Celina joins four area villages in mutual aid pact

CELINA - A new mutual aid agreement struck between the City of Celina and four villages in Mercer County will enable police officers to cross jurisdictional boundaries to protect the public and save lives.

At this week's regular meeting, Celina City Council approved legislation authorizing Mayor Jeff Hazel and Police Chief Tom Wale to enter into a mutual aid agreement with Rockford, St. Henry, Fort Recovery and Coldwater police departments.

Councilors suspended the rules requiring three public readings and passed the ordinance as an emergency measure, causing it take effect immediately.

In the event of an emergency or other event requiring initial and/or additional manpower, the responding police departments will furnish officers and equipment, if available, according to the mutual aid agreement.

"When our officers are called to other places, they need to have that ability to (respond) and also have people come to us," Hazel said. "I think these (agreements) are very healthy for our community at large."

Such mutual aid agreements have long been established among the villages, Wale said.

"The villages have had this for a while because of staffing issues, especially in the south end where they would need to help each other if they only had one officer on, for a domestic or a burglary or something like that," Wale explained. "And when they initially put that on, we didn't get on board, but we had discussed it for some time."

City officials were prompted to revisit the local law enforcement pact when asked by the Fort Recovery Police Department if Celina police officers could assist with Win on the Wabash, a massive two-day fundraiser presented annually by the Fort Recovery Athletic Booster Club at Ambassador Park, Fort Recovery.

"Win on the Wabash has grown to be quite large, and they are unable to handle it without more help," Wale said. "They have requested our help. Mutual aid agreement offers us some liability protections where we're only responsible for our own officers and they're responsible for their own officers."

Furthermore, any department involved in the agreement can automatically respond to a situation without having to wait for a formal request for help, Wale pointed out.

"If it's a true emergency like … a school shooter or something like that, they can just respond, or we can respond," Wale said. "Even if they were in an accident on the way to Celina to help us, we wouldn't be liable for their accident. We also have the right to refuse to go if something's happening here and we can't go."

Responding police departments would be compensated for their time accordingly by the department that requested their assistance.

"The sheriff's office already has countywide jurisdiction, so they don't need a mutual aid agreement with the city or villages," Wale noted.

Movies in the park

Councilors also signed off on legislation authorizing an agreement between the city and Foundations Behavioral Health Services's Recovery Clubhouse for lease of a section of the Bryson Park District to host movie-night-in-the-park June, 5, July 10 and Aug. 7.

Open to the public, the family-friendly movies will be shown on a big screen in a grassy area between Warren Street and Elmgrove Avenue.

"We've looked at … movies in the parks for some time. I think this is a great event," Hazel said.

Councilman Joe Wolfe agreed.

"It's a great idea. I think you'll have huge crowds for it. A lot of the kids love it," he said. "Thanks for doing it."

Foundations Behavioral Health Services' Recovery Clubhouse, located at 221 S. Buckeye St., next to Lake Contracting Co., offers a sober, safe environment for people to feel comfortable and have fun doing activities without drugs or alcohol.

A final piece of new legislation authorized city safety service director Tom Hitchcock to hire an additional full-time dispatcher for training Jan. 31-March 31. The new dispatcher will eventually succeed Jon Mangen, who plans to retire March 31.

Mangen has served the city as a full-time dispatcher for more than 17 years and previously served roughly nine years as a Celina police officer, according to Hitchcock's administrative report.

"His long-standing commitment to the profession and dedicated service to the citizens of Celina will be greatly missed," Hitchcock reported. "Everyone is encouraged to extend their well wishes to Mr. Mangen as he begins his retirement."

On a similar congratulatory note, Hazel hailed the work of city employees for clearing city roads amid the weekend winter storm that dumped over a foot of snow.

"We got a significant amount of snow. We were just so pleased and impressed. I think on Sunday they spent like 141/2 hours before they took a break. So they got everything cleared," he said. "Kudos to all our guys, not just in public works but the other departments that also came in to help. Special thanks to the Moose and the Eagles for providing food for our staff."

Loaded Barrel Bar and Grill, too, provided food to crews, Hazel added.

Hazel urged residents to take precautions amid the arctic temperatures.

"We've got a very, very cold week. I want to remind people, let your faucet run in your kitchen sink or your bathroom, particularly if it's on an outside wall," he said. "Open those cabinet doors. Nobody wants to deal with frozen pipes, certainly the residents and the businesses and certainly the city employees don't, because they have to go out and fix our mains if they break."

The city council meets next at 7 p.m. Feb. 9 in council chambers on the second floor of the city administration building.