Hiram – At the last regular meeting, Council heard from Lisa Taddei, a representative from Ohio Edison on the power company’s plans and specifications for power line improvements within the Village. Ms. Taddei noted that the easement requests presented to Village residents were part of a larger plan to modernize the system through Portage, Trumbull, Mahoning, and Ashtabula Counties. She noted that these updates should enable the system to handle severe weather better and reduce service outages in these areas. To respond to specific project questions, Ms. Taddei deferred to Jason Hill from Appalachian Field Services, Ohio Edison’s contractor for the project. After lengthy discussion, Mayor Bertand suggested that residents to follow up with Taddei independently with any property-specific questions about the project.
In his report, Mayor Lou Bertrand shared that as of February 8th, the Ohio Department of Health reported 922,143 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus in Ohio. Further, it was noted that Ohio experienced 11,695 confirmed deaths of the disease, with47,672 hospitalizations and 6,847 ICU admissions. He noted that 828,455 were presumed to have recovered from Covid-19. It was noted that Covid-19 tests are available at Hiram College’s Julia Church Health Center each week during normal business hours. Please call (330) 569-5418.
In lighter news, Mayor Bertrand noted that a Netflix location scout is exploring Hiram for the potential of filming a project in the Village this summer. Their goal is to capture scenes of a college town’s main street; the film centers on a train accident that forces a college professor and his family to evacuate. If Hiram were selected, the film company would hire Hiram Village Police for traffic control and work with residents and businesses in areas abutting the film locations.
In Fire Department’s year end report, Chief Bill Byers noted that Hiram Fire & EMS responded to a total of 535 incidents in the Village, Township, College, and through mutual aid in 2020. He noted that of that total, they responded to 30 fires, 35 traffic crashes, and dispatched EMS squads in 357 incidents. Chief Byers noted that the average response time was five minutes and thirty seconds, and that the busiest day of the week was Sunday. Moving ahead the Chief noted that Department members participated in over 1,000 hours of training in 2020. In addition, HFD was able to purchase 10 MARCs radios, 10 sets of fire gear, four air packs, two life packs and an AED. In addition, the Department was honored to receive the Patriot Guard award for their support of firefighters who also serve in the National Guard. “I’m pleased to have received these awards and proud to work with and support our Citizen Solders,” Byers explained. He noted that Firefighters Strenk and Robinson currently serve in the National Guard.
In his Police Department report, Chief Brian Gregory shared that the Department received a Summit County EMA Equipment Grant, which was received in January of 2020. This award enabled the Department to purchase $18,000 worth of MARCS Communication Equipment, including three portable units, one mobile unit and two digital pyramid repeaters. According to Chie Gregory, “This Grant has allowed HPD to completely equip all of our vehicles with these digital radios, allowing HPD to have interoperability with all Portage County Law Enforcement Agencies.” In other news, the Chief noted that as of January 6th, the HPD started dispatching from the Portage County Sheriff Department. He noted Hiram Fire & EMS, Garrettsville Fire Department and Community EMS also began dispatch services through the Sheriff’s Department as well.
The next regular Village Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, March 9th at 7 pm; visit https://hiramvillage.org for the link to attend this live-streamed meeting.
