Officials OK contract for dispatchers

NORTH LIMA -- Beaver Township trustees have approved a one-year contract with the township's four full-time emergency dispatchers.
The agreement, approved at the trustees' regular monthly meeting Tuesday, calls for a 3 percent pay raise. The township trustees and other officials at the meeting said they didn't know what the dispatchers' pay is.
The dispatchers' last contract expired Dec. 31.
The new agreement also provides an additional vacation week for dispatchers who have been with the department 20 years or longer. They would receive six weeks of vacation.
Vacation times for other dispatchers will remain at two weeks for one to six years of service, three weeks for seven to 14 weeks of service, and four weeks for 15 to 19 years of service.
Trustees also set their own pay rates, but would not make public what they earn, even though it is public record under Ohio law.
In other news, the trustees agreed to buy a backhoe for the township road department from Southeastern Equipment for about $60,000, but will trade in its old backhoe, bringing the price of the new machine to about $40,000.