Mayor's vote allows jake brake in village

The device is an added safety feature on trucks.
By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW MIDDLETOWN -- Mayor Robert Carson cast a rare tiebreaking vote to defeat the first reading on an ordinance that would have outlawed the application of jake brakes in the village.
After a resident came to council recently to complain about the noise made by truck drivers using the engine-retardant device to slow their vehicles, some council members wanted to forbid them.
A jake brake is a device attached to the engine that slows a truck by reversing the action of the engine valves.
But Monday, Council President Bill Douglas and council members Dan Santangelo and Jack Novicky voted against passing a first reading on the measure forbidding the brakes, citing safety concerns.
Douglas, a truck driver for many years who now operates a fleet of trucks, said drivers coming into a village where jake brakes are prohibited would likely turn off the switch that activates them.
Example
Douglas said if that driver then had to stop quickly, say to avoid hitting a child, it would take an extra second or so to reactivate the switch. This could mean the difference between life and death, he said.
Council members Dan Stanton, Curtis Massey and Harry Kale voted to forbid the devices.
The mayor commented in breaking the tie with his no vote that the resident who came to council was the only complaint he knows of about the brakes.
Fire hydrants
Also, Carson read an e-mail from Aqua Ohio Water Co. stating that it flushes fire hydrants regularly and asking to be notified of any hydrants that are not working.
The company had been contacted after Santangelo complained last month that he tried to open four village fire hydrants and found three of four weren't working. Santangelo is a volunteer firefighter with Springfield Township's fire department.
Santangelo said after the meeting that when a hydrant doesn't work, firefighters must take six to 10 minutes disconnecting and reconnecting to another hydrant 300 feet away. He said that fire doubles every three minutes and such a delay could be disastrous.
Carson said Fire Chief Bill Opsitnik will be asked to start a program of regular testing of fire hydrants at the next meeting of the village safety committee.
Reserve officers
Council also continued its discussion of forming a reserve police officer unit. Santangelo objected to the unit's being limited to retired full-time police officers, saying this discriminates against part timers. He also wanted clarification of the village's liability for such officers. Stanton questioned who would pay for equipping and training the reserves. The matter already has passed two readings.
Carson reported remodeling of the municipal building has begun and is expected to be completed in August.