Austintown doubles emergency calls since 2010

January 12, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

By AMANDA TONOLI

AUSTINTOWN

Emergency calls in Austintown have doubled over the past five years.

Fire Chief Andrew Frost III reported at the township meeting Monday evening that the fire department exceeded 4,000 emergency calls in 2015. In 2010, there were fewer than 2,000 emergency calls.

“This is for a variety of reasons, but our guys are busy and things are going well,” Frost said.

In other news, township officials reminded residents of upcoming deadlines for park programs, explained renewals on the ballot for March and approved routine advances to close out 2015.

Todd Shaffer, township park administrator, announced the park still is collecting live Christmas trees until Jan. 31 for the tree recycling program.

The parks department and the Mahoning County Green Team work together to collect live trees, tie cinder blocks to them and sink them to the bottom of lakes in the area to create habitats for fish.

Trustee Rick Stauffer stressed the importance of the senior service and park renewals, and invited them to go to Austintown Township Park or Austintown Senior Center to see what services are provided with the help of those levies.

Fiscal Officer Laura Wolfe said she is working on closing out last year’s budget and is working off a temporary budget for this year. A full-year budget must be completed by the end of March.

The board approved two advances from the general fund – $100,000 to communications and $30,000 to Road and Maintenance, to help with closing out 2015.

Wolfe said these items are part of paying off balances until the advances come in from real-estate taxes.

Finally, the board approved a Halloween date and time for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31, a Monday.