By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
You can call it Bucyrus’ personal edition of Law and Order but Rob Ratliff was ready to roll out the first edition of Bucyrus’ Most Wanted Tuesday evening.
Bucyrus’ Most Wanted is the brainchild of Law Director Ratliff and Bucyrus Police Chief Dave Koepke. The law and order arms of Bucyrus will host the short program during council meetings and Ratliff debuted the first segment at Tuesday’s brief Bucyrus City Council meeting.
Brooklyn R. Gilliland, the first feature, is wanted on a warrant, trafficking in drugs, and possession of heroin. She is 5-feet-5-inches tall and weighs 135 pounds. The 27-year-old woman has brown hair and blue eyes. Her last known address was 1001 Reid St. in Bucyrus.
“If you know where Miss Gilliland’s whereabouts may be, call the Bucyrus Police Department at 419-562-1006 or their tip line at 419-834-2023,” Ratliff said.
Koepke, who was absent from the meeting, also submitted a department report for the first three quarters of 2015, which included statistics on service, disturbance, and incident-type calls and an update on the department’s vehicle fleet.
The fleet, which consists of 10 vehicles, is almost completely updated. Out of the 10 vehicles, five of them are 2015 Ford Explorers and three are 2015 Ford Taurus, one of which services as a K9 vehicle for Officer David Rowland and K9 Rosco. The 2010 Ford Explorer is used by Officer Curt Bursby and K9 Donna while the 2009 Ford Crown Vic is driven by the department’s school resource officer.
Ratliff, who read the report on behalf of the police chief, noted that OVI and vice enforcement are up for the first three quarters of 2015, much of which can be due to the increased manpower.
Council President Sis Love requested the formation of an ad-hoc committee for upcoming income tax regulations. The committee would be formed by Auditor Joyce Schifer, Ratliff, Love, and Finance Committee Chair Bill O’Rourke.
Ratliff said they will have model legislation to work from to deal with the major changes to the income tax code coming down the pipeline from Columbus.
Schifer added that they won’t be able to change the current ordinance and will have to create a whole new section, much of which she believed was inconsistent in its rules. Because of that inconsistency, Schifer was not able to name a dollar amount when it came to loss of revenue to the city.
“It’s really hard to put a number of what this is actually going to cost us,” Schifer said. “What this may do I really can’t say at this point.”
Though Love, who is vice president of the Ohio Municipal League, said it was the belief of many that one of the big cities will refuse to impose the changes next year and will take the matter to court, she added that it was in Bucyrus’ best interest to be ready with legislation by January.
“We’re supposed to be a state of self-rule,” Love said. Instead, she believed, the cities were being forced to comply with bills they opposed.
Richard Rockwell was appointed as the fifth member of the Finance Committee to compensate for matters that have not allowed one of the committee members to attend meetings recently.
Leaf pick up for city residents will begin the week of Nov. 2. If residents already have bags ready to go, they can take them to the compost site between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays or from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
The Bucyrus Santa Parade is set for 6 p.m. on Nov. 20 with line-up starting at 4:45. Interested parties can contact Carolyn Ann Smith at 419-562-6159 to sign up to be in the parade.