EAST LIVERPOOL — With a unanimous vote, East Liverpool City Council approved an ordinance putting into effect a contract between the city and Local Union #1223-1201 for the city’s police and fire dispatchers during Monday’s council meeting.

The contract/collective bargaining agreement allows the city to offer a competitive wage to the dispatchers.

Safety Service Director Bill Jones, prior to the vote, asked the council to pass the ordinance saying it was needed to give the dispatchers a competitive wage and help the city maintain and recruit quality dispatchers.

“We have a great group of men and women downstairs that do a great job for us,” Jones said. “The wages have not been competitive for years, they’re placed down there and people basically forget about them and then forget about what a great job they do, as was shown during the incident out in St. Clair Township two weeks ago.”

Jones noted that the dispatchers were involved with that, and he believes they helped that incident run as smooth as it could. He asked council members to put themselves in their shoes where they were sending an officer to a call and the next thing you know that officer is badly injured. He also said the dispatchers take ownership of that even though they were just doing their job.

Jones reiterated that the dispatchers had been very underpaid for years and also noted that the contract would allow for the hiring of part-time dispatchers and the contract would make the position attractive to part-time dispatchers.

Jones said the department could be losing a veteran dispatcher who is considering retirement this summer.

“We can’t pay them what they deserve, but we are comparable to what other agencies are surrounding us,” Jones said. “We tried to get to that the best we could and hopefully we can retain them and get some new dispatchers to in increase on the quality we have right now. They are the forgotten heroes of the safety forces.

Police Chief John Lane said he was glad Council passed it.

Council also unanimously approved ordinances authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with the auditor of state for the GAP Audit, to appropriate the carry over encumbrances for the year 2024 and add the amounts to 2025 appropriations, to allocate, the costs to the water, wastewater, refuse and recycling and storm water for indirect billing services provided by the General Fund and to support the Ohio Municipal challenge of AT&T’s tariff application.

Tim Clark, Board of Public Utilities, addressed council to say that the city has received notice of a tier 2 EPA violation which they are in the process of trying to fix. The city will have until Feb. 14 to send each resident a letter notifying them of the violation. The letter informs the residents there is nothing they need to do, and that the city is investigating and taking the necessary steps to solve the problems. Clark noted that the violation does not affect water quality.

The East Liverpool City Council meets the first Monday of each month at 6 p.m. in council chambers at East Liverpool City Hall. The next regular meeting is scheduled for March 3.