The village of Valleyview gained another police officer when council approved the hiring of Bryan Alcorn as a part-time deputy marshal at its April 7 meeting.
The hiring gives Chief Ti Myers five paid officers and two auxiliaries.
“I’d like to have eight to 10 more auxiliaries,” he said.
Alcorn had worked in Valleyview for 11 years before the department fell apart.
“He brings 29 years of military and law enforcement experience to the department,” said Mayor Tom Watkins. “He also worked courthouse security.”
The new officer is helping the village toward a goal that Watkins and Myers set of having police protection around the clock and Myers is one step closer to his vision of seeing officers on foot patrol.
Until the department can operate around the clock and take its own calls, it has to rely on the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office for dispatch services. Council passed a resolution authorizing the village to renew the contract with the sheriff’s office for dispatching services through 2010 at a cost of $6.26 per call, up from $5.41 under the old contract.
The village has also received a state law enforcement grant of $1,120 for advanced training for the police officers. Myers said he has purchased a set of 46 CDs to set up a learning center for the officers. He said the content on the CDs provides the minimum standards of advanced training and allows the officers to use them at their convenience.
Watkins also announced that the village had received a donation of a security system that is being installed.
“If you notice all the wiring hanging around inside and out, it’s the new security system being installed,” Watkins said. He would not identify the donor nor the value of the donation, only saying it was worth “several thousands of dollars.”
“The building will now be monitored 24/7,” he said. “And it could mean that the insurance rates will go down.”
Other Valleyview news
• Council member Marzia Helton said the mulch the village will be selling in time for the annual clean up day May 17 will need to be ordered by May 1. She said the mulch would be delivered on pallets and the village would have to disperse the individual bags. She also said she plans to attend the Tree City Awards program April 17 to get some ideas for the village’s program.
• Council member Ron Hays said he had as many as six estimates for work on the wall that the village wants to replace on the east side of Hague Avenue. He said he would narrow the estimates down and invite a representative of the company to a meeting to explain the proposed work.
• Chad Radford, chair of the zoning committee, said he was pulling together zoning regulations from other communities in preparation for updating Valleyview’s guidelines. Watkins reminded village residents that if they have any suggestions to let him know.
• Council gave a first reading to a resolution retaining the solicitor/prosecutor on a monthly basis. The resolution was written as an emergency which means council could suspend rules and have three readings and act on the resolution at that meeting. However, Don Wolery said a first reading was fine because “I’m not going anywhere.”
• Valleyview resident Robert Shaw who lives on Elliott Avenue told council about how his yard and that of some of his neighbors had been torn up by trash-hauling trucks to the extent that the alley where the trucks stop to pick up trash is hardly passable.
Watkins said he had talked with the trash hauler about repairing the damage done. Shaw asked if it was possible for residents to place trash out in front of their homes rather than in the alley to prevent such damage. The mayor said he would get a letter out to residents seeking their opinions.
