COLUMBIANA City seeks.to clarify report

COLUMBIANA -- City Manager Keith Chamberlin said he and the city council will meet soon with a representative of Insurance Services Office Inc.
He said the New Jersey-based ISO is a nationwide company many insurance companies rely on to rate emergency services and infrastructure of municipalities and townships.
The ISO reports help insurance companies determine rates for a particular area, he said.
Chamberlin said ISO suggests improvements to emergency services or infrastructure. Once improvements are made, a municipality or township should then receive a better ISO rating, and ultimately, lower insurance rates.
Chamberlin discussed Columbiana's ISO report with city council in a work session Tuesday.
Recommendations
He said ISO suggested improvements including adding more emergency numbers and police and fire nonemergency numbers to local phone directories and replacing aging waterlines and fire hydrants.
The company also recommended that all telephone calls through the dispatcher be recorded.
He said a meeting with the ISO representative hasn't yet been scheduled, but he and the city council want clarification on some of the suggested improvements.
For example, the city was graded low on some fire equipment, but city officials aren't certain what specific equipment the fire department lacks.
He said there may be some areas where further improvements can't be made quickly. The city was graded low, for example, in the number of firefighters available to respond to fires.