Trending
COLUMBIANA -- One of the newest members of council may have the opportunity to serve on the county's new 911 program review committee.
The county was tasked with forming a new 911 program review committee last year as a result of changes to state law.
The law requires a six-member board consisting of a representative of the Columbiana County Commissioners; an elected county official; the chief executive officer of the most populous city, which would be the Salem mayor; a trustee from the most populous township in the county, which is St. Clair Township; a trustee selected by the majority of trustees in the county; and a municipal legislative authority representative selected by the majority of municipalities in the county.
By November of last year the committee already had appointments for four of the six members. Those members are Columbiana County Commissioner Tim Weigle, sheriff Brian McLaughlin as elected county official, St. Clair Township Trustee Jim Sabatini and Salem Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey.
The two remaining appointments include a trustee to represent the townships throughout the county and a member from among the council members to represent them.
Following a discussion among Columbiana Council on Jan. 2, new councilman Ty Graham offered to put his name in for consideration.
Municipal Attorney Mark Hutson said the committee organizers are asking for names to be included from other municipalities and those names will then be voted on to determine a representative for the committee.
"The committee will then have to meet and that committee will then have to adopt or rescind certain rules or regulations and there will be changes that will have to take place also," he said
County Assistant Prosecutor Krista Peddicord was quoted back in November as saying that the new committee will be in charge of 911 and in charge of making any amendments to the 911 plan. She also said the new committee will have the option to keep the existing 911 Emergency Service Committee in place as an advisory board.
Columbiana councilman Dan Dattilio originally said he would allow his name to be included for potential selection if no one else was interested.
When Graham expressed an interest Dattilio willingly declined to offer his name.
Hutson said the new 911 committee would likely meet sometime by March.
The county is expected to have an amended 911 plan submitted to the state by March 31.
The new committee is also expected to approve any changes in PSAPs (Public Safety Answering Point) for 911.
The county has five PSAPS including Columbiana. Other PSAPS are located at the sheriff's office and the Salem, East Liverpool and East Palestine police departments.
A few months ago the city began considering eliminating all of its dispatching services and outsourcing them to the county, which would mean it would no longer serve as a PSAP.
However, the feasibility of that move is still being looked into by both the city and the county.
In the meantime, the city's dispatching services are continuing as normal.