Mansfield City Council accepts money for METRICH Enforcement Unit
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The METRICH Enforcement Unit will receive more than $166,000 for operations — less than usual — in the 10-county region.
Mansfield City Council approved funding from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services at its meeting Tuesday night.
“It (amount) is much smaller than it usually is,” Councilman Alomar Davenport noted.
Mansfield police Chief Keith Porch talked about the difference. He said METRICH has been eligible for $250,000 in funding as a Tier 1 task force.
A portion of each moving violation, $3.50, goes to the funding source.
“The drug fund was not performing well due to the pandemic,” Porch said.
Last year, METRICH received $118,000.
“We were cut in half,” Porch said.
While he appreciated the uptick in this year’s funding, he said it doesn’t go very far when spread among 10 counties. He said METRICH will explore other funding sources.
Council honors retired police captain
Much of Monday’s meeting dealt with police issues. Council honored Capt. Shari Robertson, who retired on July 7.
Robertson wore many hats in her 28-year career. As the department’s primary grant writer, she brought in about $11 million in funding.
“I can’t express to you how much of a privilege it’s been to serve this city for the past 28 years,” Robertson told council.
She lauded members for approving pay raises for officers in early March, calling this council the most supportive of police that she has seen in her tenure.
Each council member addressed Robertson, with some noting her ability to balance discipline with compassion.
“Twenty-eight years is a long time,” Councilman Laura Burns said. “It’s a loss that our city is going to suffer.”
In other law enforcement news, council accepted $80,000 from the state attorney general’s office to help with the Opiate Response Team Project.
“This is the fifth year that we’ve been awarded this grant,” Porch said, adding part of the money goes for overtime.
The grant covers all law enforcement agencies in Richland County.
Money allotted for training new police officers
Council transferred $60,200 from the personnel fund to the safety services fund to train seven new police officers.
Porch said his department normally sends recruits to the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy, but competition is fierce.
“We have to act quick to secure our seats,” the chief said.
Porch added he doesn’t know that he will hire seven officers, but he wanted to secure costs.
At Porch’s request, council agreed to allot $38,537 in American Rescue Plan Act funds for a new vertical lift gate at the police compound.
“Within the last two years, we’ve had incidents with people coming into the compound,” Porch said. “It used to be secured with a gate. It was taken down in the mid-’90s for some reason.”
Parks department receives money for supplies
In other business, council:
• Accepted a gift from Chuck Hahn to maintain trees and shrubs on Fourth and Main streets.
• Agreed to sprinkle, mow, sweep and clean the grass lots or lawn strips in the middle of Glenwood and Parkwood boulevards.
• Appropriated $100,000 from the unappropriated parks and recreation fund to cover supplies for the remainder of the year.
Mark Abrams, parks and recreations superintendent, told council he did not think his department would use that much money, but he wanted to avoid making another request later.
• Transferred $13,854 within the water fund to remove fallen trees at Clearfork Reservoir. The trees will be cut into logs and resold.
• Appropriated up to $21,000 from the unappropriated downtown improvements fund for improvements to the Park Avenue and Mulberry Street parking lot.
• Accepted a federal grant of nearly $15,000 for healthcare-related expenses at the city fire department.
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Twitter: @MNJCaudill
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