Hillsdale City Council voted to eliminate the director of public safety position and replace it with acting police chief and fire chief positions Sept. 15.
Since the council is searching for a new city manager, these two, new positions will be temporary until a city manager replacement decides how to assign the director of public safety’s responsibilities.
“Over the last 17 years we’ve had a director of public safety that was a management position that oversaw budget operations,” acting fire chief Kevin Pauken said. “Now it’s just a change in administrative titles. For 60 days, I’m the acting chief, [until we] get a new city manager and figure out the direction they want to go with as far as management.”
Pauken and acting police chief Scott Hephner will not see a change in their salaries, said councilperson Emily Davis. The two positions are currently at zero cost to the city.
“The public safety committee would like to see a police and a fire chief, and thinks it would be cheaper if we structure [the director of public safety position] differently,” Davis said. “We are looking for a new city manager, so it will be up to him.”
Right now, the public safety committee doesn’t know what the cost would be of having permanent police and fire chief positions, or whether or not the positions would align with Pauken’s and Hephner’s retirement plans, Davis said.
In other business, the council voted to notify the police department to issue a civil infraction citation to the owner of 55 S. Broad St., a piece of property in violation of the Property Owners Maintenance Code and condemned in 2009 as a safety hazard.
“She (the owner) pays taxes literally on the last day before being foreclosed. She does the bare minimum,” said Kim Thomas, City Assessor.
“The issue for us is that the property has been in the same condition for five years,” Thomas said.
Once the city assessor’s office compiles the violations, the police department will issue a citation on the property. Right now, the office is still unsure what the violations are.
“We’ve sent her a letter asking what her definite plans are, and we’ll make a decision from there,” Thomas said.
During public comment, Cindy Bieszk addressed the council in frustration over the loss of parking spaces at the Hillsdale Filling Station Deli on M-99.
“There has to be better communication in the city between city council members and business owners,” Bieszk told the council. “I’m not happy to lose my parking spots, but I’ll accept it.”
Director of Public Services Keith Richard told the council that the parking spaces on M-99 violated federal regulations, which is why he had them removed.
“It’s a safety issue that should have been dealt with years ago,” Richard said. “It’s a federal regulation.”
“I burned up the phone lines last Friday,” Bieszk said, describing how she called city council members to demand what was going on with the parking spaces. “Thank you to everyone who listened.”