepping up and providing assistance to the family that lost most everything they had during a structure fire in February.”

Scott said the 10-foot-by-10-foot storage room at town hall was filled four times over with donations.

“We are more than pleasantly surprised by the response of the community,” he said, adding monetary donations are still being accepted at the fire department administrative assistant office in Syracuse Town Hall, 310 N. Huntington St.

“It is great to live in a community where everybody helps everyone in their time of need, especially with all the problems we sometimes see in other areas all over the world.”

At Scott’s request the board unanimously passed two appropriations:

• $2,098.55 to upgrade the telephone system at Station 1, including replacing outdated equipment.

• $7,000 for tuition fees for firefighter/EMT Spencer Miller to complete a paramedic program, which runs from April 2022 to December 2023. The training will allow Miller to become a certified paramedic.

Township Board

Township Trustee Julie Close gave her monthly report. In February the township disbursed poor relief of $500 for rent, $1,200 for utilities and $400 for food.

Township attorney Andrew Grossnickle presented two resolutions for the board to sign. Both resolutions passed by unanimous vote on first reading.

The first resolution re-established the fire territory’s equipment replacement fund for 2023 and the second added the position of fire department administrative position to the department’s Public Employee Retirement Fund hybrid group plan.

The position was recently created and filled and Scott said, “Our new administrative assistant has been working very diligently with us and the various companies we do business with to help our department get the most we can with the funds we spend.”

The fire board will next meet at 6:45 p.m. Monday, April 11, in Syracuse Town Hall. The township advisory board will meet at 7 p.m.