By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com

The Bucyrus safety forces may have scored a win with the passing of the levy at the beginning of November but Police Chief Dave Koepke says that won’t change anything for the department anytime soon.

“Thanks to the citizens of Bucyrus, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you very much for all the effort that went into the campaign for the safety forces levy,” Koepke said during his report at Tuesday night’s Bucyrus City Council meeting. “It is obviously, from our point of view, vital to restoring the strength of the safety forces to the former level that we can provide better service to the citizens, a service that they deserve. And it’s definitely our pledge to see that happen.”

Koepke is making sure that his department won’t get ahead of itself, however.

“The levy campaign is over,” Koepke said he has been saying to his officers, “but that doesn’t change now in November because we’re still, it’s going to be six months minimum in staffing the department where we’ll have the flexibility to do more things but in the meantime we’ll have to continue, even though it’s stressful and a struggle, we have to continue as if nothing changed on Nov. 5. We have to keep working with the public; the partnership has to continue to grow.”

That partnership includes the Neighborhood Watch programs that have sprung up across the city over the last year.

“The Neighborhood Watch was integral in turning around the police department,” Koepke stated. “We know more than most counties, of the 88 counties in Ohio, we know more about opiate addiction than, dare say, 80 other counties over the course of the last decade. So it hurts and it hits home. And Darla (Lewis) saw the aftermath of all these things and thought that something had to be done.”

“I’ll borrow Detroit, Michigan. ‘Every neighborhood has a future.’ That’s the slogan of the new mayor of Detroit and I think that’s, we’re living it right now.”

He pointed to the neighborhoods coming together and facing the problems right outside their front doors. That help, Koepke believed, resulted in a slight decrease in the city’s crime rate. He noted the decrease in offense reports from October 2012 to October 2013, from 310 to 271, and most notably in burglary, breaking and entering and larceny.

Koepke said the Neighborhood Watch program will soon be searching for a new Volunteer Coordinator as Darla Lewis steps down from the position effective March 31, 2014.

Four pieces of legislation were passed by Council Tuesday night. Council kept its promise to out-of-town workers and amended Ordinance 50-2012, which returned the .25 percent tax credit. Taxpayers who work out of town will receive a full two percent credit.

Other legislation passed Tuesday night included Ordinance 36-2013 (appropriating $15,600 for GE LED replacement traffic lights), Ordinance 37-2013 (transferring $800 for advertising expenses), and Resolution 226-2013 (accepting land from the Ohio Regional Development Corporation and agrees to its restrictions).

A Finance Committee meeting has been scheduled for 8 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 21 in Council Chambers.