By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The Bucyrus Police Department will be having a little extra help when it comes to handling forfeiture money.
The Bucyrus City Council voted to create a law enforcement trust fund within the Police Department. The Finance Committee had been provided a list at a previous committee meeting concerning what types of forfeited money and property can be placed within the newly created account. Funds from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund/Police Department will be used by the Bucyrus Police Department for various things, including paying the costs of complex investigations and prosecutions, providing reasonable training, and aiding in law enforcement activities. The funds may also be used to provide matching funds to obtain federal grants.
Council passed five other pieces of legislation at Tuesday night’s meeting. Ordinance 23-2013 appropriated $1,250 for an insurance check for the repair of a radio console that had been struck by lightning and appropriated $1,000 to be used for travel and registration at a seminar for the city’s victim advocate; Ordinance 24-2013 transferred $2,000 for a computer backup replacement in the Auditor’s office; Ordinance 25-2013 created Section 133.08 of the Codified Ordinance for the Law Enforcement Trust Fund; Ordinance 26-2013 adopted the 2012 edition of the International Property Maintenance Code; and Resolution 221-2013 authorized the Service/Safety Director to vote for a one-year contract with Lifestar.
With the Spring Street project wrapping up, Councilmen Bruce Truka and John Walker were already looking towards other areas of the city that they believed were in desperate need of attention. Truka questioned Mayor Roger Moore heavily on why a sewer separation project hadn’t already started in the area of Hopley and Southern Avenues. He stressed the importance of protecting businesses in that area. Walker soon joined the discussion, advocating for the residents of the area, counting himself among those that are affected when heavy rains flood that area.
Moore stated that the project is still in the planning stages with the EPA and engineers. There was not a set date he could quote for Truka or Walker but he said the large projects that are being undertaken have to be done in a set order. Moore added that they couldn’t just pick a street and start a project but that everything must be done in stages.
Service/Safety Director Jeff Wagner said the Aumiller Pool will be open throughout the rest of the week until Sunday.
With school starting up, the pool will be closed Aug. 26 to 30 but will reopen for the Labor Day weekend, Aug. 31 through Sept. 2.
He also noted that trash pick-up for Labor Day, Sept. 2, will occur on Tuesday, Sept. 3. City crews will be running double routes that day and city offices will be closed.
Trick-or-Treat in Bucyrus will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 31.