Selling Fire Truck Among Items On Maryville Agenda
By Charles Feldman, Reporter
The Maryville Village Board took action on several items related to the fire department at its Wednesday, December 18 meeting.
The village declared a 1997 Ford F-350 utility truck used by the fire department as surplus property.
“The fact that it’s a ’97 Ford and it’s just going to surplus here at the end of the year 2019 says a lot first and foremost for the fire department and the fact that they maintain their vehicles properly,” said trustee Wayne White.
“And secondly,” he added with a smile, “I guess I’m going to have to start getting a Ford Truck.”
The proceeds from its sale will be transferred to the Maryville Homecoming Association, which raises funds to buy new fire and ambulance equipment, to apply to the purchasing and outfitting of a new truck.
Then the village of Maryville take ownership and maintain insurance and maintenance costs for the vehicle.
Because a paramedic had resigned and an EMT-Basic was promoted to take his place, the board hired two part-time replacements to fill those empty posts. Camron Overholst of Edwardsville will be the new paramedic and William Brennan of Gillespie will be the new EMT-Basic. There are no benefits. This will not increase the number of hours per month, only the number of people on the part-time roster.
Four new probationary volunteer firefighters were approved – Patrick Dichson of Collinsville, Rick Moyers and Wyatt Waltenberger, both of Glen Carbon and Luke Tyon of Troy.
The village also voted to send Deputy Fire Chief George May to the Company Fire Officer 2 Blended Course at a cost of $1,000 and approved the submitted 2020 budget for the Foreign Fire Insurance Tax Fund.
The Holiday Lighting Contest, which was to be held on Monday, December 16, was cancelled this year due to bad weather, road conditions and the lack of enough people interested in rescheduling the event that close to Christmas, according to the Parks and Recreation Department.
Republic Services reported that during the month of November, curbside pickup of trash was 176.44 tons; of recyclables, 44.25 tons; and of yard waste, 21.52 tons.
In other action the board approved:
• The employee vision, dental and life insurance plan with Met Life effective January 1, 2020. “This is the exact same covering that they currently have,” explained Mayor Craig Short. “There is a five percent overall increase and that is due to the dental insurance premiums increase.”
• Renewing its medical insurance with United Health Care BCTB (Balanced) effective January 1, 2020. This is a renewal of current insurance that increases the deductible, according to Short. The maximum out-of-pocket stays the same, he said, and adjusts some of the co-pays. This was unanimously recommended by the village’s insurance advisory board. This is a 1.3 increase in cost to the village this year.
• An amendment to the employee manual concerning bereavement leave. Up to three days will be granted automatically in the event of a miscarriage or stillbirth in response to a request by the mother or father.
The next village board meeting will be held on Thursday, January 2, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. in Village Hall. The public is welcome to attend.
