By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
CONNEAUT — City Council members will discuss a potential overhaul of a handful of municipal departments at a finance and ordinance committee meeting Thursday night, said Councilman-at-Large Robert Naylor, committee chairman.
The committee will gauge interest in a possible revamping of the law department, fire/emergency medical department and the zoning/planning office, Naylor said. The city’s vacation policy and gap in income tax collections will also be examined, he said.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
No decisions will be made at the meeting, Naylor said. Instead, members will discuss if change if needed, and — if so — what kind of change should occur and how soon it should happen. Conneaut’s dire financial situation has prompted interest in a review of how the city does business.
The resignation of Law Director Lori Lamer opened the door to changes in the legal office. There has been some informal debate on the merits of a full-time versus part-time director and the need for an assistant law director.
It’s believed City Manager Robert Schaumleffel Jr. is waiting to see if council reworks the law office before launching a search for Lamer’s replacement.
Reports have also circulated in recent weeks that some council members, in an effort to cut expenses, want to revisit the reorganization of the fire service completed last year. That re-do closed Fire Station 4 on the city’s west side, moved that station’s equipment to Station 3 and gave first-response ambulance responsibilities to the full-time, career firefighters at Fire Station 1.
The fire department make-over was prompted by administrators’ desire to tap into an ambulance fund fattened by money paid by insurance companies. Ambulance money helped trim a projected $811,000 deficit in the 2009 budget.
Rumors are swirling that some on council may favor a part-time fire department to cut costs.
