43
Emergency communications hindered in low-lying areas of Mahoning County
YOUNGSTOWN
Lowellville’s mayor wants Mahoning County officials to try to solve the lack of emergency-responder radio-communications at the lowest elevations in the county.
Mayor James Iudiciani Sr. said the problem was highlighted by the inability of police to make radio contact with 911 dispatchers from the scene of a fatal motorcycle accident on state Route 289 in Poland Township, just east of Lowellville.
Killed was eastbound motorcyclist Tammy Miller, 20, of Youngstown, who was struck at 6:20 p.m. May 4 by a westbound car that went left of center, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. The car driver, Jill Bissett, 47, of Struthers, was treated for minor injuries at St. Elizabeth Health Center.
Village police were forced to use their cellular phones to call an ambulance to the crash scene near the Pennsylvania state line, the mayor said.
Route 289 parallels the Mahoning River, with steep hills rising above both sides of the river valley.
Iudiciani, who addressed the county commissioners Thursday, said a proposed solution to this perennial emergency communications problem is to place a $30,000 repeater for the radio system atop a water tower in New Middletown.
“We’ve got to make it work,” he said of emergency- responder radio communication in the Lowellville area. “It’s a very serious problem.”
John A. McNally IV, chairman of the commissioners, said county officials, including 911 and emergency management officials, will meet with representatives of the police, fire and ambulance jurisdictions affected by this problem to work on a solution.
“Lowellville and its particular physical geography in the county is an area where we have some concerns about communications issues,” McNally said.
In other business, Helen Youngblood, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2001, which represents employees in the county’s Department of Job and Family Services, told commissioners of a series of thefts of money or other possessions from at least 11 JFS employees, including herself, while they were at work.
Youngblood said her wallet was stolen three weeks ago from JFS, and thieves charged nearly $1,000 worth of gasoline on her stolen credit cards at an Uptown-area gasoline station with video surveillance.
“Please get a procedure together between the sheriff’s department and the Youngstown police department” to investigate these incidents, Youngblood urged the commissioners.
County sheriff’s deputies are responsible for security at Oakhill Renaissance Place, 345 Oak Hill Ave., where JFS is housed, but city police patrol and investigate crimes in the Uptown area.
“We will work with the city police department and the sheriff’s office to ensure that our employees and their belongings are safe up at that building,” McNally said.
The commissioners presented a recognition plaque to Anthony S. Tisler, a Campbell Memorial High School graduate and a Vietnam War Marine veteran, who was recently inducted into the Ohio Military Hall of Fame for Valor. Tisler received a standing ovation from those attending the meeting.
The commissioners also approved an agreement with Green Township and CNX Gas Co,, under which the company will be responsible for restoration of Western Reserve and Knauf roads to their pre-drilling condition once the company finishes drilling a gas well.