Jerome Township is changing the dates for its monthly meetings.
On Monday night, trustees voted to move the regular meetings to the first and third Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m.
Trustee and board chair, Joe Craft, said the move would help to accommodate Trustee CJ Lovejoy and ensure all three trustees are present at each meeting.
“For most of this year, Mr. Lovejoy has had a conflict with (Monday night) and I asked him if he could pick a different night for our meeting,” said Craft. “Mr. Lovejoy has to leave at 8:15 to make it to his third-shift job as a police officer.”
Trustees currently meet on Monday evenings but Craft said the trustees considered moving them to different times of day.
“We talked about having a morning meeting for the trustees and then having an afternoon meeting in the month; however, we felt and wanted to make sure the public had adequate time and it was convenient for them also,” Craft said. “At our organizational meeting at the beginning of the year, we set the times for the meetings. So we can revisit it at the end of the year.”
He said the trustees discussed the idea of moving the meetings three months ago but wanted to make sure the township could remain open and transparent with the public.
“Obviously, this time change isn’t something we want to get in the habit of doing but we figure we need it to get the job done correctly,” Craft said. “As Jerome expands, we felt we had enough going on to warrant a change. Some trustees only hold one meeting but we have enough on our plate to do two meetings a month or even three.”
The first meeting with the new date will be Tuesday, July 2 at 7 p.m.
Also at Monday’s meeting, Jerome Division of Fire Chief Doug Stewart announced the updating of the fire prevention officer position.
Although the township has always had the position, Stewart said it didn’t always have a dedicated person available to fill it.
“Traditionally, the position was just considered fire prevention but I wanted to rework that to encompass more of an active role in the community,” Stewart said. “The fire prevention officer usually does inspections and things typical of a fire marshal. This version will be that but with an additional focus of community safety and education.”
The position will be a full-time, 40-hour per week lieutenant that just does the prevention officer job.
“We’ve still managed to do inspections—in fact, out of 250 businesses, only five haven’t gotten done but we need it to be 100%,” Stewart said. “Plus, if we get called out on a run, the person doing that job would have to join the call. This way, the position has a dedicated member that can focus solely on the wider aspects of safety.”
Stewart named Lt. Dave Wilson to the position. His first official day as the fire prevention officer will be July 8.