By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
There were more than enough smiles and congratulatory handshakes to go around election night among Bucyrus officials in the Courthouse basement. As Bucyrus Police Chief Dave Koepke said, “It’s like a new day.”
A new day with more equipment and more help on the way after Bucyrus voters overwhelmingly passed the safety forces levy. The additional one-half percent on city income tax rates won in its fourth try with 1,595 votes for and just 627 against.
“Basically what this will do overall in the police department is we’ll be giving another civil service test,” Bucyrus Mayor Roger Moore said. “We won’t realize that money until we get into the second quarter of 2014. Officers are first and foremost.
Moore said the priority as far as the police department will be five new officers, dispatch, updating cruisers and updating outdated equipment.
“This by far is just a true blessing for the entire community,” Moore said.
Bucyrus Fire Chief Jay Keller shared his thoughts on what passage of the levy means.
“Immediately, I mean you look at the guys. The morale is just huge now in the fire department and the police department as you can tell,” Keller said. “It makes us feel great that the citizens are backing us up.”
Koepke, who was assaulted last week trying to apprehend a suspected shoplifter, said five officers is basically an entire shift for his shorthanded force.
“We’ve talked about the new normal,” Koepke said. “The community has seen the problem. The morale of the department is night and day. The expectation that there will be there to back you up, that speaks for itself. The citizens, it’s been their campaign since day one. It’s not supporting the police department, it’s supporting themselves. They’ve said, ‘Enough is enough.’”
Safety/Service Director Jeff Wagner, like Moore, emphasized the updates and new staffs won’t be coming to the departments overnight, but they will be coming.
“It’s going to take a while,” Wagner said. ”But we’re going to have some equipment and some people to help.”