WELLSVILLE – The Wellsville fire chief is looking to resume talks about transferring dispatch services to the county 911 center.

Fire Chief Barry Podwel recently told village council he would like to resume discussion of transferring dispatch services from the fire department to Columbiana County 911.

Podwel has been encouraging the switch for the past several months due to a lack of available responders. Firefighters cannot leave the station for an emergency until someone else responds to answer the phone calls for dispatch.

Podwel said the issue of not knowing what was going to happen with property taxes was one of the big holdbacks, but the property tax issue is no longer a problem since the Ax Ohio Tax initiative failed to gain enough signatures to appear on the November ballot.

Council member Aaron Smith told Podwel council members could possibly be closer to transferring dispatch now with the property tax issue out of the way. He also noted the grant application period will be coming back up for possible funding to get what the police department would need for the switch.

Both financial issues are holding up the decision, he said.

Podwel said the village is still in the situation of not being able to send a person out to answer calls until someone else comes in.

Mayor Bob Boley said he saw recently where the fire department received a call and had to wait for a second person to get to the station just to get the fire truck out and that shouldn’t be happening.

Podwel was also instructed to get an estimate on what it would cost to get a new siren for the station that has different tones for fire and weather.

In other business, council held first readings of two ordinances.

The first ordinance is to authorize and direct the village administration to advertise and receive bids for lawn care of Spring Hill Cemetery, the Flood Wall and Hammond Park.

The second ordinance is to amend sections of the Backfilling Required ordinance.

Changes to the second ordinance, if approved, include adding completion to the backfilling requirement and requiring the opening and restoration of pavement or other surfaces be done under the direction and to the satisfaction of the village administrator in accordance with regulations and specifications approved by the mayor and council. The restoration is to be completed within 14 days of project completion with the possibility of an additional day permitted due to inclement weather or unforeseen circumstances. Failure to do so may lead to the village completing the restoration, with the person holding the permit being held liable for expenses incurred by the village to the complete the work.

Two resolutions were adopted – the first to exclude the approval of the City of Salem for an alternative method of apportionment of local government fund monies to distributed in 2027 and the second to approve an alternative method of apportionment of local government fund monies to distributed in 2027.

Wellsville Village Council meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in council chambers at Wellsville Village Hall, 1200 Main St. The next regular meeting is scheduled for July 7.