By: Anna Wozniak
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
The Bryan City Council met on Monday, August 21, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. They first approved the Minutes of the August 7, 2023 Meeting before hearing from the Williams County EMS Levy Committee.
They detailed how beneficial they think this levy would be to the municipalities of Williams County, expressing that this is one of the only counties in Ohio that has yet to fund their EMS services with a levy.
EMS was started in 1979 and has yet to see direct taxpayer funds. Historically, EMS supported itself through transfer profits from transfer requests.
This low amount of funding has resulted in a lack of ambulances for covering Williams County, creating high response times throughout rural communities.
The ambulances that are currently being sent out of the county to transfer patients so that the Williams County EMS can pay for their operating costs could be used for the handling of local emergency response.
Not only would this levy ensure that response times to these communities will be halved -with lifesaving, time sensitive actions being able to be made twice as fast- it also will allow for all county residents to receive no bill for emergency services after insurance.
This is because the levy will serve as county residents “paying” for EMS services, resulting in a “soft billing” process that will see no funds collected from county residents after insurance is invoiced.
If the levy is passed when put on the November ballot, it would be in perpetuity starting January -meaning that it would then be a permanent aspect of Williams County resident’s tax calculations.
The Bryan City Council then welcomed the hearing of public concerns, where Stephen Cox shared his experience with a carbon monoxide scare.
He wanted to commend the fire department for their professionalism with handling the issue, as well as remind the public how lethal carbon monoxide is.
He then shared his concerns about a fire hydrant on Huntington Drive south of High Street. The hydrant was dug out, and after a few months, the ground has settled very unevenly, with no grass spread on the upturned soil. Mayor Schlade gave him contact information to the proper channels to get this issue resolved.
The clerk / treasurer’s report was approved as presented, as was a resolution that accepted the amounts and rates as determined by the Budget Commission in order to authorize necessary tax levies and certify them to the county auditor.
Mayor Schalde shared that the next council meeting would be Tuesday, September 5th at 5:30 p.m., after Labor Day.
She also noted how successful the Girl Named Tom concert was, with almost 6,000 people attending, and thanked everyone working at the event for how safe and flawless the event was.
It was shared that the success of this event was a team effort, from the event sponsors, EMS workers, police officers, and event staff and volunteers.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol was also thanked for their contribution of extra patrolmen to keep the community safe during the event, as was EMS and the police for helping to add to the safe and secure environment of the concert.
The community was also thanked for how considerate everyone that attended the event was, and for that council said, “thank you, Bryan, Ohio, and thank you, Williams County, for showing what top notch people we are.”
Anna can be reached at anna@thevillagereporter.com
