ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP — The St. Clair Township Police Department will be purchasing training aids thanks to a safety grant from Beaver Local Schools.

At the township trustees meeting Monday night, Police Chief Brian McKenzie requested and was granted approval to purchase a shot box training aid at a cost of $4,365 and the Force on Force training aid at a cost of 8,840.84. The department will purchase the items and be reimbursed the cost through a safety grant provided by Beaver Local Schools.

McKenzie said the department did active shooter training at the end of last year and officers were able to borrow some equipment from the Columbiana County SRT Team. One of the items borrowed was a gunshot box, which is remotely operated and simulates gunfire throughout a building. He said the training aid would help his officers better respond by understanding where the threat is, getting to the threat and taking care of the threat. The shot box training would be held at Beaver Local Schools.

The Force on Force will allow the department to replace the inner workings of their current AR15s or the 9 millimeters they use with a high-end paint ball system which will allow the department to use their own platform to train for an active shooter situation.

McKenzie said this is made possible through a partnership the department has with Beaver Local Schools, and it wouldn’t be able to do this on its own.

McKenzie also said that one of the big goals he had when he was hired as chief was to have the department Ohio Collaborative certified and the department has now reached stage five of the certification.

He noted that the accreditation involved a lot of work from the entire department. He said he hopes to be fully accredited in about a year. The department is currently about 75% toward full accreditation.

The chief also talked about public outreach. Officer Kelsey Hendrick presented the Pretty Boy Floyd video with discussion.

“When you look at what we do on the job, but it’s a lot of what these guys do off the job that shines on us too and Kelsey (Hendrick) is obviously a historical buff, but when he goes to these places they associate him with this agency as well and it’s nice that he is able to reach out,” McKenzie said. “I would like to thank Kelsey (Hendrick) publicly for that. He is doing a great job with that.”

McKenzie also said he has had questions on the county sales tax levy and if it would impact the police department and he wants residents to know that the police department doesn’t get that money directly and it has no bearing on the operations of the St. Clair Township Police Department, which is 100% funded through property taxes.

“I want the people to know that we don’t benefit from it directly. Now, we deal with the prosecutor’s office and the courts,” McKenzie said. “It doesn’t help us here, but it does up in Lisbon with the peripherals that we deal with on a daily basis.”

Road Foreman Scott Barrett told the trustees that street sweeping has been done. He said he is hoping to start hot patching today to prepare for chip-and-seal.

Trustees Robert Swickard and Jordan Williams said the Calcutta Volunteer Fire Department’s fish fry went really well and thanked the CVFD for holding it and the Calcutta Lion’s Club for helping.

Purchase orders in the amount of $21,638.87, a super blanket certificate in the amount of $500 and bills totaling $160,373.72 were approved for payment.

There were no reports from the Calcutta or Glenmoor volunteer fire departments, no old business and the line striping program to be discussed for new business was tabled for a future meeting.

The township cleanup day will be Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon. Anyone willing to help out should meet at the township administration building by 9 a.m.

The St. Clair Township Board of Trustees meets every other Monday at 4 p.m. at the township administration building, 15442 Pugh Road, Calcutta. The next regular meeting is scheduled for May 5.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com