New officer hired by city (02/17/06)

A Huntington man has been named as the city’s newest full-time police officer.

Ryan S. Weir, 24, was selected Thursday afternoon by Portland Board of Works members Bob McCreery and Bruce Hosier, mayor of Portland, to work as a patrolman.

Board member Dolphus Stephens was unable to attend the meeting.

Weir is scheduled to begin his duties about March 1, said Bob Sours, Portland police chief.

Weir was hired as a replacement for Jeremy Bullard, who resigned from the police department on Jan. 9 to seek employment elsewhere. Bullard began working for the department in March of 2005, Sours said.

Weir graduated from Huntington North High School in 2000, and attended Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne and the Indiana Technical Institute. He completed training at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in February of 2005.

Before the board voted, Sours said he received 11 applications for the position. Two of the candidates failed the agility test and three didn’t show up for it. Weir passed the test, was interviewed by Sours, assistant chief Mark Heath, and Hosier, and passed the background check, Sours said.

“We feel he’s our best candidate,” he said.

Weir currently serves as a reserve officer for Blackford County police, a position he has held for five months. He plans to move to the Portland area soon.

In other business Thursday, the board voted to table awarding a contract for the Gerber gravity sewer project.

Bob Brelsford, superintendent of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, suggested the board wait to make a decision until an issue with a bid made by LPI Paving, Excavating and Concrete of Portland can be resolved.

After Thursday’s meeting, Brelsford said he wants LPI to clarify what type of pipe is included in the Portland company’s bid.

Feb. 2, the board of works asked officials with Triad Associates, Inc. of Indianapolis to review the $620,879 bid made by LPI before deciding which bid would be accepted. Triad recommended the LPI bid be accepted, Hosier said Thursday. Triad is doing the engineering work for the project.

J.G. Case Construction Inc. of Muncie, Jutte Excavating of Fort Recovery, Culy Construction and Excavating of Winchester and Yardberry Landscaping Excavating of Anderson also submitted bids. LPI’s bid was the lowest.

The sewer project involves running a sewer line south down Park Street between Votaw and Water streets, then east to an alley, between Middle and Pleasant streets.

The project is designed to reduce the amount of sewage handled by the north lift station. Currently, the north lift, located along Industrial Park Drive, is doing more work than it can handle, causing it to sometimes overflow during heavy rains.

The board expects to vote on the matter at the next meeting March 2 at 4 p.m.

Also Thursday, the board:

•Approved the purchase of new playground equipment for Memorial Park and a new lawnmower for the city’s park department.

Linda Kennedy, the city’s clerk-treasurer, said this morning, the purchases were not required to go before the board of works for approval because the park board has authority to make the decision. The purchase requests only went before the board of works as a courtesy, she said.

The park, located on South Western Avenue near Blaine Pike, will receive a new slide unit, along with two swing sets, two park benches and one bench swing. The equipment will be purchased from GameTime of Holland, Mich., at a cost of $49,980. The price reflects a discount of $11,922.

Portland Parks superintendent Jeff Harker said earlier this week that he did not request quotes from any other company for the equipment.

The board also voted to purchase a 2006 Exmark mower from Hilty Engine Service of rural Berne at a cost of $5,795. This reflects $1,700 for the trade in of the city’s current mower.

•Denied a request made by a Portland business owner for the city to adjust his water bill.

Jed Williamson of Dairy Queen, 1403 N. Meridian St., asked for his bill to be adjusted because he believed the city installed a faulty coupler which resulted in a leak. He contended that the coupler was installed when Meridian Street was widened several years ago.

Williamson made the request at the Feb. 2 meeting, but did not attend Thursday’s meeting.

Before voting, McCreery said he doubted city employees would install a faulty coupler. Hosier said he didn’t think the city should be held responsible for the leak.

At the last meeting, the board voted to adjust Williamson’s sewer bill following the city’s policy, which is to reduce the bill down to a three-month average for sewage bills prior to the leak.[[In-content Ad]]