Fire, police calls continue to rise
by Melissa Martin
Jan. 2 township trustees organizational meeting/Jan. 7 regular trustees meeting
Hinckley Township safety department officials provided the board of trustees with a recap of the 2024 calls for service Jan. 7, noting that when it comes to both police and fire departments, the number of calls for service continues to rise.
According to police department records from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, the department responded 40,652 calls for service in all. Of those calls, 222 were business or residential alarms; 28 were domestic violence incidents; 116 were motor vehicle crashes that did not result in any injuries; and 63 were motor vehicle crashes that resulted in injuries. There were also 188 suspicious person and/or vehicle calls; 86 vehicle and residential lockouts; 662 business checks; 31 calls reporting criminal damaging or vandalism; 64 suspicious circumstances; 119 complaints of reckless operation of a motor vehicle and a total of 1,822 traffic stops.
Fire Chief Matt Payne told the board the fire department responded to 817 calls for service in 2024 and collected just over $183,000 in EMS billing fees – an amount that is up 19.5% from 2023. He said the department received mutual aid for 22% of calls and provided mutual aid to other communities in 78 calls throughout the year.
When comparing to statistics from the past five years, Payne said, the number of calls averages out to a 2.76% increase in call volume each year for the since 2019.
Carbon monoxide issue
Payne also reported to trustees that the township’s fire department has recently incurred problems with higher-than-normal levels of carbon monoxide. He told the board that until recently, the station had issues with the smell of septic or sewage, which has since been remedied. He believes that smell, however, may have masked the odor of carbon monoxide in the administrative section of the fire station.
“They say you can’t smell carbon monoxide but you can smell it in combustion,” Payne said, noting that when measured, the department was getting readings of up to 3-4 parts per million in the building.
Payne said he contacted a heating company to determine the source; however; he said the company couldn’t find an issue but recommended replacing the station’s heat exchanger at a cost of $2,800.
Believing that wasn’t the issue, Payne said he contacted another heating company that went up on the roof and discovered the source of the problem was an inductor blower, which the technician found filled with carbon soot.
“He checked the pressure on the propane and discovered the unit had double the pressure than what it should have had,” Payne explained. “It was burning way too rich, which signifies the carbon.”
Along with fixing the unit, Payne said the department also purchased two digital carbon monoxide meters for the station because he “didn’t feel good about the staff being in the station sleeping.”
Since the inductor blower was fixed, he said the carbon monoxide meters have not been measuring any carbon monoxide in the building.
“I don’t know how long we’ve had CO in the station because the septic smell probably masked the odor for a while,” Payne told the board.
Preserving natural resources
In other news, Trustee Cynthia Engleman announced that the township is working with the Cleveland Metroparks to host a follow-up meeting regarding plans for the Hinckley Reservation. She said Metroparks officials are looking to provide residents with additional information on how private property owners can help protect the township’s natural resources moving forward.
“One of the questions that was proposed to [Metroparks officials] was that instead of trying to acquire these properties along the river, why not educate the residents as to what they should do,” Engleman said.
Metroparks officials are looking to schedule that session this spring with a tentative date set for Tuesday, April 29.
Trustee Monique Ascherl also moved to update the township’s social media policy to include the posting of emergency information or disruptions in service on the township’s Facebook page.
She said the request came in response to a late trash pickup that occurred recently due to inclement weather.
“There was a lot of confusion because of the weather that day,” Ascherl said, noting the Facebook page has worked well so far, especially given that public commentary is not able to be posted on the page.
Engleman agreed that the content on the page should be expanded.
“Circumstances may come up, and I don’t see a problem,” she said.
In other news, the board:
Hired a part-time administrative assistant, Allison Pebbles, at a rate of $17 per hour, effective Jan. 8, with a maximum 100 hours per month.
Appointed Lynn Rotundo to the position of administrative office administrator at rate of $21 per hour with a maximum of 100 hours per month, effective Jan. 5.
Renewed Police Chief David Centner’s contract as chief of police for the township, earning an annual salary of $96,181. Centner is eligible for 6 weeks of vacation and 64 hours of paid time off in 2025.
Moved to set the rates for police salaries according to rate set by union contracts and also agreed to set the rates for nonunion police department employees as follows: full-time administrative assistant, $21.75 per hour; part-time patrolmen, $20 per hour; and part-time administrative support, $19.54 per hour.
The board also appointed Matt Payne as fire chief for the township in 2025 at an annual rate of $55,000. The part-time firefighter’s compensation was also set at the following rates: part-time fire chief $28 per hour; lieutenant $24.50 per hour; firefighter-paramedic $22.50 per hour; and firefighter-EMT, $18.50 per hour. The officer in command will a receive an additional 50 cents per hour, but the increase does not apply to full-time personnel or lieutenants. Additionally, the board approved the salary for fulltime firefighter paramedics be set at $55,000 a year with a step increase as outlined in the township’s firefighter compensation package on their anniversary.